Dynamite (1929 film)

Dynamite is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film produced and

Dynamite
directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Conrad Nagel, Kay
Johnson, Charles Bickford, and Julia Faye.[1] Written by Jeanie
MacPherson, John Howard Lawson, and Gladys Unger, the film
is about a convicted murderer scheduled to be executed, whom a
socialite marries simply to satisfy a condition of her grandfather's
will. Mitchell Leisen was nominated for the Academy Award for
Best Art Direction.

Contents
Plot
Cast
Production
Reception
References
External links Theatrical release poster
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Plot Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Screenplay by Jeanie MacPherson
Coal miner Hagon Derk (Charles Bickford) is sentenced to hang
John Howard
for murder. His only concern is for his young sister Katie (Muriel
McCormac), who will be left all alone. Frivolous socialite Lawson
Cynthia Crothers (Kay Johnson) has her own troubles. By the Gladys Unger
terms of her grandfather's will, if she is not married by her twenty-
Starring Conrad Nagel
third birthday (only a month away), she will not inherit his
millions and will be left penniless. She is "engaged" to Roger Kay Johnson
Towne (Conrad Nagel), but he is married to Marcia (Julia Faye). Charles Bickford
Marcia has her own lover, Marco (Joel McCrea), and is willing to
Julia Faye
grant Roger a divorce ... for the right price. The two women
haggle behind Roger's back and settle on $100,000. Cinematography J. Peverell Marley
Edited by Anne Bauchens
Hagon, desperate to provide for Katie, offers his body for
$10,000 in a newspaper ad. Cynthia sees it and goes to see him. Production Metro-Goldwyn-
She offers him the money in exchange for him marrying her. He company Mayer
accepts. Just minutes before Hagon's execution though, the real Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-
killer is goaded into attacking a man with a gun and is fatally shot.
Mayer
He confesses before dying, and Hagon is released.
Release date December 13, 1929
Hagon goes to see his stunned wife. When her friends show up to (USA)
party the night away, he sees Cynthia writing a $25,000 check as
down payment to Marcia and discussing the terms of their Running time 129 minutes
agreement. In a confrontation between the group, Hagon grabs Country United States
the check stashed in Marcia's garter, showing it to Roger as proof Language English
that he's been made a pawn. Roger tells Cynthia that he will settle
with Marcia himself but if Cynthia gives her the check, they're
through. Cynthia rips up the check as Marcia threatens to expose the plot. The pair go downstairs where
Cynthia reveals to the party happening that she married another man. Hagon reveals himself as her husband
and the party devolves into a crude mockery of the marriage, realizing Cynthia's fear of being made a
laughingstock. Having had enough, Hagon throws out the partygoers, which frightens the men and arouses the
women. Cynthia shows little appreciation for his saving her from the mockery and locks herself in her room.
Hagon resolves to return her money and breaks down her door to speak to her. After a brief confrontation,
Hagon flings $10,000 at her and leaves.

When Cynthia is informed that she must actually be living with her husband on her birthday, she drives to his
mining town. He refuses to go back to her palatial apartment, so she persuades him to let her stay with him. He
agrees on condition that she cook and clean, just like a real wife, and locks up her fancy car in his tool shed.
Her first attempt at preparing a meal is a dismal failure. Katie kindly helps out and keeps it a secret from
Hagon, but Cynthia confesses on her own. Hagon tells her it is the first honest thing he has seen her do.

The next day, while shopping at the local store, Cynthia buys a gift for a young boy. His mother objects, but
the child runs away with his present and is hurt in a traffic accident. The doctor says that only a brain specialist
in the city can save him, but the boy only has hours to live. Cynthia breaks into the tool shed, speeds away in
her car and returns with the specialist. The child is saved.

Hagon returns from work to find the door of his tool shed demolished and learns that Cynthia withdrew
$2,000 from the bank (to pay the specialist). He assumes that she got tired of his way of life and went to see
Roger. When Hagon demands an explanation, Cynthia is too disheartened to reply. She telephones Roger to
come for her. However, the child's mother tells Hagon what Cynthia has done.

When Roger shows up, he insists on seeing Hagon before leaving. They go down into the bowels of the mine
to find him. A cave-in traps the trio with only fifteen minutes' worth of air. Hagon finally confesses he loves
Cynthia. Then he realizes there is a way out. He quickly packs a stick of dynamite into a wall; there is another
chamber on the other side with enough air to sustain them until they can be rescued. However, without a fuse
cap, someone will have to strike the dynamite with a sledgehammer to set it off. After arguing, the two men
toss a coin for the privilege. Roger "wins", but Hagon wrestles the sledgehammer away from him. After
Cynthia whispers something to Roger, he tells Hagon that Cynthia wants to say goodbye to him. When Hagon
goes to Cynthia, he asks her to get on with saying what she needs to say. Confused, she reveals that she said
she loves Hagon. With the two safely out of the way, Roger sets off the dynamite and is blown to pieces. As
Hagon carries Cynthia into the opened chamber, he tells her that he was wrong about Roger - that he was a
brave man after all.

Cast
Conrad Nagel as Roger Towne
Kay Johnson as Cynthia Crothers
Charles Bickford as Hagon Derk
Julia Faye as Marcia Towne
Muriel McCormac as Katie Derk
Joel McCrea as Marco
Robert Edeson as First Wise Fool
William Holden as Second Wise Fool
Henry Stockbridge as Third Wise Fool
Marjorie Zier as Good Mixer
Rita La Roy as Good Mixer
Tyler Brooke as The Life of the Party
Clarence Burton as Police Officer
Jim Farley as Death Row Police Officer
Robert T. Haines as The Judge
Douglas Scott as Bobby Smith
Jane Keckley as Bobby's Mother
Blanche Craig as Neighbor (Mrs. Johnson)
 Leslie Fenton as Young "Vulture" Firing Gun Mary Gordon as Neighbor at Store
Barton Hepburn as Young "Vulture" Ynez Seabury as Neighbor (Mrs. Johnson's
Confessing Crime Daughter)
Ernest Hilliard as Good Mixer Scott Kolk as Radio Announcer
June Nash as Good Mixer Fred Walton as Doctor Rawlins
Judith Barrett as Good Mixer Wade Boteler as Mine Foreman (uncredited)
Neely Edwards as Good Mixer Randolph Scott as Coal Miner (uncredited)[2]

Production
Dynamite was DeMille's first full-length sound film (a silent version was also released simultaneously), and
casting the right actors (with adequate voices) proved a difficult process. Development began on the heels of
the release of his previous film, The Godless Girl, which had featured hastily added sound footage (now
currently unavailable for viewing) and which had been a box-office disappointment.

Numerous actors were screen-tested by assistant Mitchell Leisen by December 18, 1928, and apart from
Ricardo Cortez and Monte Blue, most of them were B-movie actors. Male actors tested but passed over
included Buck Jones, Bob Custer, Jason Robards, Sr., Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Dean Jagger and Randolph
Scott. Actresses tested but passed over included Carmelita Geraghty, Merna Kennedy, Leila Hyams, Dorothy
Burgess and Sally Blane. His final selections were Charles Bickford and Kay Johnson, primarily known for
their stage work.[3] Leisen reportedly tried to interest DeMille in up-and-coming Carole Lombard for
Johnson's role; allegedly, she can be glimpsed in the surviving versions of the film.[4]

Filming of Dynamite began on January 29, 1929, and lasted until April 30. Scenes for the silent version were
shot beginning on May 28 and ending on June 5.[5] Charles Bickford would later describe the script as "'a
mess of corn' with terrible dialogue."[6]

Dorothy Parker, who was living in Los Angeles at the time, was commandeered to pen the lyrics for an
original song for Dynamite. Her third try, titled "How Am I To Know", and set to music by Jack King, was
accepted and featured in the film's prison sequence; after that introduction into the film, the music is used in a
foxtrot form by a pianist in an impromptu party given at Johnson's home just after Bickford arrives there (and
is hustled out of sight of the guests), a subsequent sequence in the mining town where Johnson teaches
Bickford to dance (and they almost kiss) to music coming from Bickford's radio, and also under the film's
"The End" credit. [4]

Reception
The New York Times reviewer Mordaunt Hall had mixed feelings about DeMille's first talkie, calling it "an
astonishing mixture, with artificiality vying with realism and comedy hanging on the heels of grim
melodrama."[7] "Even in the work of the performers, there are moments when they are human beings and
then, at times, they become nothing more than Mr. De Mille's puppets", "behaving strangely and conversing in
movie epigrams".[7] Nonetheless, Hall approved of the efforts of Johnson ("an accomplished actress") and
Bickford ("a splendid performance"), though he could not say the same of Nagel ("does not act up to his usual
standard").[7]

References
 1. "Dynamite (1929) details" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019843). Internet Movie Database.
Retrieved August 21, 2012.
2. "Full cast and crew for Dynamite" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019843/fullcredits). Internet
Movie Database. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
3. Birchard, Robert S.; Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood; University of Kentucky Press, Lexington,
2004; p. 236.
4. Cady, Brian. Dynamite (http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=72490&mainArticleId=72
479), "Film Article" at Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Turner Broadcasting System, a subsidiary
of Time Warner, Inc., New York, N.Y. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
5. Birchard, Robert S.; Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood; University of Kentucky Press, Lexington,
2004; p. 234
6. Louvich, Simon; Cecil B. DeMille: a life in art; Thomas Dunne, New York, 2007; p. 290
7. Hall, Mordaunt (1929). "THE SCREEN; Cecil De Mille's First Talker. A Noble Scoundrel" (http
s://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802E6DA143BE23ABC4051DFB4678382639EDE),
Dynamite review, The New York Times, December 28, 1929. Retrieved January 24, 2018.

External links
Dynamite (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019843/) at IMDb
Dynamite details (http://tollymovies.com/movies/1933/Dynamite), Tollymovies.com
Dynamite (https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/73780/enwp) at the TCM Movie Database
Dynamite (https://www.allmovie.com/movie/v69421) at AllMovie

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