The Wet Parade

The Wet Parade
Directed by	Victor Fleming
Written by	Upton Sinclair (novel) John Lee Mahin
Starring	Jimmy Durante Myrna Loy Robert Young Walter Huston
Music by	Dr. William Axt
Cinematography	George Barnes
Edited by	Anne Bauchens
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	March 26, 1932 (1932-03-26)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Wet Parade is a 1932 American pre-Code film drama directed by Victor Fleming and starring Robert Young, Myrna Loy, Walter Huston, Lewis Stone and Jimmy Durante.. It is based on a 1931 novel by Upton Sinclair.

Plot

In the early 20th Century, with the Prohibition Era approaching, two families come undone over the evils of alcohol.

The drinking of Roger Chilcote costs him everything, including all his family's money after gambling it away, after his daughter Maggie May's repeated attempts to persuade him to quit. Chilcote commits suicide. Roger Jr. is a writer who is befriended by Jerry Tyler, a newspaper reporter in New York City.

Jerry leaves for France to fight in the war. Meanwhile, the Tarleton family is at odds over the coming presidential election. A hotel is owned by Pow Tarleton and his wife, but Pow's drinking binges are becoming worse, particularly after Woodrow Wilson's election as president. Kip believes in abstinence and in the passage of the 18th Amendment, opposed by Wilson. One day when Maggie May turns up, Kip mistakes her at first for a working girl, then develops a strong romantic attraction to her.

Pow accidentally drinks bootleg liquor that is contaminated. He beats his wife fatally and ends up convicted of murder, sentenced to life imprisonment. Kip sells the family hotel and joins the U.S. Treasury department, coming under the wing of Abe Schilling, a wise, older agent for the bureau. Both receive threats from gangsters who trade in outlawed liquor.

Roger Jr.'s alcoholism has tragic results when he consumes wood alcohol and goes blind, costing him everything, including the love of Eileen Pinchon, who runs a speakeasy. Kip, meanwhile, is now with Maggie, who is pregnant. Kip is kidnapped by gangsters, then saved by Abe, who dies while rescuing him, advising Kip that taking care of his family comes first.

Cast

• Walter Huston as Pow Tarleton
• Wallace Ford as Jerry Tyler
• Dorothy Jordan as Maggie May Chilcote
• Robert Young as Kip Tarleton
• Lewis Stone as Roger Chilcote
• Neil Hamilton as Roger Chilcote, Jr.
• Jimmy Durante as Abe Schilling
• Myrna Loy as Eileen Pinchon

External links

• The Wet Parade on IMDb
• The Wet Parade at AllMovie