Swing High, Swing Low (1937)
In the Panama Canal Zone, a happy-go-lucky Army trumpeter falls for a stranded manicurist, and the two build a popular nightclub act and a marriage. When his playing carries him to New York stardom, drink, distance, and another woman pull the partnership apart before a last-act reconciliation.
Mitchell Leisen’s romantic melodrama, adapted from the stage hit Burlesque and pairing Carole Lombard with Fred MacMurray, lapsed into the public domain when Paramount let its copyright expire. The full-length version is not known to survive complete, and the prints in circulation run roughly 82 minutes from an abridged reissue; Swing High, Swing Low remains watchable chiefly for Lombard in a rare dramatic-leaning role.
Background
Mitchell Leisen directed Swing High, Swing Low, a 1937 Paramount musical drama starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray, with Dorothy Lamour in a supporting role. The story is set in the Panama Canal Zone, where an Army trumpeter falls for a stranded manicurist, played by Lombard, and the two build a popular nightclub act and a marriage. When his playing carries him to New York stardom, drink, distance and another woman pull the partners apart. The film is a bittersweet entry in the period’s musicals, and it draws on the jazz and nightclub world of the 1930s.
What to watch for
Pay attention to Lombard’s range, which moves from broad physical comedy to a more serious account of the marriage’s collapse. MacMurray plays the trumpeter with easy charm, and the musical scenes built around his playing give the film its energy. Leisen’s direction is smooth and polished, and the Canal Zone and New York settings give the story two contrasting worlds. The ending is more somber than many musicals of the time, which makes it a useful case study of how the 1930s musical could handle loss. Notice how the music is used to mark the couple’s rising success and then their decline.
