Incendiary Blonde

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Movie
Original title Incendiary Blonde
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 113 minutes
Rod
Director George Marshall
script Claude Binyon ,
Frank Butler
production Joseph Sistrom for Paramount Pictures
music Robert Emmett Dolan ,
John Leipold
camera Ray Rennahan
cut Archie Marshek
occupation

Incendiary Blonde is an American musical biography by George Marshall from 1945 about the entertainer Texas Guinan, played by Betty Hutton , who was the attraction in her nightclubs in the 1920s. Arturo de Córdova is cast as Guinan's great love Bill Romero Kilgannon, Charles Ruggles as Cherokee Jim, Barry Fitzgerald as Guinan's father and Albert Dekker as gangster Joe Cadden.

The plot is loosely based on real events. The title of the film goes back to used during World War II incendiary bombs (English Incendiary Bomb ). At the beginning of the film it says, “This film was inspired by the life of one of the immortals in show business, Texas Guinan, the queen of nightclubs. She hit Broadway like a rocket, blinded him briefly with her charismatic personality and then died, as she had always predicted, at the height of her career. "

action

Two police officers on horseback stop in front of the Texas Guinan Memorial and one of them tells the story of the woman who died at the height of her career.

It all started with Texas running away from home to take part in a Wild West show. After proving that she can ride, she's allowed to stay. When she saves a small child from getting under a car that got out of hand during the show, Romeo "Bill" Kilgannon, the head of the troupe, doubles her salary.

When Tim Callahan, a press rep, visits the show, he confronts Texas that he found out her heroic act was a staged act in which a dwarf played the allegedly endangered child. He promises to say nothing to her if he gets a job as the show's press representative.

Texas, who supports her family who live in great poverty, fell in love with Kilgannon, while Tim Callahan fell in love with her. Little does she know that Bill feels attached to his sick wife, who lives in a sanatorium. When it is obvious that her love for Bill will not be fulfilled, she marries Tim, who is pushing her career and arranging her stage appearances in New York. It seems that at least Texas’s dream of a career is coming true. Her way from the vaudeville theater leads her on to Broadway .

Jim's attempt to get film roles for Texas in Hollywood, however, is not going well. The gangster Joe Cadden, a friend of Bill's, takes control of Nick's nightclub in New York and makes Texas a main attraction there. Her fame is growing, but there are also downsides. A feud develops between Cadden and two other gangsters, the Vettori brothers, which begins with threats against Texas and Tim and ends with bloodshed.

Bill saves Texas' life but is arrested and sentenced to prison. During this time his wife dies, so that he would now be free. However, Texas has since learned that she is sick and will die in the near future - even before Bill has served his prison sentence.

production

Filming, staff and cast

Some of the scenes were shot in Tucson , Arizona . The shooting spanned the period from November 1, 1943 to the end of January 1944.

Ken Englund and James Edward Grant are said to have contributed to the text. Hans Dreier and William Flannery were responsible for the artistic design of the sets, Stephen Seymour for the decoration. The costumes were in the hands of Edith Head , as a makeup artist Wally Westmore was responsible for the make-up. The responsibility for the visual effects lay with Farciot Edouart , Gordon Jennings , W. Wallace Kelley and Paul K. Lerpae .

An article in the New York Times said that Texas had provided Guinan's family with background information to Paramount Pictures. The producer Carl Laemmle is said to have acquired the film rights to Guinan's life as early as 1939 and was considering commissioning Gene Fowler to write the script. Robert Sisk was originally named as the producer of the Paramount production, but he left the studio in 1942. Alan Ladd , who was originally intended for the role of Kilgannon, was called up, whereupon Humphrey Bogart was tested by Paramount, but Brian Donlevy ultimately played the lead role should play. However, this refused and Charles Quigley did not survive the casting. Critics and part of the audience from the south are said to have protested against the cast of the Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova, because William Kilgannon is supposed to have actually been Irish and not a Mexican with Irish roots, as shown in the film.

The New York dancers Johnny Coy, Frederick Nay and John Deauville were hired for special dance scenes. The film was his debut for jazz pianist Maurice Rocco. For Bud Jamison, who played the bartender, this was his last film; he died unexpectedly in September 1944.

Songs in the movie

- sung by Betty Hutton, unless otherwise stated -

publication

The film premiered on July 25, 1945 in New York before it was generally released in cinemas across the United States on August 31, 1945. It was released in the United Kingdom in September 1945, in Sweden and Portugal in 1946. The film opened in Finland and France in 1947, in Mexico and Brussels in Belgium in 1948, first screened in Denmark in 1950 and in Barcelona in 1954. It was also published in Brazil, Greece, Italy and Portugal. It was not published in Germany.

The film's working titles were: The Smoothest Gal in Town , The Life of Texas Guinan, and Texas Guinan .

reception

criticism

At the time, the New York Times read that the lustful era of alcohol bans in New York, where Texas Guinan had presented itself as queen of the nightclub for ten years, had more imaginative than historical elegance in Incendiary Blonde . The biography of the blonde bombshell from the Lone Star State tells a story of heartbreak and success that most moviegoers are likely to perceive as a two-part story. Nevertheless, the film offers a lively and entertaining show for almost two hours. There are sure to be hundreds of moviegoers who are not very familiar with the name of the entertainer, and certainly not with her personality. Obviously, these are the visitors that Paramount wanted to entertain with this thin biography, and they would not be disappointed. Because Incendiary Blonde is a big, bright splash of technicolor that begins in 1909 with a rapid rodeo when 'Tex a Bronco' becomes the star of a show. More than half of the film is devoted to Miss Guinan's development as an entertainer, who makes it from a choir girl to an actress on Broadway shows and then as a heroine in silent films. Her encounters with smugglers and the boys with the strong arms are characterized by narrative power. Musically, the film is as melodic as it is colorful. Miss Hutton sing and convey the songs well. Here, too, Arturo de Córdova was panned, he was as expressive as a mummy in his role of the apparently apocryphal lover and business partner who causes Texas a lot of grief.

The critic Hal Erickson wrote on AllMovie that Incendiary Blonde was a highly entertaining, if historically rather untrusted, biography of the Queen of Nightclubs, Texas Guinan. Of course, leading actress Betty Hutton has several opportunities to sing and dance, which she does with the unbridled enthusiasm that is usual for her.

On the same page, Craig Butler stated that the speakeasies featured in the film were far more glamorous than even the best club ever was. Hutton is a little more reserved here and is given the chance to show decent acting skills so that even her critics can find a taste for her and the film. Whatever you think of the actress, there were only a few artists during this time who could have worn this special piece. The exuberance and vitality that are the hallmark of the actress would go well with the character of Texas Guinan. Director George Marshall leads his lead actress safely through the many ups and downs of the character's personal life and career. Barry Fitzgerald is supportive and lovable in his role as Guinan's father. Charlie Ruggles is good, if a little withdrawn, but Arturo de Córdova is unfortunately bland. The film did have flaws, but these did not prevent a large piece of colorful, exciting entertainment from being offered here.

The Movie & Video Guide found: “Hollywood-esque biography of the nightclub queen of the 1920s, Texas Guinan, is Betty Hutton everywhere. Lots of songs from old times. "

Halliwell's Film Guide saw the production as a "softened film biography with cannons, girls and gangsters as well as songs."

The Daily Herald found in 1945 that the strip was an "ordinary synthesis of color, song and dance, sprinkled with laughter", while Richard Mallett stated in the satirical magazine Punch that the film "ran its noisy but noble-minded course through steamy emotions, painful misunderstanding and dramatic self-sacrifice ”. Then Mallett asked the final question: "Have we ever seen gangsters in Technicolor?"

Award

Academy Awards 1946 :

Short biography Texas Guinan

Texas Guinan was born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan in Waco , Texas , in 1884 to Irish immigrants. Her desire to become an entertainer came up early on. Her career started in Wild West shows, she worked her way up to Broadway, sang and danced, and then started a career in the movie business. After appearing in numerous productions, she eventually started her own company, Texas Guinan Productions. During the Prohibition period she was known as the host of private New York speakeasies clubs. Their greeting "Hello Sucker" to customers entering the club became the catchphrase of the 1920s. The clubs were attended by both the rich and famous and up and coming talent. An arrest and prosecution against Guinan by law enforcement agencies resulted in an acquittal.

She married the newspaper cartoonist John Moynahan in 1904 under the name Marie Guinan. The marriage was soon divorced. For years, Guinan claimed that she was baptized in the name of Texas and said other things that were not true. When she stayed at the Congress Hotel during the world exhibition in Chicago, she contracted the infectious disease amoebic dysentery . The epidemic in the city has been attributed to contaminated water. When she died on November 5, 1933, she was 49 years old. The alcohol ban was lifted a month later. About 7,500 people attended Guinan's funeral. One of their pallbearers was the band leader Paul Whiteman , another the sports journalist and critic Heywood Broun .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Incendiary Blonde (1945) see page catalog.afi.com (English).
  2. ^ The Screen; "Incendiary Blonde" at the Paramount, Features Betty Hutton as the Late Nightclub Queen, Texas Guinan
    In: The New York Times , July 26, 1945 (English). Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  3. ↑ Hal Erickson : Incendiary Blonde see Synopsis by Hal Erickson, allemovie.com (English). Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  4. ↑ Incendiary Blonde see Review by Craig Butler, allemovie.com (English). Retrieved January 24, 2020.
  5. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 627
  6. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 511