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 byWalter Lang
Written byNorman Krasna
Herman J. Mankiewicz
Produced byDavid O. Selznick
StarringJack Pearl
Jimmy Durante
Edna May Oliver
ZaSu Pitts
Ted Healy
Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Curly Howard
CinematographyAllen G. Siegler
Edited byJames E. Newcom
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 20, 1933 (1933-10-20)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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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

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Reception

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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

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References

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  1. ^ TCM website
  2. ^ D. W. (November 25, 1934). "TAKING A LOOK AT THE RECORD". The New York Times. ProQuest 101193306.
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