The White Angel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title The White Angel
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 92 minutes
Rod
Director William Dieterle
script Mordaunt Shairp
production Henry Blanke for First National on loan from Warner Brothers
music Heinz Roemheld
camera Tony Gaudio
cut Warren Low
occupation

The White Angel is a 1936 American film about the work of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, with Kay Francis in the lead role. The direction was directed by William Dieterle . The film is a typical example of the genre of the biographical film , which has experienced a great boom, especially since the appearance of the sound film . At the same time, with its focus on Florence Nightingale's struggles and arguments against male prejudice and social restrictions against women, the film is entirely in the narrative tradition of the so-called "woman's picture".

For the leading actress Kay Francis, The White Angel was a departure from the otherwise typical film subjects, which usually deal with emotional problems and romantic entanglements of the heroine.

plot

In England in the 1850s, young Florence Nightingale suffered from being unable to find a meaningful job as a high society woman other than waiting for a husband. One day she learns shocking facts about the nursing and hygienic conditions in English hospitals and hospitals through her father, who is a member of a committee for the improvement of nursing. Deeply moved, Florence Nightingale decides to turn down the marriage proposal of her admirer Charles Cooper, whose role has certain similarities with Richard Monckton Milnes , and instead to become a nurse. Among other things, she completed her training in the Kaiserswerther Diakonie , where she got to know the importance of unconditional fulfillment of duties, hard work, meticulous hygiene and strict discipline for long-term success in nursing. Back in England, she manages to take on a responsible position in a hospital, despite the tough resistance of the male management.

Historical figure Florence Nightingale around 1860

With the outbreak of the Crimean War , Nightingale obtained permission to treat the wounded soldiers with the help of the Secretary of State in the War Department, Sidney Herbert. In October 1854 Florence travels to Crimea accompanied by 38 sisters whom she has personally chosen based on their suitability and ability. Your first place of work is the military hospital of Scutari (today Selimiye barracks in Üsküdar ). Unsustainable, inhumane hygienic conditions prevail there. Some seriously injured, dying and slightly wounded people lie on the bare ground without any order. Within three weeks of their arrival, 2,300 new cases have been admitted and mortality is increasing every day. Against the bitter resistance of Dr. Hunt, the head of the hospital, is reorganizing Nightingale's processes and laying the foundations for effective care. Every evening Florence Nightingale visits the sick and the sight of her with a lamp in hand becomes a symbol of hope and humanity for the wounded soldiers.

Despite the successes - the mortality rate drops from 420 per 1000 to only 22 per 1000 - Dr. Hunt anything to sabotage Florence Nightingale. She is supported by the Times war reporter Robert Fuller. The figure is essentially modeled after William Howard Russell , the founder of modern war reporting. He reports regularly on the successes of the Lady with the Lamp back home.

On the basis of the experience in Scutari, Florence Nightingale, at the express request of Queen Victoria, finally organizes the nursing care in the hospital of Balaklava in the Crimea, where the conditions are even more dire. She becomes seriously ill with cholera , but recovers and learns that Dr. Hunt reversed all reforms in her absence and denied her access to the hospital. She waits for days in the rain in front of the building before she finally gets the support of the Commander in Chief of the English troops, Lord Raglan . She immediately dismisses Dr. Hunt appointed head nurse after finding this drunk in bed. Eventually Nightingale wins her fight against Dr. Hunt dishonorable dismissed. With the end of the war, Nightingale returns home in triumph. In recognition of her services to the fatherland, Queen Victoria gives her a diamond-studded brooch adorned with the English cross of St. George with the inscription Blessed are the Merciful .

background

occupation

Kay Francis, 1930s, photographer: Elmer Fryer (1898–1944)

In mid-1935, immediately after the shooting of Louis Pasteur was finished , Warner Brothers were looking for a suitable subject for another biographical film, ideally in the field of health care. The decision finally fell on Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. The main role was initially intended for Josephine Hutchinson , before Kay Francis was awarded the contract in December 1935 . The actress was at the height of her career at the time and was the studio's highest-paid female star in 1936, with an annual earnings of $ 227,500. At that time, the high income was offset by a corresponding popularity at the box office. Variety , the industry's leading journal, ranked Francis sixth of the ten most popular female movie stars, ahead of Joan Crawford and Jeanette MacDonald . The actress recently had a huge box office hit with I Found Stella Parrish , whereupon the studio adjusted their existing contract and paid Francis a weekly fee of $ 5,250. Officially, Kay Francis was confident that he could meet the challenges of the role and, in an interview, referred to having portrayed women doctors twice (1933 in Mary Stevens, MD and a year later in Dr. Monica ). At the same time, she expressed her joy at finally being able to play a character role after her previous image was based more on glamor and fashion. In 1936, Francis was voted the best dressed woman in Hollywood, ahead of iconic style icons like Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford. In an interview, Francis made it clear where, in her opinion, the main focus of the role lay:

“Florence Nightingale is a role with no excuse. All the costumes and glamor in the world don't make them believable. It's a role that requires acting skills and an opportunity that an actress rarely gets. [...] Every actress would be excited about the chance. "

In his private life, Kay Francis was far less taken with the undertaking and did not enjoy the script. Their derogatory opinion anticipated the numerous problems with the censorship authorities that would plague the entire filming.

Screenplay and filming

The studio was forced to keep changing the script due to strict requirements from the censorship authorities and even to discard entire scenes in the final cut. On the one hand, Warners was prohibited from showing explicitly detailed exposures of scenes with human suffering and brutality on the screen, citing the corresponding requirements of the Production Code . Given that much of the plot took place during one of the bloodiest wars in history to date, and there was virtually no medical care in the military hospitals, this requirement was counterproductive in terms of a realistic portrayal of the challenges Nightingale faced upon arrival in Scutari and later in the hospital of Balaklava. Kay Francis reported in an interview that an already wacky scene, which drastically depicted the agony of a wounded man whose legs had to be amputated without anesthesia, was completely removed from the final cut because the censors vetoed it. In addition, there was the express veto by the Lord Chamberlain of the Household , who forbade the studio to shoot a final scene in which Florence Nightingale has a few lines of dialogue with Queen Victoria. Instead of the personal address and tribute by the queen originally planned by the producers as the highlight, the film now ends relatively banally with a tracking shot of the brooch and a close-up of the inscription "Blessed are the Merciful".

At the same time, the slight speech impediment of Kay Francis had to be taken into account. The actress had trouble pronouncing the letter "R" correctly. For this reason, the script avoided “R” -lasting expressions wherever possible in their dialogues. The actress insisted, however, on the so-called Florence Nightingale Pledge (English Florence Nightingale Pledge) despite the numerous "R" s in the original, even if her successful efforts in the end did not receive the hoped-for appreciation from the critics . The film quotes several times in voice-overs from the biography Nightingale in the extensive work Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey and the poem Santa Filomena by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow . In the credit, these works are not named as the basis for the script, as the studio told the Motion Picture Association of America in advance that screenwriter Mordaunt Shairp had based his work solely on his own research and that other sources were not required. The script had a fundamentally different focus in portraying Nightingale's character than Lytton Strachey in his biography. Among other things, this emphasizes the religious motifs that Florence Nightingale is said to have promoted throughout her life. The film itself focuses on Florence Nightingale's pronounced willingness to help and her inherent desire to alleviate the fundamental suffering of the sick and poor. The inner conviction of wanting to do something good takes the place of a religiously motivated vocation. There are major differences between the actual events and the description in the film, especially around the events during the war. The film devotes a lot of space to the description of Nightingale's nursing work and her efforts to look after the wounded and dying. In fact, Florence Nightingale was busy with administrative tasks most of the time in Scutari and left the active maintenance to her staff. For reasons of dramaturgy, the figure of Dr. Hunt built into the plot for which there is no direct historical equivalent. As the central antagonist, the script bundles a large part of the mostly male prejudices that Florence Nightingale was exposed to in Scutari and in the Crimea. Additional information on the aspect of the selective focus on certain character traits can be found below in the text in the comments on the “woman's picture”.

As with Louis Pasteur , William Dieterle, who worked with Francis as early as 1932 for Man Wanted and A Thief with Class and, albeit without official mention, in 1934 for Dr. Monica had worked together. In the following year, the two should work together again on Another Dawn . The shooting lasted from March 2, 1936 to April 22, 1936. The working title was Angel of Mercy , only immediately before the premiere on June 26, 1936 in New York, the choice fell on The White Angel .

In the end, however, none of those involved were really satisfied with what had been achieved. Those involved saw different reasons why the film did not meet the high expectations. Officials believed that Francis had been overwhelmed with the role. In retrospect, Hal B. Wallis analyzed the omissions of the actress from his point of view:

“Scene after scene, she seemed unemotional, whether she was facing the wounded or bumping into an official who refused to share her view of things. [...] The direction was good, but the main role was wrongly cast "

In retrospect, William Dieterle was also skeptical about the finished result. However, he explicitly saw the responsibility with the studio and the problems with the censorship authorities

“That was a great story, but, I want to put it, it was written by the wrong people - they tried so hard to please the English as much as possible. We had such problems with the English censors and that ended up ruining the whole film. […] The film would have been much better if we had had the opportunity to take post-shots after the preview. But that was basically not possible with Warners. "

Most recently, Kay Francis was also anything but enthusiastic about the result, as she stated in an interview in 1938 with her own openness.

"I shudder when I think of the film."

Further film adaptations of the work of Florence Nightingale, especially her work in Scutari, followed in 1951 when the British director Herbert Wilcox shot The Lady With the Lamp with his wife Anna Neagle . Julie Harris appeared on US television in 1965 as Nightingale in a biographical film entitled The Holy Terror . A two-part television version of her life, starring Jaclyn Smith and Timothy Dalton , which focused more on the alleged rather than historically proven romantic entanglements between Nightingale and Monckton Milnes, was also produced for US television. In 2001 there were short-term plans to bring the life of the nursing pioneer, Kate Winslet and Joaquín Phoenix, to the big screen.

For Kay Francis, The White Angel didn't mean the breakthrough as a dramatic actress she had hoped for. The relative financial failure resulted in a rapid loss of reputation for Francis among their fans and thus their traction at the box office. After several quarrels about other roles, a bitter legal dispute with the studio finally broke out in September 1937 when the actress wanted to sue out of her current contract.

reception

Most critics attested The White Angel a high degree of factual loyalty and its star integrity and pathos in the representation. Contrary to the often repeated opinion that Kay Francis was wrongly cast in the role and lacked real emotions in her portrayal, the contemporary reviewers were full of praise for the leading actress. However, there was criticism of the pathetic exaggeration of Nightingale's person, with whom she was placed on a pedestal.

Variety Daily found kind words for the star and predicted a bright future:

“Kay Francis turns out to be a good actress with her superb portrayal of Florence Nightingale. Her careful, sensitive and overall impressive performance opens up a new role for the already very popular actress. "

In England, the homeland of Florence Nightingale, the press was impressed by both the film and the actress. Film Weekly was enthusiastic about the November 21, 1936 review.

“Kay Francis finally has a role that shows her skills and importance as an actor. […] It is the first role in years for Kay Francis that gives her room for her dramatic talent. [...] The heroine in 'The White Angel' is a real personality, an intelligent woman with depth and a strong character. "

With praise for Francis, but a clear reference to the deficit script, Graham Greene , then film critic of The Spectator, was heard:

“Though hindered by her beauty, Kay Francis tries everything in her power to make this oversentimental version of Florence Nightingale bearable. But in the end it fails because of the scriptwriters' omissions. "

The New York Times was also somewhat more cautious in its review of June 26, 1936:

“The film, close to the facts and full of respect for Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, is dignified, halfway truthful, very moving and chillingly pompous. [...] Miss Nightingale, unlike the graduates of the Loretta Young School for Nurses, does not suffer the conflict between a handsome suitor and her career. […] The portrayal of Miss Francis is serious and eloquent, although we regret the awe-inspiring tone. The studio's efforts deserve respect, but the film does not quite achieve its goal. "

Theatrical release

With production costs of $ 506,000 US dollars, The White Angel was already a prestige production compared to the otherwise rather modest production budget at Warners. Louis Pasteur from the previous year was only $ 330,000. Domestic revenues of $ 886,000 and an additional $ 530,000 from abroad generated cumulative box office income of $ 1,416,000. The profit for the studio ended up being $ 456,000, a comparatively high figure, even if the studio officially claimed that revenues were below expectations.

To enable a relation two further examples:

Almost at the same time, Warner's The Treason of Surat Khan was released in cinemas, the free retelling of the attack by the Light Brigade , the most famous military action in the Crimean War. Here the studio was much more generous and invested a good 1,200,000 US dollars. The film became the studio's top-selling production for 1936, grossing $ 1,500,000.

The Gorgeous Hussy , the end of August 1936 and that only two months after The White Angel of MGM brought into the rental, cost 1,119,000 US dollars, twice as much to describe, more than the lives of a far less well-known woman. At the box office, thanks mainly to the unbroken popularity of lead actress Joan Crawford, the film already grossed more than The White Angel worldwidewith 1,458,000 US dollars. The total revenue was as much as $ 2,019,000.

The White Angel as an example of the biographical film genre

Biographical films about famous personalities from politics and research as well as about crowned heads had become increasingly popular since the appearance of the talkie.

Definition of the genre

A main characteristic was the portrayal of the conflict of the title character, who first has to gain recognition for her achievements / inventions, ideas or innovations against the - usually bitter - resistance of society, but is always successful in the end. At the same time, the description of the individual is removed from the overall historical context and his ultimate success is presented as a destiny through irrationality.

“The biopic focuses on the fortunes of the individual and ignores historical and social relationships. The presentation of individual, clearly defined episodes about formative experiences, temporary challenges and the ultimate triumph of the individual reinforce the impression that one's own personality and one's own purpose are congruent. "

The narrative structure in The White Angel closely follows this concept in that the script focuses on individual selected episodes. The focus is on the description of individual, selected scenes, which Nightingale preferably present in the successful fight against bigotry, social repression and unreason. The overall social situation in which Nightingale moves is described, but the causes are not analyzed. At the same time, the script carefully works out her “calling” for this job. Nightingale sees their work as their mission and purpose in life.

Development of the biographical film since 1929

Between 1929 and 1936, George Arliss , who made so many biographies during his sound film career that they became his trademark, played well-known men such as Benjamin Disraeli , Alexander Hamilton , Voltaire , Cardinal Richelieu , Nathan Mayer Rothschild and the Duke of Wellington . In these films, Arliss is successful as an upright fighter for enlightenment and common sense against lack of insight and paucity. In Rasputin: The Demon of Russia in 1932 the three Barrymore siblings Ethel, Lionel and John were seen as Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna , Rasputin and Prince Felix Yussupow . Fredric March was in the role of the sculptor in 1934 Benvenuto Cellini to see and a year later fought Ronald Colman as Robert Clive successfully against the French in Bengalen.1936 produced MGM for nearly 1.5 million US dollars with The Great Ziegfeld until then most expensive example. In the following year, however, the studio presented Parnell , an elaborately staged biography of Charles Stewart Parnell despite Clark Gable in the leading role and Myrna Loy as Katherine O'Shea, one of the biggest flops of the still young genre.

In contrast to these mostly fictional, less factual adaptations, the focus of the presentation was the production of Louis Pasteur from 1935 with Paul Muni in the main role, the conscientious research and the more or less detailed description of the events. William Dieterle shaped the genre of biographical film significantly in the period that followed. After The White Angel he made several other biographical films, including 1937 The Life of Emile Zola , again with Paul Muni in the lead role. The film won the Oscar for best film of the year. Juarez , again with Paul Muni in the title role as a Mexican revolutionary, followed in 1939. The next year, Paul Ehrlich - A Life for Research and A Dispatch from Reuters via Paul Julius Reuter, two more biographical Dieterle films were distributed. His last contribution to the genre was an adaptation of the life of Andrew Jackson , 7th  President of the United States in 1942 , which was released under the title Tennessee Johnson .

Biographical films about women

Basically, the number of biopics about women was small compared to that about men. Overall, regents and high nobility formed the majority of those depicted during the 1930s. A rather free interpretation of the life of Queen Christina of Sweden was brought to the screen in 1933 with Greta Garbo . Claudette Colbert embodied the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra in 1934 . In the same year, Marlene Dietrich and Elisabeth Bergner could be seen almost simultaneously as Tsarina Katharina the Great . Katharine Hepburn played Maria Stuart in 1936 , Norma Shearer in 1938 Marie-Antoinette and Bette Davis played two personalities from the European nobility in 1939: Elizabeth I of England and Charlotte of Belgium , Empress of Mexico. Greta Garbo took over the portrayal of the life of Maria Walewska in 1937 and Loretta Young was installed as Empress Eugénie of France in 1938 .

Bourgeois women were far less often the subject of films, as there were even fewer life achievements that the studios believed would justify a biographical representation. One of the first biographies in the sound film era about a woman and, moreover, from the middle class was Jenny Lind with Grace Moore in 1930 , followed by Mata Hari , a largely fictitious description of the life of the famous dancer with Greta Garbo in the title role. Joan Crawford played the innkeeper Margaret "Peggy" O'Neal's daughter Margaret "Peggy" O'Neal in the aforementioned The Gorgeous Hussy in 1936 , who triggered the petticoat affair during the presidency of Andrew Jackson through her close relationship with the president . The life of Edna Gladney, a philanthropist who ran a private orphanage in Texas, was the subject of Blossoms in the Dust with Greer Garson in 1940. Garson played two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie in Madame Curie in another 1943 biographical film . Anna Neagle finally appeared as a nurse Edith Cavell in 1939 .

Different narrative focuses

While biographical films about men primarily deal with their public deeds and actions and thus their professional success, the focus of female heroines is on the inner emotional conflicts that arise from the demands of their public duties on them and the rival demands of private life posed. The focus is almost always on a detailed description of the necessary emotional sacrifices and personal sacrifices in emotional life, which are necessary for public success.

When depicting queens and regents, too, the portrayal of the world of emotions is brought to the fore and the explanations of political deeds and the public impact take second place. The regent's practical politics and the actual exercise of power are hardly discussed, while the focus is on the detailed description of more or less unhappy love affairs. This basic structure can be demonstrated using the example of Marie-Antoinette . Any allusion to the queen's political influence is kept silent in the film and instead the relationship with Count Hans Axel von Fersen is embellished and placed in the center. Similarly, in Queen Christine, the regent's public work is withdrawn from the portrayal of her unconventional private life and a fictitious love story. The actual reasons that led to her abdication in 1654 are replaced in the film by simple mourning for her dead lover.

With this focus on the necessary emotional renunciation as a price for power, success and implementation of one's own ideas as well as the portrayal of the “private woman” behind the public figure, biopics about women show strong parallels to the genre of the “woman's picture”.

The female perspective: The White Angel as a "woman's picture"

Definition and structure

In American film theory, the expression “woman's picture” refers to films that, across genres, place the fate of women and, above all, their emotional conflicts within a restrictive environment at the center of the narrative.

"A woman's picture is a film that portrays a woman's attempts to solve the emotional, social and psychological problems that arise from her identity as a woman."

What all films have in common is that the heroine is put in a position to actively and self-determinedly influence the events and thus her own fate in the course of the plot, regardless of the resistance of the - here mostly male-dominated - society.

Self-determination through renunciation

A particularly effective form for women to emancipate themselves and to achieve a self-determined fate is offered to the heroine of these films by actively, consciously renouncing their own emotional fulfillment and concentrating all energies on a higher, ideal goal. Jeanine Basinger calls this form of conscious renunciation in favor of a higher whole “nobility”, which in this context can best be translated as “selflessness” or “willingness to sacrifice”.

“Such a woman is dedicated to the community and does good things instead of getting married. [...] She loves and serves all people and not just one man and it is therefore okay for this woman to renounce love and marriage when she is contemplating a higher ideal, something that serves all of humanity. "

The White Angel is a typical example of “nobility” as a form of successful autonomy for women. Florence Nightingale consciously renounces marriage and private happiness in order to dedicate herself to a higher goal, here nursing and thus the service of humanity.

The opening sequence makes it clear with a faded in writing how bad things were with the social position of women in England around 1850 and at the same time implies how fundamentally wrong such restrictions are.

“By 1850, England was at peace with the world. His men sailed the four corners of the world on their ships and built the mighty Empire, this monument to Queen Victoria. Women were only allowed to bow their heads in submissive approval. In the whole of England Her Majesty alone was permitted to express her own opinion like a man. "

In the course of the plot there are various confrontations between Florence Nightingale and repressive men who see the position of women alone in the household and see any employment in public as degrading. Only in the constant fight against these prejudices does the heroine finally manage to enforce her ideas and at the same time convince the public of the correctness of her actions. The description of the numerous reprisals to which the heroine is exposed due to her gender on the part of male-dominated society and her ultimately successful fight against narrow-mindedness and irrationality thus correspond to the basic line of the "woman's picture". At the same time, the film constantly elevates the character of Nightingale and puts her on a pedestal. She is not an "ordinary" woman, she is an exception, she is extraordinary and she accepts without complaint all the sufferings and challenges that arise from this exceptional position. This is also the message for the female audience that self-determination and the struggle for one's own ideals are only associated with great sacrifices, preferably permanent renunciation of love and private happiness. The viewer is unspoken asked to answer the question of whether she would personally be willing to pay this high price in order to lead an autonomous life like Florence Nightingale. The conscious renunciation is made clear again and again in the film. When her parents asked her to give up her job as a nurse after marriage, Nightingale declared that she would renounce marital status.

"I will never be anyone's wife."

In Scutari, she goes one step further and puts the rest of the nurses who are looking around the hospital for suitable husbands in their place.

"Husbands? No nurse has a private life. It's a full-time job. "

Finally, Florence Nightingale declares that she willingly renounce her own private life in favor of her job as a nurse. She justifies the decision again with the all-encompassing claim that the activity of nursing assumes.

“This is a full-time job. It's my life. I chose it. I have to dedicate my life to humanity. "

In addition to the emancipatory message of equal rights for women, the film also clarifies the restrictive statement that success and power on the one hand only belong to exceptional women and that success only comes at the price of permanent renunciation of the actual vocation of a woman in the form of marriage and motherhood have is. This contradictory narrative structure is typical of the 'woman's picture' and an essential structural element.

The fact that the action takes place in a distant past and in a different country and culture makes it clear that it is very different in today's United States (i.e. in 1936, at the time of the premiere of the film). For the viewer, the result is a comparison of “then” and “today”, of “monarchy” and “democracy”, “repression” and “freedom”. This is the immanent assurance for the viewer how positive the position of women in modern society looks and has changed compared to the times of Nightingale.

Idealization through choice of title and color dramaturgy

The consequent idealization and cant already takes place in the expression Angel (German Angels ), the movie title, the quasi equates the heroine with a heavenly being. In addition, the additional leads White , so white , and the associated positive associations of character of purity and sacrifice to further enhancement of the image of a human over-quasi Florence Nightingale (the working title Angel of Mercy was already in the same direction). The association of white and medicine or health professions was also wanted and had appeared several times before in film titles. In 1933 Helen Hayes appeared in The White Sister as a nun in nursing, a year later a film about a self-sacrificing doctor came to the cinemas under the title Men in White, and shortly afterwards The White Parade , which shows the hardships of student nurses Canvas brought.

The film also consciously uses the color white to force the idealization of Nightingale. Kay Francis wears a pure white dress without any colored appliqué and a light, white scarf that looks like a veil, loosely over her shoulders and hair and no jewelry if she is finally against a marriage to Charles Cooper in her parents' house and instead for it decides to become a nurse. Through the conscious use of white and the addition of the attribute of a veil, on the one hand the resemblance to a wedding dress is brought about. In addition, associations are created with novices , female members of religious orders, who, dressed in white regalia, consciously separate from the world in a solemn ceremony in order to consecrate themselves to a higher power. The effect of the scene is further enhanced by the staging. The camera remains in the long shot with a slightly oblique view from below. At the same time, Francis turns her eyes slightly towards the sky, while the lighting surrounds her figure like a halo, thereby exaggerating it.

literature

Film theory books

  • Jeanine Basinger: A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930-1960. Knopf, New York 1993, ISBN 0-394-56351-4 .
  • Dennis Bingham: Whose Lives Are They Anyway ?: The Biopic as contemporary Film Genre. Rutgers University, New Brunswick (NJ) 2010, ISBN 978-0-8135-4657-5 .
  • George Frederick Custen: Bio / Pics. How Hollywood Constructed Public History. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick (NJ) 1992, ISBN 0-8135-1754-0 .
  • Elizabeth Ford, Deborah C. Mitchell: Royal Portraits in Hollywood: Filming the Lives of Queens. The University Press of Kentucky 2009, ISBN 978-0-8131-2543-5 .
  • Julia Hallam: Nursing the Image: Media, Culture, and Identity. Routledge, 2000, ISBN 0-415-18454-1 .
  • Graeme Harper, Andrew Moor: Sign of Life: Cinema and Medicine. Wallflower Press, 2005, ISBN 1-904764-17-7 .
  • Paul Loukides, Linda K. Fuller: Beyond the Stars: Themes and Ideologies in American popular film. University of Wisconsin, 1996, ISBN 0-87972-701-2 .
  • Henry M. Taylor: Role of Life. The film biography as a narrative system. Schüren, Marburg 2002, ISBN 3-89472-508-7 .
  • Linda Wagner-Martin: Telling Women's Lives: The New Biography. Rutgens University Press, New Brunswick, NJ 1992, ISBN 0-8135-2092-4 .

Biographical Books on Kay Francis

  • John Callahan: Kay Francis: Secrets of an Actress. In: Bright Lights Film Journal. Edition May 2006 (read here ).
  • Lynn Kear, John Rossman: Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career. McFarland & Company, 2006, ISBN 0-7864-2366-8 .
  • Scott O'Brien: Kay Francis: I Can't Wait to Be Forgotten. Her Life on Stage and Film. BearManor Media, 2006, ISBN 1-59393-036-4 .

Web links

Individual references and further comments

  1. ↑ There is no really suitable German translation for the expression “woman's picture”. Neither are they not to be equated with the German expression women's film . The term film melodrama is still applicable, as it only covers one genre. Woman's pictures are expressly not genre-bound, but rather define themselves through their uniform narrative style. Compare the following explanations as well as the basic Jeanine Basinger A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women
  2. ^ O'Brien, p. 159, who states that Hutchinson was offered the role during the filming of Louis Pasteur, where Hutchinson played Madame Pasteur. See also the remarks at Turner Classic Movies with reference to Hal B. Wallis' friend and co-producer of some films, Robert Lord, and here:   Archive link ( Memento from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ u. a. Kear and Rossmann, p. 98, and further footnote 39; also O'Brien, p. 176, who even calls Francis the highest paid star in the studio.
  4. ^ O'Brien, pp. 176 f .; Kear and Rossmann, p. 98, and also footnote 39.
  5. ↑ O'Brien, pp. 153 f .; Kear and Rossmann, p. 98.
  6. ↑ Kear and Rossmann, p. 92 and footnote 7 with reference to the interview.
  7. ↑ Florence Nightingale is a role without an alibi. All the clothes and glamor in the world could not make it convincing. It's an acting part and an opportunity that doesn't come often to an actress. […] Any actress would be enthusiastic over the chance. Kay Francis in Warner's press issue of The White Angel, quoted in O'Brien, p. 161.
  8. ↑ O'Brien, p. 169 with the reference to the corresponding comment in Francis diary of January 2, 1936: “Read my new script. Dear God ”, roughly translated“ I read my new script. For heaven's sake."
  9. ↑ See the remarks by Hal B. Wallis, The Starmaker, p. 57, quoted in O'Brien, p. 167.
  10. ↑ Kay Francis in an interview with the LA Evening Herald Express of March 28, 1936, quoted in O'Brien, p. 167.
  11. ↑ a b Hal B. Wallis, quoted in O'Brien, p. 167.
  12. ↑ the English version of the Nightingale Pledge is here: Nightingale Pledge , the German version see here: [1]
  13. ↑ Kay Francis reports on the efforts to pronounce the oath correctly and her disappointment at not receiving recognition for it in a later interview, reprinted in O'Brien, p. 160.
  14. ↑ Print the biography online here  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bartleby.com  
  15. ↑ Print the poem online see here
  16. ↑ see the explanations at Turner Classic Movies
  17. ↑ F. Nightingale stated in her diary in 1837 that he had heard the voice of the gentleman who had given her to follow his stipulations: "God spoke to me and called me to his service" quoted from ME Holliday, DL Parker: Florence Nightingale, Feminism and Nursing. In: Journal of Advanced Nursing, Issue 26 1997, pp. 483–488.
  18. ↑ On the different motivation see also O'Brien, p. 162.
  19. ↑ see the detailed Wikipedia entry on Florence Nightingale and there the section on her work during the war.
  20. ↑ On the divergences between the actual character of Nightingale and the official point of view, see Julia Hallam, pp. 10ff., Who vividly describes how certain aspects of the official image were exaggerated very early in order to achieve an idealization.
  21. ↑ see here ( Memento from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  22. ↑ see below a. here archive link ( Memento from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). The change came so quickly that, for example, the magazine "Screen Romances", which specialized in the fictionalized reproduction of current films, spoke of "Angel of Mercy" on the cover of the June 1936 issue, but the correct one in the article on the film itself Headed the title "The White Angel".
  23. ↑ In scene after scene, reacting to the sight of the injured, or clashing with an official who refused to see things her way, she looked completely blank. [...] The White Angel was well directed, but miscast. Hal Wallis and Charles Higham, p. 57, cited et al. a. in Kear and Rossmann, p. 92.
  24. ^ "That was a beautiful story, but it was, shall I say, written by the wrong people - they wanted to be so correct with the English. We had so much trouble with the English censor; it the end it almost killed the story […] The film could have been a lot better, but one of the things that we hat to face at Warner's, a mark, a shadow upon us, was that we hardly ever made a retake after a preview […]. William Dieterle in James Robert Parish, The Hollywood Beauties, ”Chapter on Kay Francis, p. 97.
  25. ↑ I shudder when i think of one did. Quoted in Kear and Rossmann, p. 92.
  26. ^ O'Brien, p. 170; compare here
  27. ↑ O'Brien, pp. 168 and 170 on the studio's loss of confidence in Francis' "bankability" and pp. 189–195 for a detailed explanation of the legal dispute. See also in detail with a partially different focus on the events during the legal dispute at Kear and Rossmann, pp. 101–110.
  28. ↑ Kay Francis steps into high niche as an important actress in her superb portrait of Florence Nightingale […] her fine, sensitive and altogether impressive performance opens up new screen cycle for a personality already high in popular esteem. Quoted in O'Brien, p. 160.
  29. ↑ Kay Francis has at last found a role to test her powers and measure her stature as an actress [...] It's the first part Kay Francis has had for some years which gives scope to her dramatic talents and personality. [...] The heroine of "The White Angel" is a real woman, of intelligence, depth and vigorous character. Quoted in O'Brien, p. 168.
  30. ↑ [Kay Francis] handicapped by her beauty, does her best to sober down this sentimental version of Florence Nightingale's character, but she is defeated by the scenario-writers. Quoted in Kear and Rossmann, p. 92.
  31. ↑ This reference refers to Young's appearance in The White Parade from 1934, in which the romantic entanglements of student nurses stand in the way of the demands of the relentless fulfillment of duty.
  32. ^ A respectful — in fact, a worshipful — history of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, the picture is dignified, reasonably accurate, deeply moving and dismayingly pompous. [...] Miss Nightingale, unlike the probationers in the Loretta Young school of nursing, is not unduly torn between a handsome juvenile and a professional career. […] Miss Francis's performance is sincere and eloquent, however we may regret its reverential tone. The sincerity of the Warners' attempt deserves our respect, even if the picture does not fully achieve its destiny. cited in O'Brien, p. 168; all the criticism here: [2]
  33. ↑ see here
  34. ↑ For the information on the profit, see blog entry from March 8, 2020 [3]
  35. ↑ On the information see here ( Memento from April 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  36. ↑ For information on the profit, see here
  37. ↑ For the information, see the corresponding list entry here
  38. ↑ cf. fundamentally: Henry M. Taylor: role of life. The film biography as a narrative system. P. 29.
  39. ↑ The biopic [...] Focuses on the fortunes of an individual and ignores or obscures history and social relationships. Portraying in tightly ordered sequences the individual's formative experiences, temporary adversities, and ultimate triumph, it creates the impression that character is destiny. Paul Loukides, Linda Fuller, Beyond the Stars, p. 187.
  40. ↑ For the information on the loss of 675,000 US dollars, see below. a. here: [4] .
  41. ↑ See generally Linda Wagner-Martin, Telling Women's Lives: The New Biography , pp. 23–26.
  42. ↑ The portrayal of queens and nobles also reflected the stars' desire for a film character that corresponds to their own public significance. Custen pp. 102-107; and Elizabeth Ford, Deborah C. Mitchell: Royal Portraits in Hollywood: Filming the Lives of Queens. S. 4 ff. In addition to the representation on the screen, some female stars also tried to underline and increase their own status by marrying men from European nobility. Pola Negri and Mae Murray married - alleged - Georgian princes from the house of Mdivani, Gloria Swanson and Constance Bennett married Henry de La Falaise, Marquis de La Coudrayeden one after the other . Grace Kelly even rose to become Princess of Monaco and a ruling royal house through her marriage
  43. ↑ Custen, p. 102; see also Wagner-Martin, pp. 23-26.
  44. ^ Ford, Mitchell, pp. 200 ff.
  45. ↑ A woman's film is a movie that places at the center of its universe a female who is trying to deal with the emotional, social and psychological problems that are specifically connected to the fact that she is a woman. Basinger, p. 20.
  46. ↑ cf. Jeanine Basinger, p. 57, "What the woman's film always accomplishes, even at its lowest and most depressing level, is the empowerment of a female figure who gets to decide how things will be."
  47. ↑ Such a woman goes out among mankind and does good instead of marrying […] She loves and serves all men instead of just one, so its all right for a woman to reject men and love […] if she has a higher purpose in mind [...] something that will serve all humanity. Basinger, p. 57.
  48. ↑ cf. in detail O'Brien, pp. 159–170; Basinger, p. 58 f. In the English texts, this stylization and exaggeration is described using the expression icon , which can only be inadequately translated as idol . Compare Insofar also Hallam, p. 43 and her remarks on The White Angel .
  49. ^ Towards the year 1850, England was at peace with the world. Her men were following her ships to the four corners of the earth, building the great empire that is Queen Victoria's monument. Women were only permitted to nod weak approval. In all England only Her Majesty has the right to express the herself with the independance of a man. Basinger, p. 58.
  50. ↑ Basinger, p. 58.
  51. ^ I shall never be anybody's wife.
  52. ↑ Husbands? No nurse has life of her own. This is a whole-time job.
  53. ^ This is a whole-time job. It's my life. I chose it. I must give my life to humanity.
  54. ↑ See the explanations in Basinger, p. 59 and p. 20, where she reduces the basic message of the films to the simple sentence: “My true profession is love.” (“My true calling is love.”)
  55. ↑ See the explanations in Basinger, p. 6 ff, in which she explains the paradox of criticism and confirmation of the circumstances as well as the simultaneous subversiveness of many of these films and demonstrates it with numerous examples
  56. ↑ see the explanations in Basinger, p. 58.
  57. ↑ cf. on this very comprehensively Julia Hallam, p. 10ff, where she goes into detail on the stylization of Nightingale in public as the angel of the wounded, which began around 1854 . The actual character of Nightingale is deliberately reduced to a few aspects.
  58. ↑ cf. on this quasi-religious aspect of the color dramaturgy Hallam, p. 43.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on February 11, 2012 in this version .