The Toast of New York [DVD]

'The Toast of New York' is definitely an odd item - a huge budget biopic about 19th century fraudster Jim Fiske and his battles with Daniel Drew and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Edward Arnold is the right man for the role, easily overshadowing second billed Cary Grant with his force of personality, but it's hard to root for a `hero' whose aim is to bankrupt America. What next, George Soros, the Musical? It's never less than watchable but while Billy Wilder and Izzy Diamond could have turned this into a blistering black comedy, it's beyond the writers to make it work as a rags-to-riches-to-rags drama. It does have one rather beautiful song, 'The First Time I Saw You' that even manages to survive Frances Farmer's flat foghorn drone delivery.

The Toast of New York is an interesting and kind of bizarre movie that I would say is good but not great and is not Cary's best. It is one of Cary Grant's first movies though he is not the main star of the movie, it is actually Edward Arnold's character that the movie is about and the character he plays is a selfish and greedy egomaniac. A real meanie! The movie is a semifactual biography of post Cival war era Wall Street wheeler dealer James Fisk who is played by Edward Arnold and Cary Grant plays his friend and employee and the movie also stars Jack Oakie and Frances Farmer.

Edward Arnold is absolutely superlative in this 1937 biopic about Robber Baron Big Jim Fisk. Arnold (1890 - 1956) appeared in more than 100 films from 1916 to 1956. He's best known for playing Daniel Webster in "The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1941) and Diamond Jim Brady in "Diamond Jim". He's one of the few hefty men who were ever able to achieve leading man status, but staying "hefty" (and not going to fat) was such a problem for him that he ultimately decided to let his girth expand while his stardom faded. This earned him many meaty character roles

The film co-stars Cary Grant and Jack Oakie as Fisk's business associates, and Frances Farmer as Fisk's love interest Josie Mansfield, with Donald Meek (Daniel Drew) and Clarence Kolb (Cornelius Vanderbilt). In 1937, Grant was not yet the star he was to become, and is clearly secondary to Arnold, even though he was well known for films like "She Done Him Wrong" (1933) and "Sylvia Scarlett" (1935). But Mae West took credit for "She Done Him Wrong" and "Sylvia Scarlett" was a box office flop, and it wouldn't be until "The Awful Truth" (1937) that he would emerge as a star. Though generally well regarded (AFI rates him 2nd greatest male star ever), Grant never won a major acting award and received only 2 Oscar nominations in more than 70 film outings. I liked him best in "Gunga Din" (1939).

Frances Farmer (1913-70) is best known for her emotional problems highlighted in the film "Frances" (1982). She appeared in some 20 films between 1936 and 1958, the most famous of which was "Son of Fury" (1942).

Jack Oakie (1903-78) was a popular comedian in the early talkie era, making nearly 100 films often as a college student. He's best known for playing Benzino Napaloni (aka Mussolini) in Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" (1940) for which he received his only Oscar nomination (The winner that year was Walter Brennan for "The Westerner").

Donald Meek (1878-1946) was a short, crumpled, bald man who appeared in more than 100 films between 1923 and 1947. He was usually a villain. He had memorable roles in "Captain Blood" (1935), "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1938), and "Young Mr. Lincoln" (1939). I remember him best as the whiskey salesman from "Stagecoach" (1939) and as Mr. Poppins from "You Can't Take it With You" (1938).

Clarence Kolb (1874-1964) appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1957 but he is probably best known as George Honeywell, the cranky boss in "My Little Margie" (1952-5). His fast talking and distinct bombastic voice earned him many roles as a political or pushy businessman in films like "His Girl Friday" (1940) and Hellzapoppin" (1941).

The film is directed by Rowland Lee (1891-1975) who specialized in costume dramas like George Arliss' "Cardinal Richelieu" (1935) "The Three Musketeers" (1935), "The Son of Monte Cristo" (1940) and "Captain Kidd" (1945).

Edward Small (1891-1977) was one of Hollywood's most prolific independent producers in an era dominated by studios. He made such notable films as "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1934), "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1939), "The Corsican Brothers" (1941), and "Brewster's Millions" (1945).

The film purports to tell the story of Jim Fisk, but there are lots of historical inaccuracies, especially surrounding Fisk's attempt to corner the gold market and his subsequent demise. At a budget of more than $1 million, the film was a major failure for Small and RKO, and never came close to earning back the production costs. In 1937 the most popular films were light hearted fare like "Snow White", "Topper", "Wee Willie Winkie", "One Hundred Men and a Girl", and "Heidi".

This is a high energy film, with a great performance from Edward Arnold. The production values are good and the story is entertaining even if it isn't historically accurate. It is one of the few films that deals with the financial crises in the 19th Century and on that point alone it deserve a look. For Cary Grant fans, it's a chance to see him for the last time as a second stringer before his career really took off.

PS - I'd give this one a 3 1/2 if I could. It's certainly better than OK but I really can't say "I like it".