Story of movie I Dood It : I Dood It (UK title By Hook or by Crook) is a 1943 American musical-comedy film starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell, directed by Vincente Minnelli, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The screenplay is by Fred Saidy and Sig Herzig and the film features Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Lena Horne, and Hazel Scott. John Hodiak plays a villain in this production, just his third movie role. Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra provide musical interludes.
| I Dood It | |
|---|---|
theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Vincente Minnelli |
| Produced by | Jack Cummings |
| Written by | Sig Herzig Fred Saidy |
| Starring | Red Skelton Eleanor Powell |
| Cinematography | Ray June Charles Rosher |
| Edited by | Robert J. Kern |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,135,000 |
| Box office | $2,157,000 |
Screenplay
Skelton plays an "average Joe" who is madly in love with Constance Shaw (Eleanor Powell), a big Broadway musical star. Much to his surprise, Constance agrees to marry him, thinking he's a rich mining tycoon, and much of the film deals with the consequences of this misunderstanding.
Powell's most notable performance in the film comes near the beginning when she executes a complex dance routine involving lariats and cowboys. Powell, in her introduction to the book Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, recalled that she knocked herself unconscious while rehearsing a stunt for this sequence involving a rope and ultimately had to don a football helmet to protect herself. The final dance scene with Powell was taken from Born to Dance (1936). Many of the physical gags were done by Buster Keaton in the film Spite Marriage (1929). Keaton had an uncredited role in writing gags for some of Skelton's early MGM films.
Skelton and Powell had previously worked together in Ship Ahoy (1942). In that film, they appeared with Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy's brother.
This was Powell's final starring role at MGM. After this, she would make a cameo appearance in Thousands Cheer, play a lead role in the United Artists film Sensations of 1945, and return to MGM for a cameo in Duchess of Idaho (1950) before retiring from the screen for good.
The rather ungrammatical title was from one of Red Skelton's radio catchphrases of the day. In 1942 Jack Owens, The Cruising Crooner, wrote a song for Skelton based on it: "I Dood It! (If I Do, I Get a Whippin')", but that song does not appear in this film.
The film opens with the Jimmy Dorsey orchestra performing Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump". As the tempo and energy of the music increases several couples can be seen dancing in the confined space in front of their theater seats, and other fans leave their seats to stand in front of the band stage.
Dance direction in the film was by Bobby Connolly, and the "Western Rope Dance," assisted by Bob Eberly and Jimmy Dorsey's Orchestra, is the second scene in the film.
- Red Skelton as Joseph Rivington Renolds
- Eleanor Powell as Constance Shaw
- Richard Ainley as Larry West
- Patricia Dane as Suretta Brenton
- Sam Levene as Ed Jackson
- Thurston Hall as Kenneth Lawlor
- Lena Horne as Lena Horne
- Hazel Scott as Hazel Scott
According to MGM records the film earned $1,615,000 in the US and Canada and $542,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $319,000.
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