Little Old New York (1940) User Reviews

Our first great national invention

[theowinthrop · 6/10 · 26 February 2005]

I only saw this film in the 1960s, and memories of it are somewhat sparse. I recall Richard Greene trying to get financing for his steamboat, and finding roadblocks by various troublemakers, mostly local sailors who realize that steam power will hurt their sail oriented business. One moment that was well handled is the burning of the original "Claremont" (the actual name of the boat was "the North River Steamboat of Claremont" - Claremont was the name of the country estate of Chancellor Robert Livingston, Fulton's backer and brother-in-law). Another moment of the film was Greene's confusing meeting with Victor Killian, introduced to him as "Mr. DeWitt" (Greene thinks it's DeWitt Clinton - Killian is actually a thug trying to create a scene in which Greene can be beaten up). Alice Faye is given a song or two to sing, and is the love interest of MacMurray (who is also momentarily jealous of Greene, but still supports the steamboat at the end).

If one is really interested in the story of this invention - our first really important invention in the industrial revolution - read James Flexner's "Steamboats Come True". The actual first inventor was John Fitch, who made a successful steamboat that ran to and from Philadelphia in 1790 - 1792). Fitch was clever, but he did not know how to make a plan of the invention that could enable him to rebuild a second working steamboat. It was a hit or miss thing with Fitch. In 1798 he committed suicide in Kentucky. Besides Fitch there were other inventors (Oliver Evans, James Rumsey), but Fulton had engineering training, and was able to make patents that could be followed to repeat his invention again and again. So 1807 is the year we usually credit for the invention of the steamboat.

Yet oddly enough this is the only sound film of Fulton's invention that was made in Hollywood. I suspect it is because the Claremont was a prototype that lacked the glamor of later vessels (those that plied the Mississippi River from 1828 - 1900), and that (with a few tourist exceptions) no longer matters to us. More films dealing with railway and car transportation have been made - even more about aviation and submarines. So I suspect there will never be a more solid look at Fulton's career as artist, submarine pioneer, and steamboat developer. There is another film where Fulton pops up: "Austerlitz", a French film made in the 1950s where Orson Welles appeared as Fulton trying (in 1804-05) to interest Napoleon I in his submarine. That's about it. Maybe one day a serious film on Fulton will be made. Until then we have "Little Old New York".

The Potential Of Steam Power

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 25 March 2008]

Robert Fulton after trying and failing to develop a ship powered by a steam engine is having trouble getting some new backing. A prototype vessel blew up on the River Seine as he was trying to impress Napoleon Bonaparte with steam's potential. Now he's back in Little Old New York trying to sell the idea to the movers and shakers of his day.

Richard Greene plays the idealistic and gentlemanly Fulton. But the only two converts he makes are his landlady, tavern owner Alice Faye and Fred MacMurray, who works for Ward Bond at a shipyard. But after Fulton beats bully boy Bond in a fight, MacMurray loses his job. But Fred starts his own shipyard and his first client will be Fulton if he can raise the money.

Little Old New York had the story of Robert Fulton grafted on to a play by Rida Johnson Young of the same name that was the basis for the film. There's no mention that in real life Fulton was as handy with his dukes as he is in this film. It is true he married the niece of Chancellor Robert Livingston played by Brenda Joyce and Livingston did finally sell some of his friends like Nicholas Roosevelt, John Jacob Astor, and Washington Irving to finally back Fulton's steamboat.

Livingston is played by one of my favorite character actors Henry Stephenson who always brings a touch of old world class to all his roles. Livingston's title of Chancellor stems from the fact the chief judicial officer of New York had that title, a carryover from colonial days. Among other things Livingston did was swear in George Washington to his first term as president. There was no Supreme Court yet because Washington hadn't appointed anyone yet.

Little Old New York probably was seen by Darryl Zanuck as a fitting sequel to In Old Chicago which was Alice Faye's first period costume film. The parts that Fred MacMurray and Richard Greene have are those that would normally have been played by Tyrone Power and Don Ameche. In fact I could see both of those guys playing either of the MacMurray or Greene parts.

If Little Old New York is not the real story of Robert Fulton it certainly is a nice bit of entertainment served up by a fine cast at the direction of Henry King.

Steam boat

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 20 February 2009]

One of the 19th centuries great inventions was the steam ship. It opened rivers that weren't able to let ships from going upstream because of their currents. Up to that point navigation only was a one way affair. The vision of Robert Fulton was instrumental in how trade and commerce could be taken to remote ports along those waterways. The story centers around the time when Fulton was at a crossroads of how to make his idea work. To make matters worse, President Jackson's embargo was working against him since he could not get the engine he needed to make his dream come true.

This is a delightful view at that time in history thanks to Rida Johnson's play, as directed with his usual fine style by Henry King. The screen adaptation was by Harry Tugend, who turned the basic premise into a vehicle for Alice Faye, its star.

Miss Faye was at the height of her beauty at the time. She was a natural performer who projected charm and wit in most of her screen appearances. As Pat O'Day, the girl from the wrong side of town, she was a great asset in our enjoyment of the film. The handsome Fred McMurray is seen as Charles Browne, Fulton's friend and ally. Richard Greene excels as Robert Fulton, a man of great vision that revolutionized the shipping in the United States with his steam ship invention. Brenda Joyce also has some good moments as Harriet Livingstone, the woman who conquered Fulton's heart.

The supporting cast is worth mentioning. Henry Stephenson, one of the best character actors of that time plays the Chancellor Robert Livingstone. Andy Devine and Ward Bond, both veterans of the movies of that era, are prominently featured.

The music of Alfred Newman and the cinematography by Leon Shamroy add another layer to this film. Ultimately it's Henry King one must thank for the delightful product he gave us.

Winning combination of historical fiction, comedy, action, with only a modest amount of florid romance

[pacificgroove · 7/10 · 12 January 2010]

This film sports winning performances (Alice Faye is delightful and very accomplished as a light comic actress), plenty of well-played comedy and well-staged action, a fine Alfred Newman score. But what really impressed and intrigued me were some elaborately staged outdoor scenes which appeared to be at least partially shot on a real 18th century seaport, not just the back lot. Either Fox spent a whole lot of money constructing a very large and realistic looking seaport set, or some of this was shot on location at some historic recreation site, or the art director was a genius in making the back lot look a lot bigger than it was. Interesting to see what a muscular hunk Fred MacMurray was, very different than his image in later years.

Back in the U.S., Fulton steams up the Hudson River

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 23 September 2019]

"Little Old New York" is a fictional story about Robert Fulton's invention of the first successful steamboat. It is based on a 1920 Broadway play by Rida Young of the same title that ran for 308 performances. Young was a playwright who became best known for her lyrics to Victor Herbert's operetta, "Naughty Marietta."

Fulton had been living in Europe for some 20 years where he first made a living as a painter and then began working on inventions, sometimes with others. Back in the States, Fulton set out to find backing to build the first steamboat to navigate rivers. Henry Stephenson plays Robert Livingston, a former U.S. ambassador whom Fulton had met and befriended in England. Livingston helped raise the funds for Fulton's steamboat.

Richard Green plays Robert Fulton, and while the story is about his invention, it revolves mostly around another couple. Much, if not most of this is fictional, of course. Alice Faye plays Pat O'Day, a wharf front tavern owner who first is smitten by Fulton, and then helps round up support and finances for him. Her cohort in this adventure is Charles Brownne, played by Fred MacMurray. He's been Pat's beau all along.

This is a light comedy and drama about Fulton's invention. It does have some historical value, but mostly in its pictorial presentation of the docks and shipbuilding of 18th and 19th centuries, The Fox studio did a superb job in replicating the shipbuilding works of New England of the day. And in portraying the craft of shipbuilding at the time.

Lots of Simple Fun.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 18 June 2015]

In order to really get anything out of this movie, with being irritated, you must "bracket" this story, as the phenomenologists would put it. I happen to consider myself very knowledgeable when it comes to phenomenology, having read the Wikipedia entry. The phenomenologist, Husserl insisted, must "bracket," that is "suspend his belief in," "not make any use of" all presuppositions, all that he already believes in, in order to be able to accept presuppositionless description of a film. Or -- we could put it this way: Forget what you know about steamboats. Sit back and enjoy the simple-minded myth.

Now, boys and girls, we all know that Robert Fulton invented the steamboat even though it isn't true. But let's make believe it is. Richard Greene is Robert Fulton, a well-dressed English gentleman who arrives in New York in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson was president, books a room in Alice Faye's rough-hewn boarding house and tavern, and hires Fred MacMurray to build the hull of his new "steamboat." The hull should be finished at about the same time his steam engine reaches New York from England. The problem is that Greene has no money and must find an angel.

Little old New York is some city, by the way. MacMurray muses about getting a farm on the Bowery or in Greenwich Village. (Twenty years later, Edgar Allan Poe had to move to the Bronx.) The aristos wear white stocking but most of the folks are in fustian garb -- unprepossessing but as clean as if they'd just come back from the laundry. The men are all closely shaved by the studio barber. There may not have been any effective sanitation system but the streets are cleaner than they are today. Fist fights break out all the time and nobody gets hurt. There are many Germans and Dutch, a beer pavilions. Everything and everyone is cozy. It's all simplified, of course, but I like it. It's like reading a newspaper printed for the half blind. Any normal person would like to live in such a Cloud Cuckoo Land if it weren't for the epidemics and the horse manure.

Richard Greene, Alice Faye, Fred MacMurray, and Andy Devine are all good natured and friendly. There's a friendly darky too. He's a funny guy but we can't be sure of his status. Slavery wouldn't be abolished in New York for another ten years. Ward Bond is not friendly at all. He's a figure of some authority on the waterfront and the first thing he does when he enters the tavern is pick a fight with Richard Greene. Greene speaks and dresses a little like a fairy but he soon decks the burly Bond. There's a real man underneath those furbelows.

Greene has a lot of difficulty getting financing and there is a dismissible comedy romance to take up time, but in the end the hull and engine are mated and launched on the Hudson River. The jeering crowd is skeptical of the contraption. Does it finally work? Are you kidding?

Thoroughly enjoyable story of Robert Fulton's Breakthrough Invention

[Enrique-Sanchez-56 · 8/10 · 15 May 2001]

Richard Greene and Alice Faye are extremely likeable in this memorable movie about "Fulton's Folly" and his eventual success with the Steam Engine driven Paddle boat. An invention that changed America and contributed greatly to the prosperity of the newly independent America.

It is a shame that Greene, though he did achieve some fame, did not achieve the name status his debonair looks and likeable charm deserved.

Fred MacMurray, Andy Devine, Ward Bond and Fritz Feld have wonderful smaller roles. The perfect music of Alfred Newman gives each moment just the right effect and feeling.

I recommend this movie even if one already knows what the ending shall bring. History told this enjoyably affords us the chance to relive the wonderful moments in the struggles necessary to bring about man's achievements.

Alice in a drama

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 28 April 2019]

In this historical drama, Richard Greene stars as the designer of the steamboat. At first, no one's interested enough to finance his project, but with the help of his new friends, the low class but tenacious Fred MacMurray and Alice Faye, he shows his model to more and more people. Added into the mix are brawny bully Ward Bond, silly sailor Andy Devine, and Ben Carter, Alice's hired hand whom she treats terribly and always accuses of stealing drinks.

A warning for all Alice Faye fans: it's just as obvious that she's out of Richard's league as it is that she's falling in love with him, and it's a bit sad. Richard falls for Brenda Joyce and her wealthy uncle Henry Stephenson, who's financing his steamboat. Alice looks very cute in this movie, and it's not fun to see her getting her heart broken over a fellow who isn't worth it-which, let's face it, is the only type of fellow who goes around breaking hearts. Also, this isn't a musical, and the only song, "Who Is the Beau of the Belle of New York," is sung and danced to during an outdoor celebration. It's a very cute song, but so brief that this movie qualifies as one of Alice's only non-singing roles.

Remarkably enjoyable

[jjnxn-1 · 8/10 · 2 September 2015]

Though it probably has zip to do with the actual story of Robert Fulton and the invention and manufacture of the first steam engine this is a very pleasant little drama with light overtones. That's mainly due to the cast, all very competent performers who have a nice chemistry together.

Alice Faye, not singing this time, is full of brassy snap as the most virtuous waterfront innkeeper who never existed who longs to leave the docks behind and become a lady. She's matched by Fred MacMurray full of cheery bonhomie as a shipbuilder, the now amusingly named Charley Brownne, who has a yen for Alice. Richard Greene is a bit of a stick as Fulton but he and Brenda Joyce make an attractive pair. And Andy Devine is along to add his squeaky voiced charm as a buddy of the lead pair.

The title, an obvious attempt by Fox to conjure up thoughts of Alice's big hit of a few years before, In Old Chicago, has very little to do with the picture. You hardly see any outdoor shots of the city but the interior sets are handsomely mounted if unimaginatively lit as you'd expect for a Fox feature for their top star.

If you're looking for a history lesson about the progress of navigation during the country's early years you won't find it here but if a enjoyable diversion for about an hour and a half is what you seek this will fill the bill. Nothing spectacular but a nice hidden gem for fans of the stars.

Historical nonsense....

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 2 October 2015]

This is an incredibly fictionalized account of the work of Robert Fulton to make the first American steamship. Alice Faye, Fred MacMurray and Ward Bond are there...even though they really were inventions of the playwright to first came up with this story. As a history lesson, it comes up lacking! What follows is sort of a comic book version of history--the sort of thing that Hollywood often did in their highly fictionalize 'true stories'.

So is this any good? Well, it looks nice. Twentieth Century-Fox made lovely looking films and the music and glitz are all present in this expensive production. It's also mildly entertaining...but slight. No great drama or comedy here...just another highly fictionalized film along the same lines as "In Old Chicago" and nothing more.

"Miss Livingston, I presume"

[weezeralfalfa · 10/10 · 9 June 2017]

Charming screenplay and excellent choice of actors. A hidden gem! A mix of historical facts and persons and purely fictional events and persons, as was the norm for this period of Hollywood biopics. Thus, Robert Livingston and Nikolas Roosevelt are included among the financiers or politically influential in getting the first steamboat on the Hudson built. Harriet Livingston: niece of Robert Livingston, is also included as Fulton's(Richard Greene)fiancé(and wife, in real life).

On the other hand, Charles Browne(Fred MacMurray): the man who organized the building of the hull for Fulton's boat, is fictional(I assume). Andy Devine's comical 'Commodore' character runs ferryboats out of Manhattan, having browbeaten his competition into giving up. Alice Faye's role as Pat O'Day, who runs a dockside tavern and accommodates Fulton in her rooms upstairs, is also fictional, I assume. Ward Bond plays Ragen: the chief organizer of opposition to building a steamboat, on grounds that sailors will lose their jobs if steamboats replace sailing ships.

For those who like to see an occasional brawl, Fulton and Ragen tangle over Fulton's small model of his boat. Later, there is a big brawl after Fulton's model is destroyed...For those who like some comedy, there's plenty of light humor, mostly involving Alice Faye or Andy Devine, or Noah(Ben Carter, who was Alice's African American assistant. Although Alice helped Fulton in various ways and hoped to marry him, when they first met, Alice threw a wet towel at MacMurray , who ducked, it hitting Fulton in the face. Later, Alice bursts into a formal dinner hosted by Livingston with Fulton's boat model, thinking he forgot it, to everyone's amusement or embarrassment...For music, there is a group sing of the Mack Gordon-composition "Who is the Beau of the Bell of New York".

There's plenty of drama at the personal level as well as relating to the steamboat. Ward organizes several sabotage operations that nearly kill the project. Then, the Embargo Act threatens to prevent the landing of the steam engine from England. There's drama relating to Fulton's attempts to get funding. Of course, there's some drama relating to the launching of the boat(like will it blow up?)

Several caveats relating to the name of the boat and to the question of Fulton's priority in launching a successful steamboat are in order. The boat was originally called the North River Steamboat. Some years later, it would be called the Clermont, as it is called in this film. A full scale mockup of a replica of this boat was made for the film. Fulton did not build the first working steamboat in the US. John Fitch is generally credited with that feat. 10-20 years before Fulton's boat, he built 4 working steamboats, some of which carried passengers on the Delaware River. But, he never was able to make it a paying operation, which is what Fulton did. A few years later , Fulton launched a series of boats from Pittsburg that went down the Mississippi to New Orleans, thus opening up steam traffic in the Mississippi and Ohio basins. MacMurray's character considered the possibility that steamships might ply the oceans. He concluded that probably they wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel plus cargo to make it pay. A number of factors eventually made this practical. More powerful, more efficient, steam engines were built, coal, instead of wood was the fuel, and the adoption of the screw propeller were some of the major factors, along with hybrid sail-steam ships.

My review title is derived from a query by Fulton, when he first met Harriet Livingston. I suspect this was arranged to sound like "Dr. Livingston, I presume", attributed to Stanley. The director: Henry King, had just finished directing the film "Stanley and Livingston". King had also previously directed "In Old Chicago", which also included Alice Faye. Tyrone Power and Don Ameche took the roles herein played by Greene and MacMurray.

Poor Alice Faye's character wanted so much to marry a gentleman, and felt that Fulton owed her a marriage proposal for what she had done for him. But Fulton preferred the airy Harriet and the upper crust of New York society. She might have found a role as his mistress.

See this B&W picture at YouTube or the DVD.

How steam powered ships broke onto the scene!

[scrufboy · 8/10 · 13 December 2000]

Nothing deep, but an interesting Hollywood-ized account of the development of steam propeled ships. Imagine... being able to propel a vessel upstream even into the wind! But at what risk? The current economy's support? And how do you pay for the thing?!?! Additionally, you have a young country out to protect its interests... but what if it acted Isolationistically? Would you be able to pursue your dreams? If the overdeveloped subplots of "Sink the Bismark" did'nt offend your sensibilities greatly, you will enjoy this yarn.