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What a Widow!
What a Widow!
	Film poster
Directed by	Allan Dwan; Dudley Murphy (uncredited); James Seymour (uncredited)
Screenplay by	James Gleason; James Seymour
Story by	Josephine Lovett
Produced by	Gloria Swanson; Joseph P. Kennedy; Allan Dwan
Starring	Gloria Swanson; Owen Moore; Lew Cody
Cinematography	George Barnes
Edited by	Viola Lawrence
Music by	Hugo Felix; Josiah Zuro
Production; company	Gloria Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	August 13, 1930;
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

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.

Cast

Gloria Swanson as Tamarind Brook
Owen Moore as Gerry Morgan
Lew Cody as Victor
Margaret Livingston as Valli
William Holden as Mr. Lodge
Herbert Braggiotti as Jose Alvarado
Gregory Gaye as Baslikoff
Adrienne D'Ambricourt as Paulette
Nella Walker as Marquise
Daphne Pollard as Masseuse
Reginald Sharland (uncredited)

Music

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.

Preservation status

Two 35mm negatives of the film are housed at the George Eastman Museum.^[3] The soundtrack is preserved at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and the trailer is preserved at the Library of Congress.^[4]^[5]

References

^ Shearer, Stephen Michael; Basinger, Jeanine (2013). Gloria Swanson: The Ultimate Star. Macmillan. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-250-01366-8.
^ (Shearer & Basinger 2013, pp. 1673–1674)
^ https://collections.eastman.org/objects/314889/what-a-widow?ctx=4a105de9-9809-4526-a5fe-14802478e02d&idx=389 ; https://collections.eastman.org/objects/314890/what-a-widow?ctx=4a105de9-9809-4526-a5fe-14802478e02d&idx=390
^ Lombardi, Frederic (2013). Allan Dwan and the Rise and Decline of the Hollywood Studios. McFarland. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-786-43485-5.
^ 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