Man Wanted

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Movie
Original title Man Wanted
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1932
length 62 minutes
Rod
Director William Dieterle
script Charles Kenyon
production Hal B. Wallis for Warner Brothers
camera Gregg Toland
cut James Gibbon
occupation

Man Wanted is a 1932 American film starring Kay Francis .

action

Lois Ames is the very successful editor-in-chief of 400 Magazine . She has an unhappy marriage to Fred Ames, who spends his life playing polo and with other women. Lois sticks to the motto Don't Ask - Don't Tell , because she wants to be a modern, open-minded wife and not an old-fashioned complainer. She has already buried all romantic dreams when one day she hires the young, attractive Thomas Sherman as secretary. Soon it crackles between the two, but Lois is not ready to endanger their marriage for a flirt. Things come to a climax when Lois invites Thomas to her home in the Hamptons for a weekend . At the same time, her husband also invited his current lover. After a number of entanglements, the respective couples find each other and become happy with each other.

background

The film was made at Warner Bros. Studios Burbank. It premiered on April 13, 1932 at the Strand Theater, New York. It was released in theaters on April 23, 1932.

Within a few months, Kay Francis had risen to become a popular actress in the melodramatic fate of women, even if her home studio Paramount didn't really know how to use it. After some successes with William Powell , Francis was especially popular among female viewers for her ability to carry extravagant wardrobes on the screen with the utmost ease. Her films often showed Francis as a woman who has to endure endless strokes of fate in search of true happiness. In mid-1931 she was recruited for a significantly higher fee in the course of a so-called talent raid by Warner Brothers together with Ruth Chatterton and William Powell, although her current contract had not yet ended. The process caused a lot of excitement. After Warner had initially planned the salon comedy The Rich Are Always With Us for Francis' debut, the role then went to Chatterton. Darryl F. Zanuck came up with the idea of A Dangerous Brunette in early 1932 . The film, which received the final title Man Wanted shortly before it was released, was produced with some effort and finally gave Francis the long-awaited star billing . The financial success finally helped her breakthrough as one of the leading actresses in the fate of romantic women.

William Dieterle and Kay Francis were later to make four more films together: A Thief with Class , The White Angel and Another Dawn .

Reviews

The New York Times found words of praise in its review:

"Kay Francis exudes a lot of charm [and] dresses with a lot of taste throughout the film."

The LA Illustrated Daily News was similarly positive :

“It's good and light entertainment that also benefits from the luxurious sets, good dialogue, interesting storyline and some good actors. Miss Francis looks good and, as usual, wears some really unusual clothes that underline the impression of a woman who finds her happiness in her job and not, as usual, in the home environment. "

Theatrical release

Production costs were only $ 171,000, which was the usual editing for a Kay Francis film of the time. In the US, Man Wanted grossed $ 258,000, with a further $ 59,000 from abroad. The total revenue was a modest $ 317,000.

Web links

source

  • Scott O'Brien: Kay Francis - I Can't Wait to be Forgotten - Her Life by Film and Stage. BearManor Media, Boalsburg, PA 2006, ISBN 1-59393-036-4 .

Literature on the subject of pre-code films

  • Mark A. Vieira: Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood. Harry Abrams, New York 1999, ISBN 0-8109-4475-8 .
  • Mick LaSalle: Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. St. Martin's Griffin, New York 2001, ISBN 0-312-28431-4 .
  • Thomas Doherty: Pre-Code Hollywood. Columbia Univ. Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-231-11095-2 .
  • Lea Jacobs: The Wages of Sin: Censorship and the Fallen Woman Film, 1928-1942. University of California Press, Berkeley et al. 1997, ISBN 0-520-20790-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm (William) Dieterle - actor, director . In: CineGraph - Lexikon zum Deutschsprachigen Film , Lg. 22, F 14
  2. ↑ Kay Francis radiates so much charm throughout "Man Wanted" [and] dresses with such good taste.
  3. ↑ This is good light material which has the benefit of luxerious settings, pleasing dialogs, rather clever situations and some good performances. Miss Francis photographed well and wearing stunning costume creations, as usual, contributes a smooth, svelte delineation as the wife who found happiness in the world of business rather than in the smart set.