State Fair
Theatrical release poster
Directed byHenry King
Screenplay bySonya Levien
Paul Green
Based onState Fair
by Phil Stong
Produced byHenry King
StarringJanet Gaynor
Will Rogers
Lew Ayres
CinematographyHal Mohr
Edited byRobert Bischoff
Music byLouis De Francesco
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • February 10, 1933 (1933-02-10)
Running time
97 minutes
Budget$600,000[1]
Box office$1,208,000 (rentals)[2]

State Fair (1933) is an American pre-Code comedy-drama film directed by Henry King and starring Janet Gaynor, Will Rogers, and Lew Ayres.[3] The film tells the story of a farm family's multi-day visit to the Iowa State Fair, where the parents seek to win prizes in agricultural and cooking competitions, and their teenage daughter and son each find unexpected romance.[4] Based on the bestselling 1932 novel by Phil Stong, this was the first of three film versions of the novel released to theaters, the others being the movie musicals State Fair (1945) starring Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews, and State Fair (1962) starring Ann-Margret and Pat Boone.[3] The 1933 version was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and another for Best Adapted Screenplay, losing to Cavalcade and Little Women respectively.

Though the adaptation deleted a storyline about a sexual relationship between the daughter and a journalist, it retained a similar storyline about the seduction of the son (Norman Foster) by a trapeze artist (Sally Eilers). This caused trouble with the Hays Commission when Fox re-released the film in 1935. The censors insisted on the deletion of a scene where Foster and Eilers are heard talking off screen while the camera shows a rumpled bed and a discarded negligee. The cut scene has never been restored.[5]

Rogers was accorded top billing on some posters, but Gaynor was billed above Rogers in the film itself. In 2014, State Fair was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.[6][7]

Cast

References

  1. ^ "Film Costs Hit Both Extremes: Poverty Row Spends Less, Big Studios More Million-dollar Features 'Shoot the Works' Inexpensive 'Arty' Hit Due to Make Appearance" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1932: B13.
  2. ^ "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. October 15, 1990. p. M150.
  3. ^ a b Filmfacts: 1962. Vol. 5. 1962. p. 75.
  4. ^ Mike Whye (2020). Detour Iowa: Historic Destinations. Arcadia Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 9781467143455.
  5. ^ "State Fair (1933)". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry". Loc.gov. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-05-11.

External links

Films directed by Henry King
Phil Stong's State Fair
Authority control databases: National
Categories