34 thoughts on “Franchot Tone Movies”

1. Nice new video on Franchot Tone. I have only seen 5 of his movies overall (4 are on your video), but most of those movies are pretty highly rated…..#1 Mutiny on the Bounty, #2 Advise and Consent and #8 In Harm’s Way. In some ways he reminds me of William Hurt…a good actor but not really a star. He made movies for decades…yet rarely gets talked about. Just like Hurt. Voted up and shared.

   Shared Steve’s Tone video. Our thoughts on Mr. Tone.

   Reply

   1. Hi Bruce, your tally 4 of the 36 on the video, I’ve seen 6 and Flora way out in front with 22. I only really knew Tone from Mutiny on the Bounty but like you said he has appeared in some top rated movies, though rarely the lead. Thanks for the comment, vote and share, it is appreciated.

      Reply

2. HI STEVE: Thanks for the additional information and opinions. I always refrain from letting a thespian’s private life and activities prejudice me for or against his/her work on the screen. According to Kirk Douglas biography my Joan actually tried to rape him when he first arrived in Hollywood and dated her. Joan wanted Brando as her co-star but he told her agent “Only when a suitable mother and son picture comes along!” – presumably one turned down by Al leach

   So the more I learn about the off-screen activities of some thespians the more I’m content to confine/have confined my acquaintanceship with them to their movies. Maybe WH is not that particular though because I like Andy Griffith on the screen but as he is supposed to be quite a cantankerous character I wouldn’t have wanted to know him in private; whereas Andy used to call in at the grocery store that The Work Horse operated in the old days and I gather that the pair of them were right pals.

   Anyway I hope you are continue to keep safe and are resisting taking part in unmasked raves on crowded beaches.

   Reply

3. As STEVE’s video amply illustrates when there was another big star in the movie Franchot never got top billing and he regularly played 2nd fiddle or even less to a large number of major thespians such as the following:

   1/Al Leach in Every Girl Should be Married – Tone not even equal billing to Archie
   2/Gable and Laughton in Mutiny on the bounty
   3/The Cowboy of the Century in 3 Comrades
   4/Bing in Here Comes the Groom
   5/Crawford in too many films to list
   6/Katie Hep in Quality Street as shown on Steve’s cover poster
   7/Cooper in Lives of a Bengal Lancer
   8/My Deanna in His Butler’s Sister/Nice Girl/Because of Him
   9/The Thin Woman in Man Proof – heck EVERYBODY else was getting billed [often multiple times] above Thins in those days!

   Indeed it’s possible that at times Franchot was known more for off-screen matters rather than for his work. For example (1) when he was married to my Joan from 1935-1939 he was nicknamed “Mr Joan Crawford” [though that happens a lot to male entertainers who marry a great female star – think Mister Debbie Cogerson!]]

   (2) in 1951, Tone’s relationship with sexy actress Barbara Payton made headlines when he was rendered unconscious for 18 hours and sustained numerous facial injuries following a fistfight with actor Tom Neal a rival for Payton’s attention; and the matter ended up in the courts. Payton appeared with the Great Greg in 1951’s western Only the Valiant. Her hectic and controversial life has been the subject of many books. Neal was imprisoned for 6 years for manslaughter in 1965 for another bout of violence; and Neal and Payton were both blacklisted by the McCarthyites. Tone picked quite a pair to get mixed up with didn’t he?

   However in discussing the success of Lives of a Bengal Lancer [79% rated by BOTH Steve and the ole Horse] lead actor Gary Cooper praised Franchot’s outstanding performance and added “Without Franchot Tone that movie wouldn’t have worked.”

   Reply

   1. Best posters STEVE’s VIDEO

      Honeymoon
      First one for Pilot 5
      Today We Live – two of Crawford at her most iconic
      Reckless
      His Butler’s Sister
      Love on the Run
      Dark Waters
      Quality Street
      Dancing Lady
      The Girl from Virginia
      The King Steps Out
      Two for Sadie McKee
      2nd one for Dangerous
      Two for In Harm’s Way – stunning!
      1st AND 3rd ones for Phantom Lady
      Bombshell
      Both for Lives of a Bengal Lancer
      Foreign language one for Mutiny on the Bounty

      Reply

      1. Best STILLS/LOBBY CARDS in STEVE’s Video

         Honeymoon
         Jigsaw
         Fast & Furious
         No More Ladies
         Today we Live
         Reckless
         His Butler’s Sister
         Bride Wore Red
         Love on the Run
         Tone with Harlow and Leach
         Quality Street
         Two for Nice Girl – wasn’t my D lovely back then?
         Sadie McKee
         Dangerous
         Three Comrades
         Lives of a Bengal Lancer
         Mutiny on the Bounty
         Five Graves to Manchester – Franchot top-billed for a change

         OVERALL: Two adjectives and my personal rating sum up how the video impressed me: splendid and classy with lots of vintage posters/lobby cards; 98.5%

         Reply

         1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info and trivia,much appreciated. Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.

            This was a fest for Crawford and Durbin fans, but I still managed to sneak the lovely Miss Myrna Loy in there somewhere. Someone had to!

            Yes I did notice that Tone was a supporting actor for most of these films, even the ladies were topping the bill over him. One of the few films he had lead billing ‘Five Graves to Dublin’ and Tone is nowhere to be seen on the poster, oh the humanity!

            Two films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Mutiny on the Bounty. Four films scored 9 – Five Graves to Cairo, Three Comrades, Bombshell and Phantom Lady.

            Bruce and I have the same top 7 but in different order, same no.1.

            Mutiny tops IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes charts.

            Franchot on his ex-wife, Joan Crawford – “She’s like that old joke about Philadelphia: First prize, 4 years with Joan. Second prize, 8 years with her.”

            IMDB trivia – In his later years, he was plagued by illness, and his ex-wife, Joan Crawford, helped care for him. The pair had remained friends long after their divorce. When he died, and in accordance with his wishes, Crawford arranged to have his ashes scattered over Muskoka Lake in Canada, close to his beloved home.

            Reply

            1. Bob, here’s an interesting story about Joan and Bette I’ve just come across –

               https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/13/joan-crawfords-crush-on-bette-davis-also-fueled-feud-says-new-book-by-davis-confidante/

            2. HI STEVE: Thanks for the feedback. Naturally I appreciated the run of Durbin/Crawford material but I must have missed that Thins still that you mention. Sorry – send me to the back of one of WH’s classes as a punishment.

               I had actually read a direct quote from Joan in which she said “I wouldn’t mind romancing Bette Davis.” [or words to that effect!] but I often wondered whether Miss Crawford was being bitchingly sarcastic in the way that some historians claim that Tracy was being sarcastic when around 1938/40 he called Gable The King really meaning that Clark had airs and graces about himself and that he Young Cantankerous was just as important as Gable.

               It’s therfore pleasing that your link from the viewpoint of acquiring accuracy in the matterseems to confirm that Crawford’s expressed romantic interest in Davis was genuine so many thanks for sharing it. Did you know that when contract players Abbot and Costello and my Deanna were filming at the same time at Universal the studio excecutives allegedly had to assign bodyguard to Deanna to nsure that “ladies man” Lou didn’t romantically pester her?

            3. Apologies for spelling Bud Abbott’s surname wrong in my 5.02 pm post [31 Aug] to you

            4. Bob, that was an interesting article.

               I’d read a book on their ongoing feud but I must have missed the part where Joan was trying to get Bette into bed. Bette was cute when she was young in the 1930s but she was never a beauty.

               Joan’s conquests also included Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo!

               “Bette Davis was devastated when her daughter Barbara Hyman published a tell-all memoir in 1985 that painted Davis as a violent drunk and an abusive woman.”

               Very similar to Crawford’s daughter and her book ‘Mommie Dearest’, except that Joan was already dead when that book was published.

               I’d read that Davis was angry that Crawford’s daughter said those terrible things in her book.

            5. Thumbs up to the many comment conversation between two UMR Hall of Famers…Bob and Steve.

4. Larry Steers was in 11 films with Franchot.

   Reply

   1. Hey Dan. Thanks for the information on Larry Steers and his 11 movies with Franchot Tone.

      Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.