Sitting on the Moon

This unfortunately is a dull musical set on the Republic Lot and made in 1936, that studio's second year of operation. It was produced by Nat Levine who from 1927-35 owned his own studio called Mascot Pictures. He was a very successful producer of serials and had been merged against his will with Monogram Pictures to form Republic Pictures. Everyone owed despotic Herbert J Yates money and he owned the film processing factory they all used: Consolidated film laboratories...so he foreclosed on the most successful small studios and got their expertise, libraries and crews. In this merger, Yates made Levine head of production at Republic. This film is one of their earliest collaborations. But it is boring. Impressively lavish and I suspect made on a fairly good budget for a B+ movie, it has two good songs, a lot of ugly people. some swing music attempts...but it is all old fashioned and ...well, boring. Levine left Republic when Yates offered him $1,000,000 for his share in the business. Within a year Levine blew it all at the racetrack and was broke. I wish Scorscese could make this story in the same way he covered Hughes in The AVIATOR. Levine was only 38 when he was washed up. He managed a cinema after that and died in the 80s. Incredible. Yates paid himself a million dollars each year for 25 years for running Republic. $20,000 a week in the 30s and 40s! Anyway, SITTING ON THE MOON is interesting only for some background Republic Studio locations and a lot of great art deco furniture. That's it. There's a great joke in that title, but I won't go there. ahem...