Reginald Denny - Silent Clown??!!
Reginald Denny - Silent Clown??!!
Who knew? Not me, until my local retro theatre scheduled a few of his silent movies the past couple of months. I first recall seeing Reginald Denney in Rebecca as Frank Crawley and his memorable line "she was the most beautiful creature I ever saw.." He can be found in numerous films of the 30's and 40's as the archtype stiff Brit, but I always found him a little endearing, with that lopsided grin of his. The earliest role I had seen him in to date was Victor in Private Lives. Turns out he had quite a career in silents, mostly light comedies bordering on slapstick. I've recently seen That's My Daddy, I'll Show You the Town, and Skinner's Dress Suit. SDS was shown last week and also had my new favorite Laura LaPlante. Sort of a social climbing comedy, which featured extended dance sequences that I really loved. RD is in his office and a flapper secretary shows him some new dance step, the Savanah Shuffle, where upon he phones his wife, LLP at home, and proceeds to teach her the step over the phone! All the gyrating and hip swiveling done to comic effect by the two. They end up being the hit of a swank dinner party after he aquires his title suit and they teach all the party guests the dance. ISYTT was even more hilarious - I laughed my head off watching RD juggle three ladies on an evening out at a chic restaurant. I would even go so far to say I thought he was funnier in these films than some of what I've seen Harold Lloyd do in his films.
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moira finnie
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Hi Jez,
I envy you your silent movie experience since the only comedy of Reginald Denny's that I can recall seeing was an early, madcap talkie, Those Three French Girls (1930) with Mr. D. involved with Fifi D'Orsay. The film features him going off on a lighthearted toot with Fifi, her friends and a buddy. I've heard about his silents from quite a few people. Too bad none of the silents seem to be available on dvd or vhs either.
I often wondered why the nameless second wife(Joan Fontaine) in Rebecca (1940) didn't find the gentle and sympathetic Denny and his "lopsided grin" far more appealing than her mysterious, grumpy husband (Laurence Olivier). I also seem to recall him getting as much dry humor as possible out of his part as the architect in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Denny also appeared in several Bulldog Drummond movies as the hero's pal, Algy, so maybe those gave him a bit of comic expression too, though I've only seen one of those with Ray Milland in the lead. As you probably know, Denny had a hobby shop in Hollywood to supplement his movie career and also helped develop radio controlled airplanes for the U.S. military during WWII.
The first person to explain Reginald Denny's earlier career to me was my mother, when we watched a Clifton Webb comedy called Dreamboat (1952) on tv years ago. She explained that this very funny movie, chronicling the embarrassment and misadventures of a middle-aged American academic and father, was actually based on the real life experiences of Reginald Denny, who is said to have supplied the filmmakers (and especially screenwriter & director Claude Binyon), with the germ of the idea for this parody.
The film takes off when Clifton Webb's family, colleagues and fellow citizens discover that he had been a star in the silent era and there is a renewed and somewhat lurid interest in his earlier life. This happens when his old movies are replayed as programming to fill in the schedule of the then new medium of television. The movie parodies old movies and tv's dumbing down effect very nimbly. It does take liberties with Mr. Denny's screen persona, suggesting that he was more along the lines of a romantic figure such as Ronald Colman rather than a deft comic actor. I wish this would be broadcast once again, since it doesn't seem to be available on vhs/dvd at all. Elsa Lanchester has a great part as a prim college administrator who develops quite a fixation on Webb, which might be hinted at in the picture from the movie below:
I envy you your silent movie experience since the only comedy of Reginald Denny's that I can recall seeing was an early, madcap talkie, Those Three French Girls (1930) with Mr. D. involved with Fifi D'Orsay. The film features him going off on a lighthearted toot with Fifi, her friends and a buddy. I've heard about his silents from quite a few people. Too bad none of the silents seem to be available on dvd or vhs either.
I often wondered why the nameless second wife(Joan Fontaine) in Rebecca (1940) didn't find the gentle and sympathetic Denny and his "lopsided grin" far more appealing than her mysterious, grumpy husband (Laurence Olivier). I also seem to recall him getting as much dry humor as possible out of his part as the architect in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. Denny also appeared in several Bulldog Drummond movies as the hero's pal, Algy, so maybe those gave him a bit of comic expression too, though I've only seen one of those with Ray Milland in the lead. As you probably know, Denny had a hobby shop in Hollywood to supplement his movie career and also helped develop radio controlled airplanes for the U.S. military during WWII.
The first person to explain Reginald Denny's earlier career to me was my mother, when we watched a Clifton Webb comedy called Dreamboat (1952) on tv years ago. She explained that this very funny movie, chronicling the embarrassment and misadventures of a middle-aged American academic and father, was actually based on the real life experiences of Reginald Denny, who is said to have supplied the filmmakers (and especially screenwriter & director Claude Binyon), with the germ of the idea for this parody.
The film takes off when Clifton Webb's family, colleagues and fellow citizens discover that he had been a star in the silent era and there is a renewed and somewhat lurid interest in his earlier life. This happens when his old movies are replayed as programming to fill in the schedule of the then new medium of television. The movie parodies old movies and tv's dumbing down effect very nimbly. It does take liberties with Mr. Denny's screen persona, suggesting that he was more along the lines of a romantic figure such as Ronald Colman rather than a deft comic actor. I wish this would be broadcast once again, since it doesn't seem to be available on vhs/dvd at all. Elsa Lanchester has a great part as a prim college administrator who develops quite a fixation on Webb, which might be hinted at in the picture from the movie below:
Last edited by moira finnie on November 4th, 2007, 7:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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movieman1957
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Hi Moira -
Thanks for including the swell photo of Regie! I am admittedly a techno-boob and haven't a clue how to go about the web capturing images and including them in posts.
Those Three French Girls sounds like great fun - IMDB states "dialogue by P.G. Wodehouse" - I can just imagine Denny spouting lines a la Bertie Wooster. Looks like an MGM film, so I will go straight over to Suggest a Movie at TCM to request this.
I will sure keep an eye open for Dreamboat, now that I know what it is about. Looks like it is a 20th Century Fox film, and I do get FMC who play a lot of Clifton Webb films, so maybe they have it. I do not get Cinemax, though.
Thanks for including the swell photo of Regie! I am admittedly a techno-boob and haven't a clue how to go about the web capturing images and including them in posts.
Those Three French Girls sounds like great fun - IMDB states "dialogue by P.G. Wodehouse" - I can just imagine Denny spouting lines a la Bertie Wooster. Looks like an MGM film, so I will go straight over to Suggest a Movie at TCM to request this.
I will sure keep an eye open for Dreamboat, now that I know what it is about. Looks like it is a 20th Century Fox film, and I do get FMC who play a lot of Clifton Webb films, so maybe they have it. I do not get Cinemax, though.