Toast of New York was the Heaven's Gate and/or Cleopatra of its day, a film which almost sank its studio, RKO. RKO invested well over $1 million (a huge sum in 1937) into this film and it shows in every frame--incredible sets and costumes and the kind of polish you don't see anymore. The film was beset with pre-production problems, going through several announced stars (Spencer Tracy, Ginger Rogers, etc.) before settling on Farmer, Grant and Arnold. Writer Dudley Nichols was fired and re-hired as the production began shooting. The film, despite its pedigree, was greeted with decidedly mixed reviews and had lukewarm boxoffice response. Uneven in tone and historically inaccurate, it still is grand entertainment in the late 30s manner, with high drama and low comedy interspersed with about equal measure, and excellent performances by Farmer, Arnold and Oakie. Only Cary Grant seems somewhat ill at ease in a role quite different from his usual screen persona. The press materials on Toast are almost as lavish as the film itself, capitalizing on Farmer's recent success in "Come and Get It." The song Farmer sings, "The First Time I Saw You," was a chart hit for Bunny Berigan (who also charted with the theme from another Farmer film, "Ebb Tide") in 1937.
Review of The Toast of New York
