Union Pacific (1939)

 

Union Pacific - 1939

Coming up next we have 1939's "Union Pacific", a story about the meeting of two railroads from opposite ends of the USA and a tale of love that blossoms on the rails.

The film's cast includes Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy, Robert Barrat, Anthony Quinn, Stanley Ridges, and Sam McDaniel.

A transcontinental railroad is being built in the USA.  Two railroads, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, are vying to be the first to reach a designated point where they will meet.

There are those on the Union Pacific that don't want it to arrive on time.  The man in charge has bet heavily on the Central Pacific, and he knows that he will make a huge amount of money should the Union Pacific arrive last.  He hires Sid Campeau to follow the building of the Union Pacific rails and make as much trouble as he can to slow the progress.

And he does a good job of it, too.  He stirs up a whole bunch of trouble.  He sets up saloons, which distract the men from their work, and he also stirs up trouble with the Indians that live along the way.

Currently on the Central Pacific line is sassy Irish postmistress Mollie Monahan.  She's there with a friend of hers, Dick Allen, who is also the right hand man of troublemaker Sid Campeau.  Dick is in love with Mollie, but she keeps him on his toes and doesn't commit herself.

Also on board is railroad troubleshooter Jeff Butler, whose job is to make sure the work continues on schedule.  He's a very likeable guy, and he's assigned two bodyguards: Fiesta and Leach.  After meeting Jeff, Leach says to Fiesta, "I declare, he seems like a right nice young feller.  I hope he lives long enough so that we can get acquainted."

Jeff gets right to work by interfering with some of Campeau's men, even tossing one off of the train.  He marches right up to Campeau and lets him know who is boss.  "He's going to be unpopular," says Dick.  "Not with me," says Mollie with a smile as she watches Jeff work.  It turns out that Dick and Jeff are old army buddies, which is unfortunate given Dick's association with Campeau.

Campeau's saloons are responsible for the death of at least one man per day.  As hard as Campeau works at trying to keep the men distracted, Jeff gets one up on him and clears the place out with a rumor of a gold strike at the end of the line.  Campeau isn't happy.

Meanwhile, Mollie and Jeff start spending a lot of time together.  Both start to fall for one another.

At the end of the track, Jeff has to deal with a troublemaker who wants his wages immediately.  Jeff is able to win a fight against him and convince the rest of the men that the money is coming.  When it does come, Campeau has Dick steal it.  Jeff knows that Dick's stolen it and pays him a visit.

Things don't go well during that confrontation.  Campeau arrives on the scene with backup and the only thing that saves Jeff is Mollie, who hastily agrees to marry Dick to save Jeff's life.

Jeff later gets proof that Dick stole the money and confronts him just after his wedding to Mollie.  Dick causes some confusion in the crowd and is able to slip away.

The next morning as the train moves on, Mollie is startled when someone enters her train car.  It's Dick, who has hidden underneath the train.

Mollie tells him that the only reason she married him was to save Jeff's life.  Dick tells her that he knows, but he wanted her for his wife under any circumstances.

The train comes under attack from a tribe of Indians, who ultimately cause the train to derail.  Jeff makes his way to Mollie's car and is surprised to find Jeff.  With their lives threatened, all thoughts are turned towards survival.  Mollie is able to telegraph for help using a very crudely made telegraph system.  The help comes just in the nick of time.

After they are safe, Jeff gives Dick a horse and instructions to not be seen on the Union Pacific line, otherwise he will have to kill him.  Dick shakes Jeff's hand and cautions him not to forget that Mollie is his wife.  Jeff smiles and says, "I might.  She wouldn't."

After some more hardships, both railroad lines are united at Promontory Summit, Utah.  And Dick wastes no time in finding Mollie.  He goes to find Jeff after he hears that Campeau is nearby and Jeff isn't wearing his guns.

Campeau kills Dick after mistaking him for Jeff, and he almost puts a bullet in Jeff's back.  (Don't worry.  Campeau gets his comeuppance courtesy of Leach and Fiesta.)

As the two railroads finally meet, Jeff goes to Mollie and tells her that Dick is dead.  They are free to begin their life together.  "Some of your sweetness got into my blood.  I guess it's there for life," Jeff says.  To which Mollie replies, "And my heart will be answering you...as long as ever it beats."

Cast rundown:

   Barbara Stanwyck...........................Mollie Monahan

   Joel McCrea....................................Jeff Butler

   Akim Tamiroff.................................Fiesta

   Robert Preston................................Dick Allen

   Lynne Overman...............................Leach Overmile

   Brian Donlevy.................................Sid Campeau

   Robert Barrat..................................Duke Ring

   Anthony Quinn................................Jack Cordray

   Stanley Ridges................................Gen. Casement

   Sam McDaniel.................................Waiter

And that's all for Union Pacific.  When the railroads met in 1869, a golden spike was used to mark the end of the construction.  For the filming of this movie, the original golden spike was loaned out by Stanford University for use in the film.  Cecil B. DeMille directed most of the movie from a stretcher because he was recovering from an operation.  Quite a feat when you consider the scale of this movie.

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Here Is My Heart (1934)

Here Is My Heart - 1934

The next film we feature comes in the form of 1934's "Here Is My Heart", starring Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle.  A famous singer hides his true identity to become a hotel waiter and win the heart of a princess.

The film's supporting cast includes Roland Young, Alison Skipworth, Reginald Owen, William Frawley, Marian Mansfield, and Akim Tamiroff.

J. Paul Jones is a rich and famous singer who is cruising the Atlantic on his yacht.  Once he reaches the middle of the ocean, he casts out a fishing line and catches a very tiny fish.

Once he gets inside, we realize why.  He's crossing things off a list he made when he was eleven years old.

The last thing on his list is to acquire a pistol that was given to John Paul Jones by Catherine the Great.  He's got one, now all he needs is the other.

He gets a tip that the missing pistol is in Monte Carlo, so he tells the captain to head there.

Inside the hotel, he sees a lady whom he is attracted to.  He gets into the elevator with her.  Coincidentally, they are getting off on the same floor.  He watches the lady disappear without a word into her room.  He finds his own room, wishing he knew the lady's name.

Inside his room, newspaperman James Smith is waiting.  Smith is the one who gave him the tip that the pistol was in Monte Carlo.  Unfortunately, Smith says, the owner is Russian Princess Alexandra, and she's not selling to anyone less than royalty.

Later that night, Paul is signing records in his room.  It's an scene that's done outstandingly well.  Paul is playing his own record "June In January", and sings a duet with himself.

It's fun to watch Bing as he accompanies himself, and, of course, his two voices blend together perfectly.

Because of a mishap with a drunken waiter, Paul ends up inadvertently becoming the waiter to the lady he saw in the elevator.  He's thrilled.  He's even more thrilled when he discovers that she's Princess Alexandra, and the owner of the pistol he's looking for.  She seems a bit snobbish, but he's determined to break through that ice.

The hotel manager comes in and sees Paul.  He tells Paul that he will lose his job if he let's him continue as their waiter.  Paul tells him he'll simply buy the hotel.  When the hotel manager asks him if he realizes she's a princess, he responds, "Yes, I know, and it’s too bad.  ‘Cause there’s really a swell girl underneath all that Highness stuff."  Once he takes over the hotel, Paul tells the manager to start handing out bills to everybody that owes money, including the Princess.

Paul learns that the Princess and her party are flat broke and can't pay.  He feels badly that he's put them in that embarrassing situation.

When a creditor comes to their door, Prince Nicholas opens his wallet to show he has no money and is very surprised to see his wallet bulging with bills.

The same thing happens to Prince Vladimir when he opens his pocketbook.

Countess Rostova shows them that her handbag is full of money as well.  But she saw Paul stuffing the money inside.  When they question each other as to why Paul would do such a thing, they work out that he is in love with the Princess.

Princess Alexandra overhears them and is very intrigued with the idea that a waiter could be in love with her.  She decides to do some investigating into how a waiter goes about wooing a girl.

She orders tea.  Paul is singing "With Every Breath I Take" before he comes into the room.  The Princess hears it and is enchanted with his singing.  She tells him that he has a lovely voice and wants to hear him again.  They agree to meet later that night.

He sings her the song again and she loves it.  When she closes her eyes, he kisses her, to which she is very offended.  She fires him as their waiter and he storms out of the room.

Prince Nicholas invites him into his room and tells him he knows that he is J. Paul Jones.  When Paul asks him how he knows, Prince Nicholas says, "When you started giving tips instead of taking them, I investigated."  "You mean you snooped?" asks Paul.  "Precisely," says the prince.  They agree to try and come up with a plan that gets the Princess and Paul together again.

What they come up with is having Paul disguise himself as another waiter.  He behaves badly: stepping on toes, dropping things, flinging food all over the plates.  His fake mustache even comes off in a bowl of soup, but he gets it back on before anyone notices.  The royals can't stand him and want Paul back terribly.  Princess Alexandra says she'll do it if he'll apologize.

Paul also gets the additional duties of taking care of the royal party's pet birds and pet dogs, which highly amuses the Princess.

One night, Princess Alexandra listens on the balcony as Paul sings while playing the piano.  She loves what she hears.

Unfortunately for Paul, so does a maid.  The maid comes up behind him and covers his eyes.  Paul thinks it's the Princess and plays along.

When the maid kisses him, the Princess walks in.  The misunderstanding sorts itself out, and the Princess finds herself falling in love with Paul.

Just a few minutes later, Prince Nicholas is arrested over a scam he's perpetrated trying to raise funds for them to live on.  Princess Alexandra says they must sell some things in order to pay the money back.

She decides to sell the pistol that Paul wants.  However, when it's examined by an expert, it's discovered that the pistol is a copy of the original and not worth very much money.  When they are not looking, Paul exchanges the fake pistol with his real one.  As the expert examines it again, he's shocked at the difference and offers them a large amount of money.  Prince Vladimir goes with him to make the deal.  On the way out, Prince Nicholas is at the door.  He said Paul convinced the police to let him go.

Princess Alexandra is touched, and she falls deeper in love with Paul.  He's feeling exactly the same sentiment.

Unfortunately, newspaperman James Smith is hiding in the bushes and snaps a picture for his newspaper.  The Princess realizes that Paul is Mr. Jones, who wanted the pistol at the beginning, and is very quick to back away from the relationship.  For her, Paul and Mr. Jones are two very different people.

As she prepares to leave the hotel, the Princess tries to get her companions to go with her.  Prince Vladimir has been given a job as the hotel doorman, and Prince Nicholas has been given the job of credit manager.  Even the Countess Rostova is working...as the hostess in the hotel restaurant.  Princess Alexandra vanishes without a trace.  For two weeks, Paul and the others search in vain.

Paul decides to give up the search and head back to his yacht.  On board, one of his guests has bought a parrot for him.  He recognizes the bird and asks where the person got it.  She says she bought it in a shop behind the cathedral.  Paul races there immediately, jumping off the yacht and swimming for shore.

He finds the Princess working in a bird shop.  As he enters, they smile at each other.

The film cuts back to the yacht.  Prince Nicholas is on board and is in a romance with one of Paul's guests.  Paul and the Princess are singing "June in January" and smiling to one another.

Paul takes out his list.  This time a new item has been added, and Princess Alexandra takes a pen and crosses it off as the film closes out.

Cast rundown:

   Bing Crosby.......................................J. Paul Jones

   Kitty Carlisle......................................Princess Alexandra

   Roland Young.....................................Prince Nicholas

   Alison Skipworth................................Countess Rostova

   Reginald Owen...................................Prince Vladimir

   William Frawley..................................James Smith

   Marian Mansfield................................Claire Hastings

   Akim Tamiroff....................................Hotel Manager

That's all for Here Is My Heart.  Originally, this was supposed to star Gary Cooper in the lead role, after he read the script he turned it down, and the role went to Bing Crosby.

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