The Toast of New York

Great film - starts out as a whimsical joyride and ends with a thought-provoking meditation on the evils of greed. Arnold is grand as the larger than life huckster turned Wall Street whiz. Farmer is his temptation (she actually stars in a musical by that name in the movie) and boy does Arnold take the bait. Unusual mix of biblical imagery and slapstick, but it all holds together. One point of interest - Arnold and Farmer play almost exactly the same characters in another movie of that period - "Come and Get it"

In my opinion the finest character actor of the 1930s - mid 1940s was Edward Arnold, whose tragedy (although he would not have seen it that way) was that his acting career was not in a period when leading men (with the exception of the Englishman, Charles Laughton) could be fat. Arnold gave first rate performances time and time again in straight dramas and comic parts. But he was plump, in an age when you hoped a make-up man could make you look like Tyrone Power (as the original lyrics of Hooray for Hollywood suggested). Still he got quite some milage out of his abundant acting talent, expecially playing historical rich men: Diamond Jim Brady (in two films), General John Sutter, and here - "Col." James Fisk, Jr. And his performance, abetted by Frances Farmer, Cary Grant, Jack Oakie, Donald Meek, and Clarence Kolb, makes this film stay alive. It is an entertaining film - but is it historically correct.

Well, it has some of the facts (although it's basis in Matthew Josephson's left wing histories of finance are barely correct). Fisk was a greedy man - no denying it. He did get involved in fighting Vanderbilt (allied with "Uncle Dan'l" Drew)in getting control of the Erie Railroad. He did flee to New Jersey with the printing press to continue printing shares of Erie stock away from Vanderbilt's legal writs. He did try to corner the gold market. And he did romance Josie Mansfield (Farmer). But Vanderbilt was no saint - he was as ruthless as Fisk. Drew was a pretty slippery customer too (here seen to be too easily cowed or frightened). Missing here is Fisk's real partner in cunning (apparently also a really close friend too) Jay Gould. Why he isn't in the film is curious. So is the muted character played by Cary Grant. Grant is Ned Boyd, and aside from being an early ally of Fisk, and later his chief critic (in the Gold Panic), he has little to do but pine for Mansfield. In reality, the character is based on Edward Stokes, Fisk's former friend and business associate who turned on him, out of jealousy, and with Mansfield blackmailed the man - or tried to. Stokes would eventually shoot Fisk (who in real life did fall down a staircase, but in a hotel). Fisk died in 1872. One day his tragic betrayal and death would make an ideal movie. But Arnold can't play it - alas!!

The Toast of New York is directed by Rowland V. Lee and features a screenplay collectively written by Dudley Nichols, John Twist and Joel Sayre. It's adapted from two stories, "The Book of Daniel Drew" written by Bouck White and "Robber Barons" written by Matthew Josephson. It stars Edward Arnold, Cary Grant, Frances Farmer, Jack Oakie and Donald Meek.

Jim Fisk-half genius, half clown-began life with empty pockets, a pack on his back, and a Yankee gift of gab.

Loving a uniform-always in the front of every parade-he became the Barnum of Peddlers, and then skyrocketed into "high finance" in Wall Street, where in a few brief years he startled a nation with his colourful career.

But in 1861-before the first guns of the Civil War were fired-he was still an obscure peddler-somewhere south of the Mason and Dixie Line.

Jim Fisk was a very interesting man in the world of finance, his life and death certainly had enough about it to warrant a film being made about him. Sadly this particular biopic is dull, where even the fact that the makers fictionalised some of the plot fails to make it worthy of further viewings. Annoying as well is that RKO really put big money into the production, and you can see that up on the screen in the sets, costuming and the number of people who are in it. It was a troubled production, and numerous stars were linked to play the key roles, and with the Hays Office casting their censorship shadow over things, it's perhaps unsurprising that the film ended up a flop at the box office. The tone is uneven, with the comedy an uneasy fit, and there's not a great deal to laud in the acting. Arnold gives it bluster and Farmer is sweet, while Grant is forced into yet another suit and asked to be a romantic interest. Oakie has his moments, but they are few, while best of the bunch is Meek as Daniel Drew.

Disappointing and it perhaps would have been better served being a straight drama and sniping 20 minutes off of its run time. 4/10

While this fact-based picture is wildly inaccurate in it's depiction Jim Fisk's life and death, THE TOAST OF NEW YORK remains an entertaining portrait of the financial scene in New York during the late 1800s. Three writers are credited with a screenplay that does not skimp on moral and financial complexities (although the film's romantic triangle is handled rather routinely), and director Robert V. Lee manages to keep everything moving at a brisk pace while effectively juggling piercing melodrama with lovely moments of light comedy. Edward Arnold and Frances Farmer contribute terrific performances, and Cary Grant is also memorable playing second banana to Arnold's Fisk - although no one else in the cast makes much of an impression. This lavish, expensively budgeted film was a box office flop when originally released, but it holds up quite nicely all these decades latter and deserves to be rediscovered by a larger audience.

This is a movie that was probably great in its time, but would be viewed as a real oddball today. I bought the video because I am a great Frances Farmer fan; she is absulutely beautiful in it. The other stars- Arnold, Grant and Oakie are also excellent in their roles. This is probably one of the very few movies where Cary Grant was not the top star and did not get top billing. The story is a little farsical and somewhat overacted, but is still very entertaining. Three of the supporting actors- Donald Meek, Clarence Kolb and Billy Gilbert- are also interesting to see.