Wonder Bar

Wonder Bar
Film poster
Directed byLloyd Bacon
Busby Berkeley
Screenplay byEarl Baldwin
Produced byRobert Lord
Hal Wallis
StarringAl Jolson
Kay Francis
Dolores del Río
Ricardo Cortez
Dick Powell
Guy Kibbee
CinematographySol Polito
Edited byGeorge Amy
Music byHarry Warren
Al Dubin
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • February 28, 1934 (1934-02-28)
Strand Theatre
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$675,000
Box office$2,035,000

Wonder Bar is a 1934 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon, with musical numbers choreographed and directed by Busby Berkeley. It is an adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name that Al Jolson had starred in.

It stars Al Jolson, Kay Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Fifi D'Orsay, Merna Kennedy, Henry O'Neill, Robert Barrat, Henry Kolker, and Spencer Charters in the main roles.

For its time, Wonder Bar was considered risqué, barely passing the censors at the Hays Office. One musical number in particular, "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule", in which heaven was depicted with hundreds of Blacks eating watermelon while they sang and danced, was considered in bad taste even in its day.