Over the Hill

Over the Hill (1931)

See this Picture-and peer into the Soul of Humanity

In their farm house in a New York village, Ma Shelby prepares breakfast for her four children, Isaac, Tommy, Johnny and Susan, and then awakens them. The racket the boys make as they play and fight awakens their father, who spanks the eldest, Isaac. When a visitor chides Pa for not working, Ma sticks up for her husband, saying that he has a weak back and that he is waiting for a promised government job.

Date of release
1931-11-29
TMDB
8.1 / 10 (7)
Runtime
1h 29m
Genres
Drama
Director
Henry King

Casting

Interesting facts

Over the Hill is a 1931 American Pre-Code black-and-white melodrama film directed by Henry King for Fox Film Corporation. Starring Mae Marsh, James Dunn, Sally Eilers, and Olin Howland, the story concerns a young mother who devotedly cares for her children but when they grow up, most of them turn their backs on her and she has no choice but to go live in the poorhouse. The film is a remake of the 1920 silent film Over the Hill to the Poorhouse, which had been a major box-office hit for Fox. The story was based on a pair of poems by Will Carleton. Over the Hill also inspired the South Korean film adaptation Over the Ridge (1968).

Production

Over the Hill is a remake of Over the Hill to the Poorhouse, a 1920 silent film which had been a major box-office hit for Fox. The original source for both films was the poems "Over the Hill to the Poorhouse" and "Over the Hill from the Poorhouse" by Will Carleton, published in 1873.

This was Mae Marsh's first sound film. Marsh, a silent-screen star, found it difficult to memorize dialogue. Director Henry King was quoted in Henry King, Director: From Silents to 'Scope (Directors Guild of America, 1995) as having encouraged Marsh to "speak like yourself", but Marsh said she wasn't about to study the script and begged him to "tell me what to say".

The production marked the second film pairing of James Dunn and Sally Eilers, who had achieved celebrity in Bad Girl released earlier in 1931. Fox would re-team the popular pair in Dance Team (1932), Sailor's Luck (1933), and Hold Me Tight (1933).

Marilyn Harris, who plays Susan Shelby as a child, landed the part after making a favorable impression on the casting director at her interview; he agreed to change the age of the character to accommodate her.

Filming took place between early April and early May 1931. Additional production work took place from August 31 to mid-October 1931.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended