Reaching for the Moon (1930)

'Reaching for the Moon' is interesting for being one of the few talkies/sound pictures that silent star Douglas Fairbanks, and for seeing singing/crooning legend Bing Crosby in a very early role.It is a decent, at its best great, film in its own right. But in serious need of a restoration other than the shoddy DVD it's presently got, with its crackling and sometimes muffled sound quality and haphazard and lacking in sharpness picture quality, that does cheapen an otherwise good-looking film. It does stick out like a sore thumb when the production values of the actual film look great and like real care went into them, but the DVD looks like it was made in haste and with limited technology.There is not an awful lot wrong with the film itself. The storytelling is a little jumpy and incomplete at points early on, which does suggest heavy editing and cuts. Fairbanks is a mixed bag, he is fun and charming with envious athleticism but he also does try too hard in some of his line delivery and a few facial expressions and his voice doesn't fit his persona, one would expect one more muscular rather than the anaemic one here, an example of a transition from silent to talkie being less than smooth.Despite the DVD quality, 'Reaching for the Moon' does look as though it was made with love and care. The costumes are lavish and the photography skillful and often luminous but the biggest star is the incredible art-deco sets, a masterpiece of art-deco design. The music is melodious, romantic and beautifully orchestrated, while Irving Berlin's "When the Folks High Up Do the Mean Low-Down" is the highlight of the film, so much so that one does really wish that there were more songs as apparently intended. The script is witty and romantically heartfelt, while a vast majority of the story goes at a snappy pace and entertains and moves.Very nicely directed too, and apart from reservations about Fairbanks the cast are uniformly good. Edward Everett Horton's very funny performance is particularly great, while Claud Allistair also has fun. Bebe Daniels is a beguiling screen presence and sings a dream. Even so early on in his career, Crosby's voice still makes one want to listen to him for hours and still can't get enough of, just wish that he had more than one song.Overall, interesting early talkie and a nice film, but desperately needs restoration. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I didn't know they made movies about scoring back in the 30s. The Jeckel/Hyde effects of Edward Everett Horton's "spanish fly" brew are a hoot. I found this gem on a miss marked double feature Bing Crosy DVD at the dollar store. The DVD titled "Road to Hollywood"/"Sound of Laughter" did not contain the film "Sound of Laughter" but instead "Reaching for the Moon" This copy contained no opening or closing titles or credits, indeed the menu screen was just a still frame from the middle of the picture with the sole option of "Play". With "zip" for information, It took me some time just to Identify the title. There is a token appearance of Bing Crosby in the film to sing one song. Fairbanks, Horton and Bebe Daniels all sparkle in this Society film about a beautiful flirt and the wall-street tycoon she taunts.

While this film was apparently issued as a musical, there is really only a single musical performance in the entire 66-minute version that I saw, lasting only about 4 or 5 minutes. The original issue apparently had more in it, and considering that it was Irving Berlin material, it's a great pity that more of it didn't remain.That being said, however, the single production number that does come along, 45 minutes into the film, is easily worth the price of admission. Not only is it the earliest extant film version of a Bing Crosby performance (and I swear he was wearing a toupee, even then!), but his solo piece was wonderfully supported by a second from Bebe Daniels, and yet a third, from a sultry-voiced woman who is no longer recalled, and all of it given life by a jazzy dance troupe — not as performers, but as actual dancers. It projects the storied Jazz Age with marvelous resonance, and is a joy to watch.

Reaching for the Moon will never make anyone's list of top ten films, but it is valuable piece of Hollywood History because it contains one of Douglas Fairbanks's few sound films and it is the solo debut of Bing Crosby.Joe Schenck who was a partner of Fairbanks in United Artists got Irving Berlin to write an original score for this film and to do the screenplay. Fairbanks is a wizard of Wall Street who falls head over heels for aviatrix Bebe Daniels and chases after her on an ocean liner to England. Along for the ride is Edward Everett Horton who plays his butler/sidekick.During production it was decided to scrap Berlin's score with only one song remaining, When the Folks High Up Do a Mean Low Down. Bing Crosby sang a chorus of it and then passed it over to Bebe Daniels and bit player June McCloy. At the time of the filming Crosby was appearing at the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with his Rhythm Boy trio. Fairbanks was 48 when this was made and the athleticism that characterized his best silent films was a bit annoying here. But that's what his public expected of him. His role is the kind of part that Cary Grant could later play in his sleep.Bebe Daniels is pretty much forgotten today. But she was a beautiful woman and had a great singing voice. If people remember her at all it was as Dorothy Brock who breaks her ankle in 42 Street and allows Ruby Keeler to walk on stage a youngster and come back a star. Soon after 42nd Street, Daniels left the U.S. with her husband Ben Lyon for Great Britain where as expatriates they became very big stars there.Nothing fabulous about Reaching for the Moon, but it's a curiosity and a bit of history rolled in one.