Customer Reviews

Doubting Thomas (Will Rogers)

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I first saw this film when I was seven years old. It made me laugh uproariously then, and it still does now. Will Rogers (in his last film role before his untimely death), Billie Burke, and Sterling Holloway are top-notch comedians. All of them together in "Doubting Thomas" make for a light, pleasant satire about actors and their pretentious plays. To anyone who loves Broadway history, seeing Will Rogers and Billie Burke is a particular treat, for both were part of Florenz Ziegfeld's world of the stage. You can see the sincere friendship and chemistry between the two actors on screen. Especially humorous scenes in the picture include Will Rogers' mocking imitation of a crooner, Billie Burke's attempt to portray a fast woman on stage, and Sterling Holloway's bumbling backstage antics. Though this is a short film that is not well-remembered, it's an excelent piece of film and theater history that is sure to lighten your mood. Don't miss it!

Homespun Will Rogers steps out of a "country boy" setting in this 1935 film adapted from George Kelly's 1922 play, "The Torch Bearers," which was a satire of local theater productions.

Will Rogers plays "Thomas Brown," a businessman. When a mobile screen testing unit arrives in town, his wife (Billie Burke), a regular in a local theater group, dreams of going to Hollywood. Will Rogers sets out to discourage her and his son's fiancee in a way that makes the women believe that the decision to stay at home is their own idea. Along the way, there's a "play within a play" (the local theater production) gone humorously awry.

My guess is that modern viewers will focus less on the film's portrayal of local theater, except to laugh at the bumbling production, and focus instead on how the screenplay deals with the issue of independent careers for women -- and combining a career with marriage. The film elides the issue of women's roles with devotion to the arts. Here and there it points to feminist ideals, but it resolves the dilemmas in a traditional way. Some will appreciate what this snapshot of 1920s and 1930s values hints at. Others will be disappointed, even exasperated, that it failed to make a bold statement for independent women decades before the issues came to the fore of American life.

The "screen test" of the husband played by Will Rogers -- a folksy monologue that is classic Rogers followed by him crooning "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day" -- is worth the price of the ticket.

-30-

Doubting Thomas (1935) is a very funny film which stars Will Rogers, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Sterling Holloway and Gail Patrick. The story revolves around a small town amateur theater group and their attempts to put on a play, much to the dismay of Will Rogers, who is wonderful as ditzy Billie Burke's disgruntaled husband. The rest of the cast of oddballs, headed by the hilarious Skipworth, aspire to fame and glory but nothing goes right. The opening night "performance" had me laughing out loud. Check out this little comedy gem to see Will Rogers at his best with a terrific cast of supporting players.