Alice Adams (film)

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Movie
Original title Alice Adams
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 100 minutes
Rod
Director George Stevens
script Dorothy Yost
Mortimer Offner
production Pandro S. Berman
for RKO
music Max Steiner
camera Robert De Grasse
occupation

Alice Adams is a 1935 American melodrama starring Katharine Hepburn and directed by George Stevens . The film is essentially based on the play of the same name by Booth Tarkington .

action

Alice Adams lives in a modest family in the small town of South Renford. Because she has not lost a suitor, Alice, accompanied by her brother, has to go to an elegant party at the haughty Mildred Palmer. To make things even more uncomfortable for Alice, she is forced to wear a dress from the previous season and instead of fresh violets all she can afford is a bouquet of almost withered flowers. The other guests let Alice feel her inferior social position and cut her. Only Arthur Russell, Mildred's cousin, finally asks her for a dance. The party ends in disaster for Alice when her brother, drunk, plays cards with the servants and she has to ask Arthur to get her brother out of the house. Deeply hurt, Alice cries herself to sleep later. However, things are taking a positive turn. A few days later she meets Arthur again, who is delighted by Alice's charm. Out of shame because of the tight financial situation, Alice does not invite her admirer inside. A romance develops between the two. However, when Alice plans a glamorous dinner to introduce Arthur to her family, things go completely wrong. The domestic servant is hopelessly overwhelmed by the situation, the family members misbehave, and Arthur feels extremely uncomfortable. After the disaster, a deeply ashamed Alice actually expects Arthur to never want to see her again. But the young man shows character and decides to continue the romance despite the class differences. In the end, the financial situation for the Adams family doesn't look quite so bleak either.

background

The career of Katharine Hepburn began in 1932 with A Bill of Divorcement spectacular as the daughter of John Barrymore . For her second role in Morning Glory , she received the Oscar for Best Actress in 1933, and Hepburn had a great financial success with Four Sisters from the same year. However, the following films all flopped at the box office and in early 1935 her future as the star of RKO was seriously in danger. The studio had high hopes for an adaptation of Booth Tarkington's socially critical play Alice Adams , for which the author received the Pulitzer Prize in 1921 . A first film adaptation was in 1923, in which King Vidor directed and his wife Florence Vidor played the role of Alice. The scriptwriters have now been commissioned to keep the basic structure of the play, but to change the social comments and above all the tragic end of the play in favor of a happy ending. While Alice is left alone in the end and her brother turns out to be a thief, the story now ends well, including a new chance for Mr. Adams. The film was the breakthrough for director George Stevens , who only got the job after Hepburn failed to get her favorite William Wyler through.

Theatrical release

The manufacturing cost ended up being $ 342,000. At the box office, the film proved to be reasonably popular and grossed a total of 770,000 US dollars. The studio posted a profit of $ 164,000.

Reviews

The critics unanimously praised the leading actress. The New York World-Telegram called Hepburn superb ("Miss Hepburn gives a performance that is superb"), while the New York Times found the presentation to be sensitive and compelling ("Alice is as striking and sensitive a performance as any she has given." ).

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1936 , the film received nominations in the following categories:

  • Best movie
  • Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn)

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