See America Thirst

1930 film

November 23, 1930 (1930-11-23) (U.S.)

Running time

75 minutes; 8 reels^[1]CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

See America Thirst is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film produced and distributed by Universal Pictures and directed by William James Craft. Silent comics Harry Langdon and Slim Summerville star along with Bessie Love. Though released late in 1930, it nevertheless had a silent version.^[2]^[3]

In the film, Bessie Love introduced the type of sandals later known as "flip-flops" to American audiences.^{[citation needed]} The title is a parody of the Cole Porter musical See America First.

Plot

Slim (Summerville) and Wally (Langdon) are mistaken for hired killers and are paid to murder a bootlegger. They encounter nightclub singer Ellen (Love), associated with the district attorney's office, who assists them in convincing the gang leader to pay them double for protection. Everything goes well until the actually hired killers show up.^[2]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Cast

Harry Langdon as Wally
Slim Summerville as Slim
Bessie Love as Ellen
Mitchell Lewis as Screwy O'Toole
Matthew Betz as Insect McGann
Stanley Fields as Spumoni
Lloyd Whitlock as O'Toole's Henchman
Richard Alexander as McGann's Henchman
Tom Kennedy as Shivering Smith
Lew Hearn as Inventor
Leroy Mason as Attorney
Walter Brennan as Spumoni Bodyguard (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum as Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
Pat Harmon as Waiter (uncredited)
Tom London as Spumoni Hood (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie as Waiter, Sign changer (uncredited)
Hal Price as Cop (uncredited)

Reception

The film did not receive positive reviews and was deemed not to be funny.^[4]

Preservation status

Copies are preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Library of Congress.^[7]^[8]

References

^ Schelly, William (January 10, 2014). Harry Langdon: His Life and Films. McFarland. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-7864-5185-2.
^ ^a ^b Munden, Kenneth W., ed. (1971). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films 1921–1930. New York: R.R. Bowker Company. p. 694. ISBN 9780520215214. OCLC 664500075.
^ "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1893–1993: See America Thirst".
^ ^a ^b Motion Picture Reviews. Los Angeles, CA: Women's University Club. 1930. p. 7.
^ Hacker, Tom (October 25, 1930). "New Product". Exhibitors Herald World. p. 43.
^ Catalog of 16 mm Silent Motion Picture Film Library. New York: Mogull's Camera and Film Exchange. 1940. p. 14.
^ "See America thirst / Universal Pictures ; presented by Carl Laemmle ; director, William James Craft ; screenplay-dialogue, Henry Le Cossitt ; adaptation, C. Jerome Horwin ; story, Vin Moore, Edward Luddy". UCLA Library: Film & Television Archive.
^ The American Film Institute (1978). Catalog of Holdings: The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress. Washington. p. 162. OCLC 5102838.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)