What a Widow! is a 1930 American pre-Code musical romantic comedy film directed by Allan Dwan and produced by and starring Gloria Swanson. The music was written by Vincent Youmans. It was distributed through United Artists.[1] Although rumored to have been lost for decades, the film is extant in two complete 35mm copies at the George Eastman Museum.
The film was produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. It received generally positive reviews and was noted for its animated title sequence created by William Dietz, but was met with lukewarm returns at the box office mainly due to the backlash against musical films late in 1930.[2] Due to the public's backlash against musicals, United Artists downplayed the fact that the film was a musical, removed references to Vincent Youmans and his songs and advertised the film as a romantic comedy.
The film features three songs with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by J. Russel Robinson and George Waggner. The songs are titled "Love Is Like a Song," "Say 'Oui' Cheri" and "You're the One" and were all sung by Gloria Swanson in the film. Gloria Swansons also recorded the songs for Victor Records. Due to the public's backlash against musicals the recordings were not released however.
^Lombardi, Frederic (2013). Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios. McFarland. p. 180. ISBN978-0-786-43485-5.
^Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collections and The United Artist Collections at The Library of Congress [trailer only]. p. 206. c.1978 by the American Film Institute
External links
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