In the Abbott and Costello movie "Hold That Ghost"(1941), the musical numbers by the Andrew Sisters were added after the movie was completed. This was because the last two Abbott and Costello movies (Buck Priviates, and In The Navy) had featured The Andrew Sisters and had been very financially successful. Director Arthur Lubin said he was not aware these songs were being added to his film at the time. The musical numbers however were great and made a good film even better.
In his autobiography Charlie Chaplin un-modestly claimed that "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) was his most clever movie. It was indeed a masterpiece though it was his first financial flop.
"Monsieur Verdoux" (1947) was originally an idea for a serious movie based on the real life murder Henri Désiré Landru. This idea was conceived by Orson Welles, and Welles wanted Charlie Chaplin as the lead actor. However Chaplin saw the potential for a great comedy, and he did not want to work under another director. So Chaplin bought the idea and directed it his own way. The film does contain a credit saying "Based off an idea by Orson Welles".
The movie "Snow White and The Three Stooges" (1961) was originally going to be directed by comedy legend Frank Tashlin. Frank Tashlin had directed many great Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, along with "The Son of Paleface", "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter", and the best Martian and Lewis film (In my opinion) "Artists and Models". However Frank Tashlin's plan for the movie would go too much over budget for 20th Century Fox's taste so he was replaced by Walter Lang. This was not Walter Lang's first time directing The Stooges. He had directed the 1933 feature "Meet The Baron", which while it did not star The Stooges (It starred Jimmy Durante and Jack Pearl), the Stooges did have supporting roles in that film. "Snow White and The Three Stooges" turned out to be a great film but one that was drastically different than what Stooge fans were suspecting. (Yes this film goes past my cut off date, but I am including it because The Three Stooges made many films within my included dates)
The Fredrico Fellini film "I Vitelloni" (1953) featured the soon to be popular Italian comedian Alberto Sordi as the character Alberto. However he was not popular at this time. In fact promoters for the film keep his name off all the advertisements for the movie, because the were afraid people would not see it if they knew Sordi was in it. The film however was a huge hit and made both Fredrico Fellini and Alberto Sordi household names in Italy, and it is easy to see why.
When Buster Keaton's film "Seven Chances" (1925) was previewed before an audience, Buster noticed that people were laughing during a chase scene at a part he didn't suspect. He then noticed that he happened to knock over a few pebbles. Keaton added to this by making the pebbles trigger boulders, therefore creating what is considered the films best moment.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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