Amber, the great courtesan
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Amber, the great courtesan |
| Original title | Forever Amber |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1947 |
| length | 122 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Otto Preminger |
| script |
Philip Dunne Ring Lardner Jr. Jerome Cady |
| production | William Perlberg |
| music | David Raksin |
| camera | Leon Shamroy |
| cut | Louis Loeffler |
| occupation | |
| |
Amber, the great courtesan (original title Forever Amber ) is an American literary film adaptation from 1947 directed by Otto Preminger . The screenplay is based on the 1944 historical novel Forever Amber by the US writer Kathleen Winsor, which became a bestseller. Linda Darnell embodies the beautiful and ambitious Amber St. Clair, who, coming from the simplest of circumstances, makes it to the English royal court. Cornel Wilde plays the man she really loves, and George Sanders plays the English King Charles II. Richard Greene can be seen as Lord Almsbury, Amber's only unselfish friend.
action
In 1644 the English Parliament and Oliver Cromwell and his army revolt against the tyrannical rule of King Charles I and many people are on the run. During this time, a Puritan farmer finds a baby wrapped in a blanket in front of his door. The name "Amber" is on the ceiling. A nobleman who deposited the child there is killed by his pursuers. 1660: Cromwell is now dead, the monarchy restored, and King Charles II of the House of Stuart is the new king. Amber has matured into a very beautiful young woman and becomes engaged to Matt Goodgroome, a farmer. The young woman rebels against the life imposed on her, which she does not want to live in a small village. When she makes the acquaintance of Lord Bruce Carlton, who as an officer stops in the small town together with his friend Lord Harry Almsbury, she immediately falls in love with the attractive man. She follows him against his will to London , where the two become lovers. Since Carlton had previously had an affair with King Barbara Palmer's mistress, Countess of Castlemaine, Charles II does not want him around. He gives him two ships and issues him a letter of security with the option to share profits. Carlton then leaves Amber without saying goodbye, but at least with a large sum of money. The young woman is determined to do everything possible to reach a social level on which she is equal to Carlton, so that he will acknowledge her. However, the money left behind does not bring her luck, as she is cheated on investing and then even has to go to jail on a false accusation. To make matters worse, she's pregnant too. In prison she meets the notorious mugger Black Jack Mallard, whom she is able to persuade due to her physical attraction to take her with him on his planned escape attempt. The escape succeeds and shortly afterwards Amber gives birth to a son in Mallard's house, whom she names "Bruce" after his father. In the following years Amber is used as a decoy in Black Jack Mallard's raids. In a particularly brutal robbery, Mallard is killed by the king's men. Amber manages to escape and Rex Morgan, an officer in the royal bodyguard, helps the beautiful woman. Thanks to his influence, she gets an engagement at the royal theater and now earns enough to get her son away from Mother Red Cap, who belongs to the gang to which Mallard belonged, and to give him a nice home in the country. Amber now lives with Rex Morgan. While Morgan is out and about in Wales , Charles II sees Amber on stage and invites her to dinner . But at this point in time Bruce Carlton comes back and they spend happy hours in the country together with their young son. Amber hopes that Carlton will stay with her now, but he wants to go back to the sea. When Morgan returns and sees Amber with Bruce, he challenges him to a duel , which he does not survive.
Again abandoned by the man she loves, Amber marries the widowed Count of Radcliffe, making her a Countess. When a plague epidemic hit the south of England and thus also London, Amber worries about Carlton and actually finds him marked by the plague . She takes him to her house in the country, where she nurses him to health. When one day Radcliffe appears and Carlton means that he is Amber's husband, Carlton leaves Amber one more time without saying goodbye. Amber has to stand by her unloved husband's side. While London is ravaged by a devastating fire , Charles II tries to seduce Amber at a ball in Whitehall , but it does not happen. The Radcliffe estate also catches fire, with Radcliffe himself being killed. Soon Amber becomes the king's mistress.
Bruce Carlton has now married the daughter of a landowner in Virginia and is visiting England with his wife Corinna to ask Amber to leave him their son, whose upbringing he is concerned about. Carlton always despised the courtly life to which the child is exposed. Amber, who doesn't want to give up her son, starts an intrigue. She invites Corinna to dine with her and the king. Then she arranges for the King and Corinna to be alone and notifies Carlton with the intention of showing him that his wife is cheating on him with the King. However, King Charles II sees through her game and enables Corinna to retire in good time without her virtue being even in danger. When Bruce again asks Amber to give the child the chance to grow up outside of courtly compulsion, she leaves the decision to her son. He wants to go with the father. But Amber also gambled away the affection of the king. He realized that she didn't love him, only Carlton, and that he was only a means to an end.
Production and Background
Filming began in late October 1946 and ended on March 11, 1947. Some additional shots were shot on March 30, 1947. The film was shot in Greystone Park & Mansion in Beverly Hills and in Monterey in California in the USA as well as in the 20th Century Fox studios. The film premiered in the USA on October 22, 1947 in New York at the Roxy Theater . In the Federal Republic of Germany , Amber, the great courtesan , came into cinemas on January 26, 1951. In Austria , the film also ran in 1951 under the title The Great Courtesan .
The film opens with a voice-over narration : “This is the tragic story of Amber St. Clair, who became a slave to her ambition, sacrificed her virtue, and saw her fate in attaining wealth and power. The power that she had gained, however, burned up like ashes in the fire. ”[…] And ends with the fact that the“ wages of sin is death ”. This is followed by a prologue about the historical and geographical locations and after an introductory scene there is a second prologue about the location 16 years later during the reign of King Charles II. The actor of Bruce Carlton, Cornel Wilde, also has a say, whose text is a The repetition of the dialogue consists of a sentence already mentioned earlier in the film: “Have we not caused enough misfortune? May God have mercy on us and our sins. ”These sequences are only included on the original film, not on the video releases.
After the publication of Kathleen Winsor's novel, the rights of various major studios and not so well-known ones were highly sought after. Twentieth Century-Fox finally acquired the film rights for US $ 200,000 . Winsor is said to have both worked on the script and acted as a technical consultant, but there is no evidence. Studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck would have liked Rex Harrison as Bruce Carlton, Lee J. Cobb as Almsbury and Victor McLaglen as "Black Jack". Tallulah Bankhead and English actress Peggy Cummins and other candidates were cast for the role of Amber . Filming began in early March 1946 with an estimated budget of $ 3,000,000. At this point the role of Amber was cast with Peggy Cummins, that of Lord Almsbury with Vincent Price and that of the King with Reginald Gardiner . The director was John M. Stahl . After four weeks, shooting stopped because Cummins was sick with the flu. Although the work was supposed to be resumed within a short time, it did not happen. Due to scheduling conflicts, some actors left the production. In mid-June 1946 Otto Preminger was announced by the studio as a replacement for steel, Richard Greene was now named Lord Almsbury. For Cummins, the name Gene Tierney was thrown in the balance, Zanuck in turn favored Lana Turner . In late July 1946, the studio then announced that Linda Darnell would play the role of Amber. The Los Angeles Times wrote that Twentieth Century-Fox invested an estimated loss of $ 1,000,000 in footage it had already shot. Zanuck is quoted as saying that if there was any problem with Peggy Cummins, it was her very young age. During the shooting there should have been further short-term interruptions. When it was released, the film had some problems because of the scenes that suggested unauthorized sex and adultery, individual sequences were then re-dubbed. On June 20, 1947, Forever Amber received the formal seal of approval.
In some cases, attempts have even been made to prevent film screenings. The Archbishop of Philadelphia reportedly threatened a boycott of the Fox Theater if the film was not withdrawn within 48 hours. A voice-over prologue and epilogue were then added to the film. When the plan was to briefly show Amber on Bruce Carlton's epilogue about sin and then include a shot, Preminger vehemently threatened to part with the entire production if that were done. In addition, other scenes that showed Amber with changing lovers were removed and sequences that condemned her way of life were added. It was only after these changes were made that the Legion of Decency removed the film from the blacklist, but still left it in Class B (offensive).
Historical reference
King Charles I (English Charles I (1600–1649)) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625 to 1649 . He came from the Stuart house. His attempts to introduce a uniform church constitution in England and Scotland and to rule against parliament in the spirit of absolutism sparked the English Civil War , which ended with Charles' execution and the temporary abolition of the monarchy .
King Charles II (English Charles II (1630–1685)), son of King Charles I, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland (proclaimed by the monarchists on January 30, 1649; accession to the throne after the reestablishment of royal dignity on January 29 May 1660). The restoration of the monarchy (Restoration) became one of the most important epochs of England and Charles II is considered to be the last English king to establish an absolute monarchy and to rule his country charismatically. Charles II had various mistresses, but the figure of Amber St. Clair is fictional.
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) was Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland during the brief republican period of British history. Originally a simple member of the English lower house, he rose to the position of organizer and then the decisive general of the parliamentary army in the civil war of parliament against King Charles I. With the execution of Charlemagne, all attempts by the Stuart kings to transform England into an absolutist state came to an end. However, in the end, Cromwell's efforts to permanently transform England into a republic also failed.
The Great Plague of London actually raged there in 1665 and 1666, claiming almost 100,000 deaths, of which around 70,000 came directly from the city of London, which at that time corresponded to about a fifth of the city's population. This epidemic was called the "Great Plague" because it was one of the last in Europe. The Great Fire of London broke out on September 2, 1666 and lasted until September 5, 1666. Four fifths of the city center of London, including predominantly medieval buildings, were destroyed and around 100,000 people were left homeless.
Reviews
Shortly after its premiere, the film was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency. Cardinal Francis J. Spellman , Archbishop of New York, called it “a glorification of immorality and licentiousness” and pointed out that “Catholics could not see this production with a clear conscience.” Providence , Indianapolis , Cincinnati and Boston also spoke up Representatives of the Catholic Church officially oppose the film.
Variety felt that Linda Darnell was playing her part just fine. She masters the different character traits of Amber very well. Her blonde beauty also works in Technicolor and she is just as convincing in the prison scenes. Both Cornel Wilde and Richard Haydn are praised for their portrayal and John Russell can also convince "as a highwayman". Anne Revere is certified that she is sufficiently despicable in the role of "head of a gang of thieves". After Jessica Tandy as Amber's maid, and George Sanders as King Karl II.
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times said that Lady Amber St. Clair didn't need long introductions because the book was already well known, even though Amber was married no less than four times in the book and had three or four random children and more Lover, as a "calculating machine could count". [...] Crowther particularly emphasizes the scenes in which Amber takes care of Bruce, who was marked by the plague, and which, in contrast to the Technicolor scenes, have their own quality in their burnished performance. [...] The film lasts two hours and 20 minutes and is therefore about an hour too long in view of the nature of the repetitions.
The Lexicon of International Films came to the conclusion that it is a "historicizing picture book [is] lavishly equipped and broadly laid out."
Awards
At the Oscar ceremony in 1948 was David Raksin with his music for the film Amber, the great courtesan in the category "Best Music in a Drama" for the Oscar nominated, but had opposite Miklós Rózsa with his music for the film drama A Double Life ( A Double Life ) neglect.
Web links
- Amber, the great courtesan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Forever Amber at TCM - Turner Classic Movies
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Forever Amber at TCM - Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ↑ Forever Amber In: Variety Staff (English). Written December 31, 1946. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ^ Forever Amber Bosley Crowther. Published October 23, 1947 in the New York Times . Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- ↑ Amber, the great courtesan. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed February 14, 2013 .