What caught my attention was that Mitchell Leisen is the Associate Director.
Actually, ChiO,
In David Chierichetti's terrific bio
Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director, he mentions that
Stuart Walker had less to do with direction of this movie than did
Leisen. Paramount even changed the billing in 1939 when they reissued the film (after excising the usual choice moments), to read "Directed by Stuart Walker and Mitchell Leisen". During extensive interviews with
Leisen, Chierichetti found that
Walker apparently had his name attached to several projects during this period, but had next to nothing to do with the film, though it was done to allow the theatrical director to enjoy a kind of well paid apprenticeship while he was being groomed as a possible film exec. According to this book, "Stuart Walker had been a highly successful producer-director of stock companies and had not adjusted well to the motion picture medium".
Leisen, who had been a costumer and a production designer with De Mille and was longing to direct had been asked to assist Walker, beginning with the Claudette Colbert-Fredric March film,
Tonight is Ours; after which Leisen continued his "co-directorship" with Walker as a figurehead and
Leisen as the camera savvy actual director. I don't know if this is entirely accurate, but having seen
Tonight is Ours, it seems to reflect Leisen's signature style. In any case, it makes me more curious about
The Eagle and the Hawk.
ChiO, Bissell-boyos like you would cut
Lyle Talbot some slack. The only time he ever interested me was in some interviews I've seen of him when he was quite elderly in which he talks about the beginnings of SAG, his dour assessment of
Humphrey Bogart's chances of succeeding at Warner Brothers when the actor was hired for
The Petrified Forest, and his comments on the underrated
Loretta Young in her friskier years during her naughty pre-code phase. Now, if only I could remember where I saw this documentary footage with his comments...aargh!
![Image](http://pic18.picturetrail.com/VOL932/11678998/20733223/339549182.jpg)