The Great Morgan (1945)
January 1, 1945Release Date
The Great Morgan (1945)
January 1, 1945Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Frank Morgan
Himself
Leon Ames
K. F.
Carlos Ramírez
Singer in 'Musical Masterpieces' (archive footage)
Lucille Norman
Singer in 'Musical Masterpieces' (archive footage)
Eleanor Powell
Film Character (archive footage)
Virginia O'Brien
Film Character (archive footage)
Jacqueline White
Mother in 'Our Old Car' (archive footage)
Ben Blue
Bellamy B. Birdbrain in Badminton (archive footage) (uncredited)
Rand Brooks
Film Character (uncredited)
George Chandler
Roger the Valet (uncredited)
Inez Cooper
Film Character (uncredited)
Ken Davidson
Actor in Badminton (archive footage) (uncredited)
Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey (archive footage) (uncredited)
Cedric Gibbons
Cedric Gibbons (uncredited)
Dell Henderson
Film Character (uncredited)
Jerry Bresler
Producer
Irene
Irene (uncredited)
Max Terr
Composer
Bert Moorhouse
Studio Executive (uncredited)
Charles Salerno Jr.
Cinematographer
Tom Biggart
Editor
John Nesbitt
Narrator in 'Our Old Car' (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
William Newell
Film Character (uncredited)
William Powell
William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich - Drums (archive footage) (uncredited)
Douglas Shearer
Douglas Shearer (uncredited)
Pete Smith
Narrator in 'Badminton' (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Arthur Space
Father in Passing Parade (archive footage) (uncredited)
William Tannen
Officer Donohue (archive footage) (uncredited)
Billy Wayne
Vince, Film Cutter (uncredited)
Joe Watters
Actor in Badminton (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nat Perrin
Director / Screenplay
Media.
Details.
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
The Great Morgan is a 1945 American musical-comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is considered one of the more unusual in the MGM canon in that it is a compilation film built around a slight plot line, with a running time of less than 60 minutes.
The film was produced for overseas (i.e. non-United States) markets and features Frank Morgan (best remembered today as the Wizard in MGM's The Wizard of Oz) appearing as himself. The premise of the film is that a bumbling Morgan is given a chance to produce a movie, but ends up botching it and accidentally editing several unrelated comedic and musical short subjects together with his own film, "The Burning Secret."
Segments include a musical number featuring dancer Eleanor Powell cut from one of her early 1940s musicals. (Some sources erroneously state the scene comes from Broadway Melody of 1938, but in fact it was a scene cut from her 1939 film Honolulu.). There also are a couple of songs by Carlos Ramirez, and a musical number by Virginia O'Brien backed by Tommy Dorsey and orchestra.
Among the non-musical segments of the film is a look at the history of the automobile in suburban America and a profile of a champion badminton player. There are also cameos by MGM supervisor of sound Douglas Shearer, art director Cedric Gibbons and costume designer Irene.
For many decades The Great Morgan was believed to be a lost film. A print was found in 1980, and another was discovered a few years later. The film was subsequently released to the American home video market and is occasionally shown on Turner Classic Movies.