Cinevent Notes: UNDER PRESSURE

[Richard M Roberts]

Todays note is for the 1935 Fox Feature UNDER PRESSURE starring Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. This is the last of the notes I've written for this years Cinevent, but since I've got some nice words from folk saying they enjoy them, perhaps we'll put up some from past years.



Well, the one thing we can tell you is that by the end of this Film, all of you will know the meaning of the word “sandhog”.

For those who can’t wait, a sandhog is apparently a slang term for a tunnel builder, and in UNDER PRESSURE, one of the many teaming vehicles of the formerly Flagg and Quirt, now insert any macho-sounding nickname here of Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe, they are two sandhogs named Jumbo Smith and Shocker Dugan, this time reunited with their Director of WHAT PRICE GLORY, THE COCKEYED WORLD, and WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS ; Raoul Walsh. This time the rough and tumble pair are building the Hudson Tunnel in New York along with the rest of the Sandhogs Union, and tracking generally Irish, it means they’re building the Tunnel when they are not busy drinking, swearing, fighting, and bantering back and forth with each other.

McLaglen and Lowe had been a money in the Bank teaming since their silent co-starring in Walsh’s Film Version of Lawrence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson’s WWI play for Fox in 1927, and Fox had wisely kept up Flagg and Quirts adventures through THE COCKEYED WORLD (1929), WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS (1931), and HOT PEPPER (1933). However, by this time, Paramount realized that both McLaglen and Lowe were available outside Fox and also began teaming them as Flagg and Quirt in everything but name and lack of Military service only in films like GUILTY AS HELL (1932) and NO MORE WOMEN (1934). BY 1935, Fox had figured out that the McLaglen/Lowe combination was still profitable, it was Flagg and Quirt that were running out of steam, and with UNDER PRESSURE joined Paramount in putting them through other lines of work. Nine Features they made together from 1927-42, with a cameo reunion in Mike Todd’s AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS in 1956. Their work together was solid in terms of entertainment and commercial value, and it was nice to see when Edmund Lowe came out to surprise Victor McLaglen on his 1953 THIS IS YOUR LIFE tribute that they were obviously warm and good friends off-screen as well.

For all the Irishmen he played over the years, it’s wonderfully ironic that Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was actually Scotch. Eldest of eight Brothers, and the Son of a Protestant Clergyman, McLaglen’s earliest career was in the Military when he enlisted to fight in the Boer War, but had actually lied about his age and was discharged when this was discovered. He then went to Canada where he became a boxer, and got his first taste of Show Business touring in Vaudeville, Circuses, and Wild West Shows in this capacity. In 1909, he fought then Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson in a six-round exhibition fight in Vancouver. When World War One broke out, McLaglen joined the Irish Fusiliers and was stationed in the Middle East, eventually serving as Provost Marshall of Bagdad.

After the War, McLaglen returned to England and Boxing, but wandered into the Movie Business, and a leading role in THE CALL OF THE ROAD in 1920 won Victor attention from Critics and Audience alike, and he became a popular leading man. He went to the States in 1924 and quickly won attention here as well playing Lon Chaney’s strongman partner in crime in MGM’s THE UNHOLY THREE (1925), McLaglen was a busy actor after that, in every type of leading man role. Rough-hewn, but with a winning sense of humor, McLaglen proved very durable, even if his brogue limited his choice of nationalities once talkies came in. When John Ford cast him as Gypo Nolan in THE INFORMER in 1935, McLaglen won an Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal, even as he began ageing into character roles as he specialized in Career Soldiers, Villains, and simple-minded thugs as his mug became muggier.

John Ford gave Victor’s career another boost with his Cavalry Trilogy in the late 40’s, as well as THE QUIET MAN (1952), which kept McLaglen busy in films and Television until his death in 1959.

Edmund Lowe was the textbook definition of “solid leading man”, one of the many on the “moustache”” list of male thespians who could handle anything from Romantic Comedy to Suave Detectives or Criminals to even straight drama or “rough and tumble” action or even perhaps putting on a Cowboy Hat (pecking order unsure, but you could do it like this: Warner Baxter/William Powell/Warren William/Edmund Lowe/Melvyn Douglas/ onward and downward until you hit Economy like, say, John Boles/John Howard/John Carroll/ lord knows----even John Miljan in a pinch).

Lowe had a good decade or so starring in silents, another equally good decade starring in talkies (and apparently a good agent as well, because after his Fox Contract expired in 1932, he was basically a very busy freelancer). The forties and fifties wore down to supporting roles and Television, including his own series, FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE, but Lowe retired from Films in 1960 after a good role in MGM’s HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS with Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn. He passed away in 1971.

All sides of the Political spectrum worked on UNDER PRESSURE’s screenplay, from Borden Chase to Lester Cole, with two sons of Finley Peter Dunne, Finley Jr. and Phillip Dunne punching up the Irish feeling within the script, and even newly ex-patriated Billy Wilder contributed some dialogue. Raoul Walsh completed principal photography in October 1934, but Fox was apparently not happy with the results, and called in Irving Cummings to shoot multiple retakes through most of December. At this point, Florence Rice replaced Grace Bradley as “Pat” when Cummings reshot all her scenes. Guinn “Big Boy” Williams had also originally played Nipper Moran, but found himself replaced by Charles Bickford. Another $200,000.00 was added to the $500,000.00 negative cost Walsh had left it when he wrapped, but whatever the reworking, it all looks pretty seamless on the Screen as UNDER PRESSURE is another fun-filled comedy-drama from McLaglen and Lowe, and Irish enough to be shown on St. Paddy’s Day. Faith and Begorrah, you’re in for seventy minutes of rough and tumble ye are do you moind!


RICHARD M ROBERTS