Reaching For The Moon

Reaching for the Moon (1930)

A movieland curiosity! Irving Berlin's first Hollywood musical -- or it would have been, except United Artists deleted all but one of Berlin's musical numbers! That might've consigned this film to the realm of the forgettable, except for the exceptional cast: silent swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks Sr., lovely Bebe Daniels, dependable Edward Everett Horton and, stealing the show in his film debut, Bing Crosby. Add to that mix Berlin's original story, laced with William Cameron Menzies' fantastic Art Deco sets, spiced with liberal doses of pre-Code innuendo, and stirred by director Edmund Goulding's liberated camera movement compared to the stagy talkies of the period, and what pours out is a bubbly comedy cocktail with one show-stopping musical number as the cherry.

Financial tycoon Larry Day (Fairbanks) is a Wall Street wiz, but a dud at the arts of love. Falling head over heels for glamorous aviatrix Vivian Benton (Daniels), he follows her onto an ocean liner, even though she is going overseas to marry someone else. Struggling to woo her, Larry is coached by his valet (Horton). But Larry is wiped out by the market crash and devastated by Vivian's rejection of him. Will he regain his fortune and win his lady love? Find out in this delightful early sound treasure.

60 minutes.