Alexander Hall

Alexander Hall (born January 11, 1894, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.—died July 30, 1968, San Francisco, California) was an American director whose wide-ranging films notably included Little Miss Marker (1934) and Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).

Early work

Originally an actor, Hall began performing on stage at the age of four, and in 1914 he appeared in the first of several silent films. In the 1920s he worked as an assistant director and an editor, and he also made several short films. In 1932 he made his feature-film directorial debut with Sinners in the Sun, a thriller for Paramount that starred Carole Lombard. Hall codirected his next four movies, among them the George Raft crime drama Midnight Club (1933). Still at Paramount, he helmed one of Shirley Temple’s best showcases, Little Miss Marker (1934). Other films released in 1934 were The Pursuit of Happiness, a period piece starring Joan Bennett, and the melodrama Limehouse Blues, with Raft and Anna May Wong. In 1935 Hall directed Goin’ to Town, a comedy starring Mae West as a dance-hall queen who inherits a fortune, and Annapolis Farewell, a minor drama set at the U.S. Naval Academy. The musical Give Us This Night (1936) featured American opera star Gladys Swarthout and Polish tenor Jan Kiepura, while Yours for the Asking (1936), with Raft and Ida Lupino, was a lighthearted romance. Hall explored the newspaper business in Exclusive (1937), a drama starring Fred MacMurray, Charles Ruggles, and Frances Farmer.

The Columbia years

In 1938 Hall moved to Columbia, a less glamorous studio, but the one out of which his best work would emerge. His first film there was There’s Always a Woman (1938), which was inspired by the popular Thin Man series. The comedy featured Melvyn Douglas and Joan Blondell as a husband-and-wife crime-fighting team who spar in the best William Powell–Myrna Loy tradition. I Am the Law (1938) cast Edward G. Robinson against type as a special prosecutor who fights corruption in city government, while Douglas and Blondell reteamed for The Amazing Mr. Williams and Good Girls Go to Paris (both 1939). In 1940 Hall directed the comedies The Doctor Takes a Wife, with Ray Milland and Loretta Young, and He Stayed for Breakfast, featuring Douglas as a Russian who melts under the charms of an American (Young). Arguably better was This Thing Called Love (1940), with Rosalind Russell and Douglas as a recently married couple who struggle after she insists on three months of celibacy.

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The pinnacle of Hall’s career came in 1941 with Here Comes Mr. Jordan. The whimsical tale centres on a prizefighter (Robert Montgomery) who dies in a plane crash but is permitted to return to life in another body to complete his quest for the heavyweight crown. A critical and commercial success, it was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture, director, actor (Montgomery), supporting actor (James Gleason), and cinematography, and both its original story and its screenplay won Oscars. It was remade in 1978 by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry as Heaven Can Wait.

Bedtime Story (1941) was not as well received as Here Comes Mr. Jordan, but it was still a satisfying farce, starring Fredric March and Young. They All Kissed the Bride (1942), however, was more of a struggle, with Joan Crawford trying unsuccessfully to reposition herself as a light comedienne; she was supported by the ubiquitous Douglas. In 1942 Hall directed My Sister Eileen, which was adapted from the Broadway hit and featured a star turn by Russell. Hedy Lamarr was well cast as an astronomer’s wife in The Heavenly Body (1943), but even with William Powell on hand, the film sputtered. Once Upon a Time (1944) was improbable but enjoyable, with Cary Grant as the owner of a dancing caterpillar. In 1945 Hall and Russell reteamed for She Wouldn’t Say Yes, in which the actress portrayed a psychiatrist who falls for a patient. Hall closed out his tenure at Columbia with Down to Earth (1947), a musical that was a quasi-sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan. Although it was widely panned, Rita Hayworth earned praise as the goddess Terpsichore.

Later films

Hall worked for a variety of studios over the remainder of his career. In 1949 he helmed the comedy The Great Lover (1949), with Bob Hope as a scout leader tempted by a duchess (Rhonda Fleming). Two romances were released in 1950: Love That Brute (1950)—starring Paul Douglas, Cesar Romero, and Jean Peters—and Louisa (1950), which presented a love triangle among senior citizens, as a grandmother (Spring Byington) is wooed by a grocer (Charles Coburn) and her son’s boss (Edmund Gwenn); Ronald Reagan was cast as the son. Up Front (1951) was an entertaining dramatization of Bill Mauldin’s best seller about World War II, but Because You’re Mine (1952), with Mario Lanza, was largely forgettable. Let’s Do It Again (1953), a musical remake of The Awful Truth (1937), with Jane Wyman and Milland, was lively, though. Hall’s last film was Forever Darling (1956), an amusing vehicle for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, then at the height of their popularity. Hall retired thereafter.