Fox's Fantastic Forays into the Far Flung Future (part 2)

IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933)

Between the nine years of The Last Man on Earth's two film adaptations, the image of what the future would look like took shape within the minds of the people of the 20th Century.  After the first few awkward years, technical advances and editing concepts of how best to utilize synchronized sound were finally coming into their own.  The timing was perfect for the retitled remake, IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933), as it benefited from being a product of its cinematic environment.

Assisted by art designer, Erich Kettelhut, Fritz Lang's film METROPOLIS (1927), defined the aesthetics of the imagined world future generations would inhabit.  While some of the design concepts may have existed in Russian and German avante garde and expressionist theatre and film, the collective envisioned future was forever changed by Lang's masterpiece.

Also, between the two futuristic female-only Fox Films, William Fox decided to focus some of his attention on the films being produced in Germany.  While Paramount Studios acquired the American distribution rights to METROPOLIS (1927), Fox acquired the distribution rights to BERLIN: THE SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY (1927) and imported German star director, FW Murnau to direct SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927).  The  change in Fox's business practice was noticed, as the Murnau film went on to win awards the first year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held their first Academy Awards ceremony.  Fox continued productions on a similar scale with the films of Frank Borzage and a series of spectacle films.

Predating the concept of a film soundtrack, early talking pictures required actors to strike up the band and break into song themselves.  Often, this resulted in films that are mainly historical documents of the era's vaudeville acts.  Predating the runaway successful films of Busby Berkeley, Fox Films produced an all talking, all singing, all dancing film, SUNNYSIDE UP (1929).  DeSylva, Brown and Henderson were the group of writers, and they attempted to continue their success by breaking new ground with the first sci-fi musical comedy: JUST IMAGINE (1930).

JUST IMAGINE (1930)

Taking their lead from METROPOLIS (1927), there were only a few other motion pictures set in the world of tomorrow, including HIGH TREASON (1929) and JUST IMAGINE (1930).  The latter was a Fox production, and the first film on record as being a futuristic musical comedy!  Audiences were presented with the world of 1980, complete with song and dance numbers, high technology, rocket trips to Mars, warring doppelganger Martian races, and the comedic styling of El Brendel.  It was from this formula, successful or otherwise, that the Fox Film studio heads decided to continue by delving into their back catalog of acquired properties, resulting in IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933).

Nine years may not appear like a long enough span of time to validate a remake.  But it is important to remember not only had the incorporation of sound technology made silent films archaic to audiences of the day, the length of time a film played in a theatre was generally only a couple of weeks at most, with little to no expectation of a revival run in subsequent years.  Apart from reading the occasional photoplay novelization of the story, there was no way for an audience member to relive their film-going experience.  With these two factors in mind, a reworking of The Last Man on Earth was going to appear fresh and exciting to Depression-era audiences.

The all talking, all singing, all dancing remake appears to follow relatively closely to the silent film's narrative, there were certain elements added and edited out.  One of the most surprising story lines added to the sound remake, is just prior to the discovery of an actual healthy adult male, Dr. Prodwell is experimenting with the creation of a synthetic man to make up for the lack of healthy, natural alternatives!  Judging from production stills, the scene appears entirely inspired by the classic cinematic creation scenes from METROPOLIS (1927), FRANKENSTEIN (1931), and DOCTOR X (1932)!  One wonders what would have happened to this story if the scientist was successful with her plans?  Would the character of Carlos have been in such high demand with alternatives available?  Or would this have created a situation reminiscent of METROPOLIS (1927) where the human character of Maria has to compete against the Robotrix, an automaton made in the likeness of herself?  Would the women of the world have to choose between the made-man, and the real thing?

Lost film's Frankenstein-esque would-be creation scene

 

The boxing match was another aspect of the original silent film that was edited out and replaced with an epic song and dance competition, the contestants representing their own respective nations - the winner snagging rights for their country to begin the repopulating process first!

There are clear lines between the 1923 short story, the 1924 film, and the 1933 film, but the core of the story appears to have its roots in Mary Shelley novel, The Last Man.   It is doubtful that the Shelley connection was known at the time to the Fox execs -- her novel was not widely rediscovered until the 1960's -- so it is oddly poetic that IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933) borrowed elements from Shelley's most well known creation: FRANKENSTEIN (1931).

Apparently, IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933), like DRACULA (1931), was shot simultaneously as a Spanish version with the title El Varon Last Sobre La Tierra, directed by James Tinling and starring Rositer Moreno, Mimi Aguglia, Romneldo Tirado and Carmen Rodriguez.  While neither version is known to survive today, some of the musical arrangements remain, as can be found here, and here.

The following comes from an original 1933 New York Times review:

"It's Great to Be Alive (1933)

Farewell to Man.

F.S.N.

Published: July 8, 1933

Masculitis, a dread disease fatal only to men, is sweeping over the Seventh Avenue Roxy screen in "It's Great To Be Alive." One man alone is spared to a feminine world. That is the essence of a familiar plot around which Fox has attempted to weave—without much success—a novel musical comedy.
Raul Roulien of Brazil has the rôle of the last man, in itself a serious challenge to the theory of the survival of the fittest. If memory serves, Reginald Denny was once a robust survivor of a similar epidemic and, without doubt, there must have been equally burly "last men" before him. But Senhor Roulien is a tenor and, in this film, an annoyingly popular ladies' man. One cannot help sympathizing with matronly Emma Dunn when she complains:
"Of all the men in the world, he would be the only one left."
Carlos (Senhor Roulien) owes his life to being jilted. To punish the girl, he takes off on a transpacific flight and is forced down on an otherwise uninhabited island in mid-ocean. There he lingers for six years while the rest of the male population succumbs to masculitis. His eventual discovery leads—-as may be surmised—to a mad scramble. First female racketeers place him on an auction block; then he becomes federal property and finally is the subject of a world congress, presided over by that great scientist, Edna May Oliver.
Some of the episodes are highly amusing, generally because of Miss Oliver's presence. Among them are a "stop-masculitis" symposium attended by screen duplicates of Professors Einstein and Piccard; the attempted creation of a synthetic man; the Czechoslovak scene in the world congress, and the newspaper headlines and radio announcements concerning the last man.
The comic interludes are, alas, too rare to justify the length of the picture. With judicious cutting it might have been an admirable tworeeler. Senhor Roulien sings pleasantly, but his eye-rolling and shoulder-shrugging become annoying. Dorothy Burgess is amusing as the racketeer.


IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE, based on a story by John D. Swain; music and lyrics by William Kernell; directed by Alfred Werker; a Fox production. At the Seventh Avenue Roxy and Brooklyn Fox Theatres.
Carlos Martin . . . . . Raul Roulien
Dorothy Wilton . . . . . Gloria Stuart
Dr. Prodwell . . . . . Edna May Oliver
Brooks . . . . . Herbert Mundin
Toots . . . . . Joan Marsh
Al Moran . . . . . Dorothy Burgess
Mrs. Wilton . . . . . Emma Dunn
Dr. Wilton . . . . . Edward Van Sloan
Perkins . . . . . Robert Greig"

Original NY Times page

Fox Films extrapolated what the future would hold over and over again, but seemingly never foresaw William Fox being ousted from his own company and his namesake company merging with Daryl Zanuck's 20th Century Films in 1935.

Possibly one of the last vestiges of William Fox's legacy was when 20th Century Fox reused the name they continued to own, adapting Richard Matheson's classic horror novel I Am Legend.  Titling the project after the forgotten futuristic musical comedy, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), proved even posthumously, William Fox's business model was correct.

Fox's Fantastic Forays into the Far-Flung Future (part 1)

WF with FW (Murnau, that is)

There wasn't a single studio in the 1920's that cornered the market on the just-emerging horror genre, and science fiction couldn't even really be called a genre yet.  But beginning in the 1920's, Fox Films had an interesting string of forward-thinking productions that are worth revisiting.

William Fox ran his studio with his own distinct business model; Rather than paying high salaries to lure successful actors to the Fox Films lot, he opted to create stars from scratch.  W.F., as he was called by friends and business associates, also thought that if he continued to own the rights to a story, it made good business sense to regularly remake those films.  Fox Films were more than able to successfully hold their own against competing studios, often producing quantity over quality, but at times creating highly artistic, imaginative productions.

While an overwhelming number of films from the first few decades of Hollywood are lost today, Fox's money saving device of revisiting their properties allows occasional glimpses today into what might have been. 

A still from THE WIZARD (1927)

Fox Films produced THE WIZARD (1927), starring Gustav Von Seyffertitz and George Kotsonaros, who was made up as an almost Chaney-esque gorilla/monster!  Sadly, all that remains of this film are striking stills.  But due to the business model put in place by William Fox, and continued after the merger with 20th Century Films, the movie can still -arguably- be experienced via 20th Century Fox's remake of the same story, retitled DR. RENAULT'S SECRET (1942).

A similar situation occurred for another story acquired by Fox Films, John D. Swain's novelette, The Last Man on Earth, which appeared in Munsey's Magazine in 1923.  Fox began production on THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1924) almost immediately.   The source material involves the 1920's projecting what the far-flung future of the 1960's would resemble, but of particular note was that the future lacked any adult males!

Follow this link for a PDF of the original short story, as it appeared in 1923's Munsey's Magazine.

The following comes from an original 1924 New York Times review:

"The Last Man on Earth (1924)

THE SCREEN; A Boisterous Fantasy.

By MORDAUNT HALL.

Published: December 13, 1924

A boisterous and frivolous fantasy, concerned with a world of women and the sudden discovery of a solitary man is the present film attraction at the Central Theatre. It bears the title of "The Last Man on Earth" and is pictured rather in the Mack Sennett vein, ladened with the pulchritude of the Hollywood studio variety.
It is in the year 1960, when, through some curious plague, all males over 14 become victims and die. The women do not seem grief-stricken as they go about their respective duties with bright faces and weird costumes. The fashions are given to transparent hoopskirts and pantaloons or the simpler mode of the one-piece bathing suit. The Presidentess of the United States has permitted the White House to become a ruin, with towering weeds and high grass on the hitherto beautiful lawns. She is very fond of black cats, but does become unusually interested in the finding of a male of the species who is 34 years old. Being the first lady of the land, she insists that the last man on earth be sent to the White House. The discoverer, however, has an eye for money and holds that the man is worth at least $10,000,000.
The Senatoress from Massachusetts and the Senatoress from California agree that there shall be a prizefight between two women to see who wins the lone man.
The boys under 14 are pampered like weak girls, especially after the discovery of a serum which readers them immune from the plague. When Greenwich Gertie, a clever crook and leader of the much-feared Tea House Gang, comes across Elmer (Earl Foxe) hiding in the backwoods she believes that she has done more than the discoverer of the serum. Here you see Elmer being lugged into a hospital and examined by the physicians, while scores of women throng the passages outside. He is deprived of his beard and long hair and made to appear respectable, with trousers that flare and silk insertions in the bell-shaped extremities. He has to go to Washington to see the two political leaders, in bathing suits, fighting to win him. The Presidentess even permits him to sit in her chair. Elmer is the most petted man that has ever stepped on earth, and yet he does not appear to enjoy all the attention he receives.
Merchants announce their appointment to dress, manicure and barber The Man and newspapers follow his every move. As an entertainment for the brain-weary this may achieve its purpose.

A Boisterous Fantasy.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, with Earle Foxe, Derelys Perdue, Grace Cunard, Gladys Tennyson, Maryon Aye, Clarissa Selwynne, Pauline French, Marie Astair, Jean Johnson, Buck Black, Maurice Murphy, William Steele, Jean Dumas, Harry Dunkinson and Fay Holderness. Directed by J. G. Blystone, Special music score by Erno Rapee. "Nlp o' Scotch," an Imperial comedy. At the Central."

Original NY Times page

Earle Foxe, the last man on earth, in the flesh.

Some of the original 1924 taglines advertising the film:

• There were women to the right of him, women to the left of him, women everywhere, that wanted to beg, borrow or steal him---
• You've Heard About the Battle of the Century -- and the Great World War -- But Wait Until You See the Battle of All Time That the Girls Put Up for THE LAST MAN ON EARTH
• A fantastic novelty with 1000 beautiful girls assembled from all parts of the world.
• THE UNITED STATES MALE GOES ON THE AUCTION BLOCK (original ad all caps)
• He's all there is -- there isn't any more!
• Laugh? Mah-mah! You'll hold your sides and shriek until the heavens ring! You'll howl with joy until you choke. WOW! Oh, sweet, singing elephants. Oh, dancing, prancing nightingales, wait till you see the greatest comedy sensation of the season, but don't -- for the love of pink-toed sea-serpents -- miss "THE LAST MAN ON EARTH."
• A fantastic novelty with one thousand beautiful girls assembled from all parts of the world. It's different. See it.



Derelys Perdue, starred as "Hattie"

• He Had So Many Sweethearts He Did Not Know What to Do

Comparing the novelette to the NY Times review of the film, it is interesting how much comedic, and exploitative, artistic license was taken by Fox Films!  It is also worth noting how the early 1920's envisioned the future.  A relatively quick internet search was unable to find any online examples, but a full set of still photography from the film exists today in the 20th Century Fox Photo Archives.  From memory, the images display a meager production, but not unlike many of the films of its day.  It is possible that limited directorial vision hindered the scale of the production.  The only particularly noteworthy visual aspects were that the 1920's wardrobe department guessed correctly by costuming the women of the 1960's in miniskirts!

Gladys Tennyson, starred as the gangster, "Frisco Kate"

It is not entirely fair to judge the shortcomings of a futuristic film that preceded METROPOLIS (1927).  The German Expressionist masterpiece is easily the most influential science fiction film ever, defining through to the present day, what the future would look like.  Also, William Fox, ever the businessman, must have known that there was no clear example that scientifiction, as it would have been called in the 1920's, would create a stir at the box office.  Investing a large amount of money in unproven thematic territory was not the Fox Films way of doing business.  Even METROPOLIS (1927) was a box office bomb, and science fiction films didn't have their heyday for decades to come.

THE WIZARD (1927) lives on today in a remade, and easily available film, as DR. RENAULT'S SECRET (1942).  THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1924) was given the same chance for survival when William Fox decided to revisit the source material for an all talking, all singing, all dancing, sci-fi, musical comedy extravaganza: IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE (1933)!  Sadly, this film shares the same fate as its earlier silent version, but there are even more tantalizing pieces of that production still available today!

TO BE CONTINUED...