International House

Movie Information

In Brief: With International House, the Asheville Film Society celebrates not its star, its strangeness, nor its Pre-Code freedom, but rather the birthday (the 133rd) of horror icon Bela Lugosi, who here (despite his billing) had probably his best non-horror role. A friend of mine once summed up A. Edward Sutherland’s International House (1933) by running down the cast list and concluding, “You need own no other movie.” I won’t go that far, but the cast is what makes this silly musical-comedy a joy to behold. The story — about company reps showing up in Wu Hu, China, to buy Dr. Wong’s (Edmund Breese) radioscope (a remarkable form of television) — is merely an excuse for an exotic setting, musical numbers and comedy routines. The racy nature of much of this — especially a musical number with girls in cellophane, pasties and very little else — was one of the things that helped usher in the production code. Even years later, when the film was on TV, Cab Calloway’s “Reefer Man” musical number was often cut out. But don’t worry, it’s here now — along with every double entendre (some are almost single entendres) and scantily-clad chorus girls.  
Score:

Genre: Pre-code Comedy
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Starring: W.C. Fields, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bela Lugosi, Stuart Erwin, Cab Calloway
Rated: NR

international2

 

In addition to the strange delights of International House already mention, you get Burns and Allen at their peak, and there’s Baby Rose Marie (yes, she would grow up to be the Rose Marie of Dick Van Dyke Show fame), whose performance of an adult torch song was considered very inappropriate at the time. You want more? Well, there’s popular singer of the day Rudy Vallee, evidencing a better sense of humor about himself than his earlier film appearances suggested. There’s also a very young Sterling Holloway (many years before he became the voice of Winnie the Pooh for Disney) in the film’s single production number.

 

international3

 

We also get “fussy” Franklin Pangborn as the manager of the International House hotel, who is constantly bedeviled by W.C. Fields — possibly because he thought Pangborn was coming on to him. And to be sure all bases are covered, there’s even a very mannish Chinese girl for absolutely no discernible. Let’s not forget the presence of Colonel Stoopnagle (“Stoopnocracy is peachy”) and Budd, who I suppose were funny on radio in 1933, but seem like a perplexing artifact now — perplexing enough to fit this movie. And there’s also a romance between Stu Erwin and Sari Maritza, which is of important to the plot, but of little interest otherwise.

 

international

 

Added to this is the comic villainy of Lugosi. Reportedly, Lugosi told Fields on the set that he was taking a break from horror by playing Peggy Hopkins Joyce’s husband, to which Fields supposedly remarked, “I guess it all depends on what you call horror.” And if you don’t know who Peggy Hopkins Joyce — who plays a version of herself — was, she was a showgirl who made her fortune by marrying and divorcing a series of millionaires, much like she does in the film. She was the tabloid fodder of her era—but with some talent and a sense of humor about her own notoriety.

The Asheville Film Society will screen International House Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. in Theater Six at The Carolina Asheville, hosted by Xpress movie critic Ken Hanke.

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.