Welcome back to the other greatest fur fashion decade, the 1930s. I had never heard of this film until I saw Merle Oberon's photo in white fox from the film. The film is a bit obscure and thus turned out to be almost impossible to find in anything but a colorized DVD. So, while I'm not sure colorization is as controversial as when it first hit, don't consider this an endorsement. It's only an endorsement of “this is the only version I can find.”
Sponsored.
Over the Moon DVD
Format: NTSC
Over the Moon – The Film
The movie follows Jane Benson (Merle Oberon), a lady just making her way in the world sometime-slightly-before-today, taking care of her family and living a simple life. She's hot for the local doc, Freddie (Rex Harrison), and wants to get hitched. A sudden windfall inheritance of 18 million pounds throws a wrench into her plans. Freddie turns down the offer to accompany her on a European spending spree. Will they figure it all out before the end credits? Of course, they're rich white people.
Over the Moon – The Furs
Merle doesn't do all the fur wearing in the movie. Some of the film's uniformly exceptional fox fashions are sported by Zena Dare, playing Julie. Julie shows up to inform Jane about her newfound wealth in this rather agreeably sized fox collar.
Julie will be sticking with Jane throughout the film and is with her during her initial spending spree. She's wearing this fox-trimmed cape which we will get a better look at later.
Jane returns to flaunt her wealth to Freddie with an appropriate selection of “huge white fox collar.” Remember, if you can fit through a doorway, it's not a huge fox collar.
Doc Dumbass rejects Jane and her white fox, choosing to remain with his patients. I suspect the filmmakers wish me to believe this is the morally correct choice, and I humbly disagree.
Julie returns in that fox-trimmed cape to give Jane a pep talk, so we can once more appreciate the sheer scope of the trim on this garment.
Off to drown her sorrows in eighteen million pounds, Julie also befriends Millie (Ursula Jeans), who will join the entourage. Fortunately, this entourage is far better dressed and less insufferable.
Jane is courted by a couple of guys who only want her furs money. She hops into a cab with them, wearing this full-length white fox fur coat.
If I'm going to quibble about anything in this movie, it's the poor lighting this fabulous white fox suffers through most of its screen time. We get one shot of it in a well-lit room when Jane returns from the date, but it's brief.
The hijinks continue as Jane, Millie, and Julie head out for another evening. Millie only gets the same fox wrap, but Jane has an even larger one. I'm guessing the colorization artists may have taken some liberty. I'm not complaining, it's a visually exciting choice, and I support it.
The “dyed” fox wrap sticks with Jane for some time and is easily the longest appearing fur in the film. Frustratingly, a lot of that time is also spent at night in low light, but there's more variety here.
Finally, at the very end, after Freddie and Jane reconcile, we get a short scene of them together on a train, and the colorization artists again get a little funky with yet another fox. I would have just leaned into it and given her neon Fuschia fox coats.
With that, we conclude another heavyweight entry from the 1930s. This movie is just one fantastic fox fur after another and clocks in at a hefty 17% runtime. Definitely worth the price of admission for the white foxes alone. I may think Zena Dare was a little past her prime to be sporting such power furs, but that's also a minor nitpick. It would have been perfect if she and Ursula switched roles. Still, highly recommended.
Fur Runtime: approx 13 minutes
Film Runtime: 78 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 16.62%
Find-A-Fur: Over the Moon, 1939
(all times are approximate)
- 11:50 – 15:40 – big fox collar
- 18:25 – 20:00 – blush fox collar
- 21:00 – 22:45 – white fox trim
- 24:20 – 26:30 – blush fox collar
- 28:20 – gray fox wrap
- 29:30 – 30:25 – ”
- 31:20 – 32:54 – white fox coat
- 40:25 – gray fox wrap
- 42:00 – ” + “dyed” fox cape
- 47:15 – ”
- 48:50 – 53:35 – ” + “dyed” fox cape
- 1:10:40 – diff dyed fox