The great McGinty

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Movie
German title The great McGinty
Original title The Great McGinty
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 80 minutes
Rod
Director Preston Sturges
script Preston Sturges
production Paul Jones for Paramount Pictures
music Frederick Hollander
camera William C. Mellor
cut Hugh Bennett
occupation

The great McGinty (original title: The Great McGinty ) is an American comedy film by Preston Sturges from 1940. In Germany, the film was shown for the first time on October 27, 1968, as a television premiere on NDR .

action

The bank teller Thompson wants to take his own life after unable to resist the temptation to defraud his bank. A bartender stops him and tells him how honesty got him from governor to bartender.

Dan McGinty, unemployed and burned down, gets a tip from the employee of a poor kitchen where one can earn 2 dollars. He is supposed to use the names of people who have just died to help the mayoral candidate Tillinghast to the election. McGinty can cast 37 votes, which impresses the party leader (the cartoon of a gang boss) very much and soon makes him move into the city council. To increase his reputation, he married his secretary Catherine and had two children. The two married couples actually fall in love. McGinty likes the decent and honorable life as a family founder, he wants to approach his political path honestly.

When McGinty rose to governor, he reveals to his "boss", the party leader, that he now wants to quit the party. This then wants to kill him, but fails and ends up in prison. McGinty himself eventually stumbles upon his own past corruption. He is charged, also taken to prison and given the cell next to his boss. Skeeters, disguised as a guard, helps them break out. On the run, McGinty informs his wife about where he hid all the bribes so that she and the children can be looked after. The three leave the state.

Impressed by the story, Thompson gives up his thoughts of suicide. McGinty turns back to the bar, with the party leader and Skeeters helping him.

background

Preston Sturges sold his script to Paramount Pictures for $ 10 on condition that he could film it himself. The film became a box-office hit and the script was the cheapest to ever win an Oscar (the first to be awarded in the Original Screenplay category). In addition, the film was Sturges' directorial debut. The film was one of 700 productions shot between 1929 and 1949, the television rights of which were sold to Universal Pictures in 1958 .

Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff impersonated their roles from this film a second time, in a cameo in Sensation in Morgan's Creek (1944), again directed by Preston Sturges.

The production designer for the film was Hans Dreier , who was born in Bremen , and Edith Head designed the costumes . For actor William Demarest , The Great McGinty was the third collaboration with Sturges, with seven more to follow. The British Muriel Angelus retired from the film business after this film at the age of 31. She died in 2004 at the age of 95.

criticism

The lexicon of international films called the film "a successful satire on the political situation in the USA in the early 1940s" and went on to say: "The American-style social optimism is parodied in a funny, humorous way and with a flair for timing."

Awards

At the 1941 Academy Awards , Preston Sturges was awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Felicia Feaster: The Great McGinty (1940) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved June 23, 2019 .
  2. ↑ See imdb.com
  3. ↑ The great McGinty. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 27, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used