Barbara Stanwyck & Joel McCrea in "Banjo on My Knee" (1936) - feat. Walter Brennan & Buddy Ebsen

In a shantyboat community in Pecan Point, Tennesse, Ernie Hollie (Joel McCrea) marries Pearl Elliot (Barbara Stanwyck).

Businessman Mr. Slade (Victor Kilian) invites himself to the wedding’s afterparty and demands to kiss the bride. Pearl hesitantly allows the kiss for the sake of maintaining Mr. Slade’s business contact with the community. After the kiss, Ernie punches Mr. Slade, knocking him into the river. Mr. Slade is presumed dead after search parties fail to locate him. When Mr. Slade returns alive with a police patrol, Newt Holley (Walter Brennan), Ernie’s father, urges Ernie to flee the community. Ernie does so and begins sailing the world.

During Ernie’s time away, Pearl meets Warfield Scott (Walter Catlett), a portraitist based in New Orleans who makes romantic advances on her and offers her a job at his studio. Pearl entertains his offer because of her loneliness but untimely rejects it.

Ernie returns having decided to move his family to Aruba. He and Pearl argue about their future and Pearl leaves with Warfield for New Orleans. Ernie chases Pearl and is in turn perused by Newt.

In New Orleans, Pearl decides to part ways with Warfield and gets a job in a café to pay back her travel expenses. Ernie confronts Warfield in his studio, demanding to see Pearl, but Warfield does not tell him where she is. He punches Warfield and leaves.

During a night of despondent drinking at the café, Ernie meets friends from a past voyage and departs with them for Cuba, narrowly missing Pearl on his way out.

Pearl and Newt reunite and become performers at the café, along with the café’s singer Chick Bean (Tony Martin, as Anthony Martin), whom Pearl has admired. Chick confesses his love for Pearl and asks her to leave New Orleans with him. Before she can accept, Ernie’s cousin Buddy (Buddy Ebsen) appears carrying a letter from Ernie, who will be in New Orleans the next day.

While waiting for Ernie, Pearl is approached by Warfield. Ernie sees Pearl and Warfield together and attacks Warfield in a fit of rage. The police arrest Ernie and Pearl leaves New Orleans with Chick.

Ernie’s fine is paid by Leota, a Pecan Point woman romantically interested in him and jealous of Pearl. Leota Long (Katherine DeMille) and the Holley men return home, where Ernie is made to wed Leota. During the wedding, Pearl comes back for her possessions and fights Leota, who cuts the Holley houseboat loose in a storm. After landing safely, Newt serenades Ernie and Pearl as they reconcile.

A 1936 American Black & White musical comedy-drama film directed by John Cromwell, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Nunnally Johnson, screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, based on the 1936 novel of the same name by Harry Hamilton, cinematography by Ernest Palmer, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen, Helen Westley, Walter Catlett, Tony Martin (as Anthony Martin), Katherine DeMille (as Katherine De Mille), Victor Kilian, Minna Gombell, Spencer Charters, and Theresa Harris. Released by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.

A second unit crew filmed authentic scenes of Mississippi River life among the shanty boatmen of New Orleans and its environs.

This was the first film in which Barbara Stanwyck sang and danced.

Second of six film collaborations between Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrae.

This was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Sound Recording category for the work of Edmund H. Hansen.

Soundtrack music:
"Where the Lazy River Goes By" (1936) - Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson
"There's Something in the Air" (1936) - Music by Jimmy McHugh, Lyrics by Harold Adamson
"With a Banjo on My Knee" (1936) - Music by Jimmy McHugh,Lyrics by Harold Adamson
"St. Louis Blues" (1914) - Written by W.C. Handy
"Oh! Susanna" (1848) - Music by Stephen Foster
"Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)" (1850) - from "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" (1896) - Music by John Philip Sousa
"I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover" (1927) - Music by Harry M. Woods, Lyrics by Mort Dixon
"Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)" (1851) - Music by Stephen Foster
"O Tannenbaum" - Traditional German Christmas carol, lyrics by Ernst Anschütz
"(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land (1860) - Music by Daniel Decatur Emmett
"A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1896) - Music by Theodore A. Metz, Lyrics by Joe Hayden

Two of the three original songs became top ten music charts hits. "Where the Lazy River Goes By" went to #7 in a recording by Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra, with a vocal by Midge Williams on the Brunswick label, and "There's Something in the Air" by Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra, with a vocal by Bob Goday on the Bluebird label, went to #5.

This rarity has a great cast and Barbara Stanwick is top-notch. The songs are catchy, the dialogue fun, and the characters interesting and colorful. Fine atmospheric settings depicting both Mississippi and Louisiana. A must see for all Barabra Stanwyck fans. Loads of fun.

Видео Barbara Stanwyck & Joel McCrea in "Banjo on My Knee" (1936) - feat. Walter Brennan & Buddy Ebsen канала Donald P. Borchers