Melville Baker
Writing
Biography
Melville Baker (April 24, 1901 – April 10, 1958) was an American screenwriter. Melville, the Youngest Baker by Patti Bender Like his father, Mel was a writer, first for the stage and then film. He left the past behind–including his first wife–and moved to Los Angeles. In June of the same year, 1929, Adolphe Menjou’s first talking movie, “Fashions In Love,” was released, adaptation and dialogue by Robert’s son, Melville Baker. In July, Lillian Gish’s first talking movie was announced, “One Romantic Night,” an adaptation by Melville Baker of his translated play for the stage, “The Swan.” (Incidentally, if you’ve never seen the 1956 remake of “The Swan,” do yourself a favor and watch it. It’s an all-time favorite among favorites!) Mel married Humphrey Bogart’s agent, Mary Huntoon, and they built a home in Stone Canyon. The house is on tourist maps now, because Bogie’s third marriage, to Mayo Methot, took place there. Mel was Bogie’s best man. Melville Baker’s next movies included the mystery “Darkened Rooms,” “His Woman” with Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert, and “Next Time We Love,” starring a newcomer, Jimmy Stewart. Careers in Hollywood can flare brightly and die quickly away, but Mel Baker wrote stories and screenplays for nearly twenty years. His twenty, big-screen projects included: “Zoo in Budapest” with Loretta Young, “Now and Forever” with Shirley Temple, Gary Cooper, and Carole Lombard; and “The Last Days of Pompeii.” He played cards with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ogden Nash, and attended benefits with the elite of film-land society–Mary Pickford, Fred Astaire, Mae West, Bette Davis, Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer… Above Suspicion, Mel Baker’s last film (1943) starred Fred MacMurray and Joan Crawford as newlyweds who agree to spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service while they are on their European honeymoon. The movie’s title, “Above Suspicion,” came from the unlikely pairing of a honeymooning couple and espionage. Mel spoke several languages, moved with ease in the Hollywood scene, and competed with an awful lot of other talent to turn out movies at the same rate as his aunt wrote her novels. Clearly, he was full heir to the Baker creative legacy. Then he stopped. Did he get black-listed? Lose interest? Run afoul of someone in Hollywood? What would make a prolific, successful writer simply stop? Melville Baker started his writing career by traveling through Europe and finding scripts he could translate and adapt for the stage. In 1956, he packed two suitcases and a canvas bag and traveled to Nice, France where he stayed in the Cecil Hotel, in sight of the Mediterranean. He died there of a heart attack in 1958. He was just fifty-seven years old. **************************************************************************************************** https://pattibender.com/2018/03/06/melville-the-youngest-baker/
Known For
Two newlyweds spy on the Nazis for the British Secret Service during their honeymoon in Europe.
Above Suspicion
Secretary Marilyn David falls in love with British aristocrat Charles Gray, to the dismay of her best friend, reporter Peter Dawes, who secretly loves her. When Peter learns that the already-engaged Charles has hurt Marilyn, he fabricates an article casting her as the "No Girl" who refused to marry a callous aristocrat. But when the publicity brings Marilyn unexpected fame, and Charles returns, she is forced to choose between the two men.
The Gilded Lily
A Parisian sewer worker longs for a rise in status and a beautiful wife. He rescues a girl from the police, lives with her in a barren flat on the seventh floor, and then marches away to war.
Seventh Heaven
Joe and Ethel Turp are up in arms when their faithful old mailman is fired. Unable to get satisfaction on a municipal level, Joe and Ethel plead their mailman's case to the President himself.
Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the President
Freewheeling wanderer Jerry Day and his beautiful wife Toni are at odds over their lifestyle. Jerry can't accept responsibility, but Toni yearns for a family and a settled life. Then the Days 'rediscover' Jerry's young daughter Pennie, who has been living with his rich deceased wife's family. Pennie appears to be just what Jerry needs to mend his swindling ways and lead a straight life. Then a corruptible influence enters his life.
Now and Forever
Zani is an unusual young man who has spent his entire life in a zoo in Budapest. His only true friends are the zoo's animals. When Zani meets Eve, a young orphan girl, they fall in love. To be together Eve must somehow escape from her strict orphan school. When she does she and Zani must hide overnight in the zoo - where everyone is looking to find them.
Zoo in Budapest
In the Austrian manor of Baron and Baroness von Burgen, the relationship between the upstairs aristocracy and the downstairs staff is quite positive. The servants seem to enjoy their time together, and some even fall in love, as head butler Albert and maid Anna have done. But when lecherous new chauffeur Karl Schneider enters the house, affairs and blackmail follow, and the harmony of the home is slowly destroyed.
Downstairs
David and Lynn are a happily married couple. When David gets his dream job in another state, Lynn, a high-powered executive, doesn't want to leave NYC and her job
The First Hundred Years
Phony spiritualists were given a good going-over in the early talkie melodrama Darkened Rooms. Evelyn Brent stars as Ellen, a fraudulent medium working in cahoots with genuine clairvoyant Emory Jago (Neil Hamilton). The plotline is secondary; the film's main purpose was to emulate the methods of such professional "de-bunkers" as Mrs. Harry Houdini by exposing the various tricks of the spiritualist's trade.
Darkened Rooms
A young married couple's relationship becomes strained when he is assigned overseas as a foreign correspondent and she becomes a major stage star.
Next Time We Love
Tough Caribbean freighter Captain Sam Whelan engages Sally Clark, a tramp masquerading as a missionary's daughter, to care for an abandoned baby on board his ship. En route to New York, ships mate Gatson sexually attacks her. The Captain knocks Gatson overboard in an ensuing scuffle. A romance developing between the Captain and Miss Clark is put to the test in New York after an assault investigation uncovers the girl's questionable past.
His Woman
Three young women in Budapest share living quarters while searching for romance.
Ladies in Love
Fay Wray plays Jean Hastings, the wealthy and spoiled scion of a factory-owning family led by her irrepressible grandmother. Sparks fly when Jean meets Jim Devlin, the labor leader who’s spearheading a tense worker’s strike against the factory. After circumstances force Jean and Jim to spend a night together in his cabin, she begins questioning her family’s ruthless tactics. This hard-to-see Columbia film by British director Roy William Neill not only features Wray as a brunette but also includes an explosive depiction of labor strife. (Block Cinema)
Mills of the Gods
A princess is forced to choose between a charming tutor and a rakish prince.
One Romantic Night
No description available.