On the Riviera

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title On the Riviera
Original title On the Riviera
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1951
length 90 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Walter Lang
script Henry Ephron
Phoebe Ephron
Valentine Davies
production Sol C. Siegel
for 20th Century Fox
music Alfred Newman
camera Leon Shamroy
cut J. Watson Webbs
occupation

On the Riviera is an American musical by Walter Lang starring Danny Kaye , who received the Golden Globe Award in the Best Actor category for his performance . He embodies both a French airline owner and an American comedian in a dual role. At his side, Gene Tierney and Corinne Calvet play the leading female roles. The film is vaguely based on the German comedy Die Nacht vor dem Ultimo by Rudolf Lothar and Hans Adler .

action

The American entertainer Jack Martin and his French girlfriend Colette are performing in a nightclub on, as the film title suggests, the “Riviera” of France, better known in this country as the Côte d'Azur , when the guests suddenly pour out into the open to attend a television broadcast. It shows how the famous French aviator and airline owner Henri Duran lands with his plane. Duran is considered to be a romantic serious destroyer who leaves nothing to be desired. He is welcomed by his lovely wife and good-natured Lilli and two partners, Philippe Labrix and Louis Forel. Jack is totally amazed by his resemblance to Duran and immediately knows how to use it. The nightclub operator Capeaux is threatening to expel Martin if he doesn't finally perform something sensational, and so the American decides to imitate the French folk hero with immediate effect.

One evening, of all people, Henri Duran and his wife and Louis Forel visit Jack's performance when he first gives the Duran. Henri likes Jack's portrayal of himself, especially as a relentless philanderer. After the performance, the Frenchman wants to get to know the American and goes backstage. On the way there, he meets Jack's partner, Colette, and is delighted with her. Intoxicated by her beauty, Henri invites Colette to accompany him to his upcoming party on his estate. But she is loyal to her Jack and refuses the invitation. While Henri is tinkering with his compatriot, Jack Martin goes to the bar, where he in turn meets his compatriot Lilli and Henri's business partner Louis. Lilli feels flattered that this Jack, who is exactly like her husband but much more interested in her than he seems, is flirting with her. Colette sees with discomfort how "her" Jack looks beautiful at Lilli and throws her wallet at him in a fit of jealousy. A little later, Philippe and Louis see Lilli talking to Felix Periton, Henri's greatest rival. The financially potent Periton is said to have the intention of eliminating Henri as a business competitor.

Duran is currently short of money and urgently needs Periton money. As a result, competitor Periton is delaying signing a purchase agreement in order to drive Duran into bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Lilli, who doesn't know about her husband's problems, invites Periton to the upcoming party in her husband's house, to which he had just invited Colette. What only Philippe and Louis know is that Henri secretly left for London to get a loan. To prevent Periton from getting wind of it, Philippe Labrix and Louis Forel ask the impersonator Jack to give the performance of his life and to play Henri in front of Periton. Lilli, who doesn't suspect the serious background of the person-to-person exchange, but of course realizes that Henri isn't standing in front of her, is so amused that she unsuspectingly plays along with the charade. When the conversation between Periton and the fake Henri goes into depth and economic details are to be discussed so that he could be overwhelmed, Labrix and Forel guide him away from Periton with a fake phone call from the French Aviation Ministry. In the meantime, Colette is pissed off that her Jack has been swallowed by the earth and now accepts Henri's invitation to his party - if only to make Jack jealous.

Colette recognizes from a detail that the presumed Henri Duran at the party must be her Jack and claims to him that her bread maker had already sold Capeaux both appearances in the nightclub as a recording to the television. Jack is about to leave, but at this moment Duran returns from London to his party residence and sees Jack imitate him in his masterpiece. Colette warns Jack that if he gets involved with Lilli, she will end her relationship with him. A little later at the party, Jack is ambushed by Periton, who Henri thinks he is. He insists on finding out the details of the alleged sales pitch with the Aviation Department. Duran and his two partners are eagerly awaiting the results of Periton and Jack's (aka the false Henri) "negotiations". But Periton says nothing about it and leaves. Duran, worried that his wife Lilli (who presumably still believes Jack is a suddenly miraculously "transformed" Henri) is in love with Jack, does not tell her that Jack doubled him.

Lilli Duran is nowhere near as naive as not to have smelled the roast by now. She realized that Jack couldn't possibly be her husband, Henri. Soon the general confusion is very great, and at most Jack and Henri still know who is who. Periton suddenly reappears and offers his adversary 30 billion French francs for his planes. But who does he have in front of him? Henri, how does he think? Or Jack? It is actually the American who plays his part to perfection. Meanwhile, Duran comes up with a merciful lie to break the knot between himself and Colette and Jack and Lilli. He makes his wife Lilli believe that she last spent the night of love with Jack instead of him. She is very sorry about this, since she had never seriously intended to cheat on her Henri, at best to make her jealous - not unlike Colette's intention towards her Jack. He, in turn, gives his deceptively similar doppelganger the advice to look after his beautiful wife more in the future instead of continuing to give the hallodri. The next evening, the married couple Henri and Lilli Durand are back in the nightclub and amused themselves by the parodies of Jack, who has found his way back to his Colette.

Production notes

Filming of On the Riviera began on September 18, 1950 and ended in mid-December of the same year. There were minor re-shoots in February 1951. On May 23, 1951, the world premiere took place in New York, the German premiere of An der Riviera took place on April 24, 1953.

Kaye's wife Sylvia Fine created four of the musical numbers .

Buildings and furnishings: see nominations. Charles G. Clarke created the camera recordings on site on the Riviera. Travilla was responsible for the costumes, Oleg Cassini for the cloakroom Gene Tierney. Costume designer Charles Le Maire took over the cloakroom management. Makeup artist Ben Nye was responsible for the makeup. Earle Hagen and Cyril J. Mockridge were both (besides Newman) involved in the musical composition.

Music numbers

The following music numbers can be heard:

  • "On the Riviera," "Rhythm of a New Romance," "Popo the Puppet" and "Happy Ending". Music and text by Sylvia Fine
  • "Ballin 'the Jack". Music by Chris Smith, lyrics by Jim Burris
  • "Ballin 'Le Jaques". Music by Chris Smith, text by Andre Touffel.

Previous films

The popular material has already been filmed twice before:

Award nominations

The film received two Oscar nominations:

Reviews

The reviews once reacted to this Danny Kaye comedy with an unusually distant, sometimes even rejection. Here are a few examples:

Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times about On the Riviera , "... regardless of Mr. Kay's slope to two (or even more) of roles ... one would surely be able to find something better for the performance of this brilliant comedian than this hackneyed and unaufregende history. (...) And something better about the music numbers could have been dug up too. (…) Incidentally, Mr. Kaye wrestles bravely - and a little too seriously - with the roles of nightclub entertainer and famous flight financier. He handles this limp comedy of errors as if he didn't know the plot is too jumbled to follow ... Even his strict incarnations of the two resembling men are so close in design and texture that it makes this contrast more humorous There is a lack of novelty. "

In the summer of 1953 one could read in the Spiegel : “A“ musical ”devouring more landscape than pin-up charms about Danny Kaye, America's top comedian who plays gently and danced over the top (this time in an extensive double role). Gene Tierney… as Kaye's partner only has mannequin tasks. "

Hal Erickson judged: "Being a little too top-heavy in terms of the plot, An der Riviera has to be viewed as a rather secondary Danny Kaye vehicle."

The lexicon of the international film found: "Undemanding confusion and revue game with some embarrassing dialogues."

The Movie & Video Guide called the production a “lively music film”.

Halliwell's Film Guide recalled: "Rejected in its day and drawn to bad taste, the film today seems smarter and funnier than comparable films of the time."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review in the New York Times of May 24, 1951
  2. ↑ On the Riviera in Der Spiegel from August 26, 1953
  3. ↑ On the Riviera at Allmovie.com
  4. ↑ On the Riviera. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 31, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 968
  6. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 754

Web links