Meet the Baron
Meet the Baron is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film starring Jack Pearl, Jimmy Durante, Edna May Oliver, ZaSu Pitts, Ted Healy and His Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). The title of the film refers to Pearl's character of Baron Munchhausen, which he made famous on his radio show.[1]
| Meet the Baron | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Walter Lang |
| Written by | Norman Krasna Herman J. Mankiewicz |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Starring | Jack Pearl Jimmy Durante Edna May Oliver ZaSu Pitts Ted Healy Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard |
| Cinematography | Allen G. Siegler |
| Edited by | James E. Newcom |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
A couple of bunglers (Jimmy Durante and Jack Pearl) are abandoned in the jungles of Africa by Baron Munchausen. A rescue team mistake Pearl for the missing Baron, and take the two of them back to America where they receive a hero's welcome.
The phony Baron is invited to speak at Cuddle College, run by Dean Primrose (Edna May Oliver). There he falls for ZaSu Pitts and meets three crazy janitors (The Three Stooges), and faces exposure as a fraud.
Cast
- Jack Pearl as The Famous Baron Munchausen of the Air
- Jimmy Durante as Joe McGoo – the Favorite "Schnozzle" of the Screen
- ZaSu Pitts as Zasu, Upstairs Maid
- Ted Healy as Head Janitor
- Edna May Oliver as Dean Primrose
- The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Girls as Dancers
- Henry Kolker as Baron Munchausen
- William B. Davidson as General Broadcasting Representative
- Moe Howard as Janitor
- Larry Fine as Janitor
- Jerry Howard as Janitor
- Ben Bard as Charley Montague
- Claude King as Explorer
Reception
The film was a box-office disappointment for MGM.[2]
"Clean as a Whistle", a musical number risqué for its time which involves a group of women in a shower, was later featured in the 1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III as an example of Pre-Code Hollywood.
See also
References
External links
- Meet the Baron at IMDb
- Meet the Baron at the TCM Movie Database
- Meet the Baron at ThreeStooges.net
- Shower scene in Meet the Baron on YouTube
- Pearl as the Baron on YouTube