Babies to order
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Babies to order |
| Original title | The Tunnel of Love |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1958 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gene Kelly |
| script |
Joseph Fields , Jerome Chodorov |
| production | Joseph Fields, Martin Melcher |
| music | Patty Fisher |
| camera | Robert J. Bronner |
| cut | John McSweeney Jr. |
| occupation | |
| |
Babies to Order (Original Title: The Tunnel of Love ) is an American comedy film starring Doris Day and Richard Widmark from 1958, which was directed by Gene Kelly . A novel by Peter De Vries and the play of the same name based on it served as a literary model .
action
On the occasion of their fifth wedding anniversary, the couple Augie and Isolde Poole, who had remained childless so far, decided to adopt a baby. While they are waiting for the adoption agency to place a baby, Isolde continues to try to get pregnant, for which she follows every advice of the experts. For example, it would be beneficial if her body temperature when conceiving the child was 37.7 ° C. The overwhelmed Augie meanwhile worries whether they can even afford to become parents. In his profession as a cartoonist Augie has so far not achieved any notable success. When, surprisingly, an agent from the adoption agency comes to the Pooles with the attractive Estelle Novick to find out whether the Pooles are suitable as parents, she first meets Augie, who is chasing a mouse in underpants. Because he thinks she is the representative of a charity, he doesn't think about making a good impression. He unashamedly drinks alcohol and lightly answers her questions about raising children. When Augie's friend and neighbor, Dick, stops by, the notorious cheater promptly approaches the young woman. Outraged, Estelle makes it clear that she is from the adoption site and decides to leave without continuing her questioning with Isolde.
Isolde then blames Augie for making Estelle feel bad about them. Before Dick also leaves the house, he gives Augie pills to calm his nerves. Shortly afterwards, Estelle returns once more to apologize to Augie for her abrupt departure. Augie, who took a sedative after his argument with Isolde, invites Estelle to go out to eat together in town. On the way, however, he feels guilty about Isolde, which is why he takes two more sedative pills. When he gets tired, Estelle takes him to a motel to sleep in. When Augie wakes up in the motel the next morning and finds a note from Estelle thanking him for his kindness, he believes he cheated on Isolde with Estelle. A few months later, he learns from Estelle that she is pregnant and wants to leave the area temporarily. Augie is immediately convinced that he is the father of the unborn child and that Estelle will sooner or later demand alimony from him. He borrows $ 1,000 from Dick in the form of a check and gives it to Estelle when she visits him and Isolde the same day and gives them hope that they could have an adoptive child in a few months.
When the Pooles are finally allowed to take a few days old boy into their arms as their child, they and their friends soon notice a certain resemblance to Augie. After a few weeks, the similarity becomes more and more obvious, which is why Isolde, who had already become suspicious a while ago, openly accuses her husband of being unfaithful and wants to leave him. Augie tries to stop them, especially since they are still under surveillance at the adoption site, but Isolde cannot be changed. Furious, she takes a bicycle and rides into a car. Against her will, Augie brings Isolde, who is injured in the ankle, back to their house and assures her that she has never loved another woman. Meanwhile, Estelle reappears to congratulate the Pooles on their baby and to give Augie back the $ 1,000. She also tells them about her husband, who sold his first book, and about her recently born daughter. After she proudly showed the Pooles a photo of her daughter and said goodbye, Isolde apologizes to Augie for not trusting him. Thereupon they find out that Isolde is pregnant and they happily hug each other.
background
For Gene Kelly, Babies on Order after Straße des Glücks (1957) was the second directorial work that was not a film musical , although the main actress Doris Day sings the two songs The Tunnel of Love and Run Away, Skidaddle, Skidoo in the film . Randall Duell and William A. Horning were responsible for the film construction. Henry Grace and Robert Priestley were used as outfitters , while Helen Rose designed the costumes for Doris Day and Gia Scala .
On November 21, 1958, the film premiered in New York City . In Germany babies came to cinemas on May 15, 1959.
Reviews
For the Lexicon of International Films , Babies to Order was a "[little ambitious] film adaptation of an amusing Broadway play". Worth mentioning is “Richard Widmark as a big boy with an overflowing heart”. Cinema certified the film as having a "not very original chain of misunderstandings", which, however, "thanks to Doris Day still become fun". All in all, the ensemble succeeds in covering “the humor valleys”.
According to Prisma , babies to order are "those chaos comedies that don't have a tingling story, but come up with good and well-known actors." The film critic Leonard Maltin described the film as a "cheerful comedy". The "good cast" gives the Peter De Vries adaptation momentum.
Awards
For The Tunnel of Love Doris Day in 1959 was nominated for the Golden Globe in the category Best Actress - Musical or Comedy , the ultimately Rosalind Russell for her title role in The great aunt won. Doris Day was also nominated for the Laurel Award for Best Actress in a Comedy and ended up in third place. Gig Young in turn won the Laurel Award for Best Supporting Actor.
German version
The German dubbed version was created in 1959 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin. The role names were partly changed. In the German version, the Pooles are not called Isolde and August, but Edith and Oscar.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Edith Poole | Doris Day | Edith Schneider |
| Oscar Poole | Richard Widmark | Heinz Dragon |
| John Pepper | Gig Young | Ottokar Runze |
Web links
- The Tunnel of Love at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Tunnel of Love at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Babies to order. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 12, 2019 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ “Bright comedy […]. Good cast spices adaptation of Joseph Fields Peter de Vries play. " Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2006 . Signet, 2005, p. 1535.
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de