Blossoms in the dust

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Movie
German title Blossoms in the dust
Original title Blossoms in the Dust
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 99 minutes
Rod
Director Mervyn LeRoy
script Anita Loos ,
Hugo Butler ,
Dorothy Yost
production Irving Asher ,
Mervyn LeRoy
music Herbert Stothart
camera Karl Freund ,
W. Howard Greene
cut George Boemler
occupation
synchronization

Blossoms in the Dust (Original title: Blossoms in the Dust ) is an American film drama by Mervyn LeRoy with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon from the year 1941. The film tells the true life story of Edna Gladney (1886-1961), which in the campaigned for the rights of orphans in the United States in the first half of the 20th century . The script is based on a template by Ralph Wheelwright .

action

In 1903, Wisconsin , the affluent Kahly family prepares to celebrate the engagement of their two daughters Edna and Charlotte. When Edna comes home, she tells her sister that a man had proposed marriage to her in a cheeky manner. When this very man, the Texan Sam Gladney, appears at the engagement party, Edna is outraged. As it turns out, Sam is a clerk at her father's bank and is still determined to lead her to the altar despite being engaged to someone else. He plans to open a flour mill in his native Texas soon . After his return the next year he wants to marry Edna. Edna is fascinated by his self-confidence and his determination. In the months that followed, they wrote each other numerous letters and they eventually grew closer.

On the day Sam returns from Texas business commitments, the parents of Charlotte's fiancé, Mr. and Mrs. Keats, tell the Kahlys that their son Allan cannot marry Charlotte under any circumstances. They found out that Charlotte was once adopted by the Kahlys as a nameless foundling. Although Allan swears he will marry her anyway, Charlotte is paralyzed because she did not know that she was an illegitimate adoptive child. While Edna and Sam are happy to see them again, Charlotte goes to her room and shoots herself.

Two years go by and Edna, who has since married Sam and moved to Texas, gives birth to a healthy son. But only a few years later, Edna meets the next stroke of fate. Her son Sammy dies in an accident at Christmas. Edna is heartbroken over this loss, especially since Dr. Max Breslar found out that she could not have any more children. In the following years, she tries to suppress her grief as the hostess of societies. Sam and Dr. Breslar finally convince her that she can also give her love and attention to other children. Edna and Sam then set up a day-care center for the children of working women in their large house. You finance the project with your own fortune. However, when wheat prices fall, Sam's company goes bankrupt and he loses his mill. The Gladneys are forced to sell their property and move to modest abode in Fort Worth . There Sam takes a job in a small mill and tries in his spare time to develop a new method for processing wheat. After Edna has his new procedure patented by a notary , she witnesses how orphans are distributed like cattle to childless couples in a courtroom. Illegitimate children, however, are rejected by the couples out of prejudice against their origin. Edna is shocked by this injustice. She decides to take two of the children home to care for them and to find adoptive parents for them.

Despite low savings, Edna founds a children's home and, with the help of Dr. Breslar to find suitable parents for their charges. When Mrs. Gilworth, the wife of an influential city councilor, wanted to adopt a child and fell away from Edna and Dr. Breslar feels that she has not been treated appropriately, she ensures that the children's home is closed. The day Edna loses her home, Sam becomes faint while working and dies. Encouraged by Sam's last words to continue her fight for the orphans, Edna travels across Texas to raise money for a new home. She is so successful in this that she will soon be able to open a new home for the orphans.

Over the years Edna found a new home for many of her children. One day a young woman shows up in her office with a donation of $ 700 after finding out she was adopted as a child. Edna suspects that the woman is in a similar situation to Charlotte once and wants to kill herself for the same reasons. Edna gives the desperate hope again and is now determined to change the Texan law to remove the word "illegitimate" from the birth certificates. In front of the Texan Parliament , she gave an ardent speech for the rights of children who are stigmatized for their entire lives by the word “illegitimate”. She manages to convince the politicians of her request and the law is eventually changed. At Christmas of the same year, a little boy named Tony is supposed to be handed over to a childless couple. Tony, whom Edna already had as a baby, has grown particularly dear to her. She doesn't want to give him up and is even willing to give up the children's home to look after Tony exclusively. However, when a police officer brings two new orphans by, she realizes that she is needed. With a heavy heart, she hands Tony over to his new parents and devotes herself to the newcomers.

background

prehistory

In 1940, MGM employee Ralph Wheelwright wanted to adopt a child with his wife. While looking for a suitable placement, they met Edna Gladney and her foundation for orphans, the “Texas Children's Home and Aid Society” in Fort Worth , Texas , who were ultimately able to place a child for them. Inspired by Gladney's selfless work for orphans, Wheelwright then wrote a manuscript about her life and gave it to MGM boss Louis B. Mayer . He gave Wheelwright $ 10,000 for the film rights, sent a check for $ 5,000 to the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society, and invited Edna Gladney to Hollywood so she could contribute historical details of her biography to the story. She was also given a say in the cast. Screenwriter Anita Loos was then commissioned to rewrite the manuscript into a suitable screenplay. In the beginning, however, it was “a difficult task” for her: “Several times I concentrated on just one storyline; I worked forward full of anticipation until the whole thing fell apart at the climax, ”she said later. Loos finally decided to base the story on Gladney's belief that no matter how beautiful orphanage, could be a substitute for a real home. Loos also invented the character of little Tony, who Gladney grows particularly fond of in order to bind the audience more emotionally to his main character.

occupation

Greer Garson turned down the lead role initially because she had already taken on a similar role in Goodbye, Mr. Chips in 1939 and would rather prove her versatility as an actress. However, when producer Irving Asher announced that Edna Gladney expressed a personal wish that Garson would play her, she agreed. "I felt so flattered, I was speechless," Garson later recalled.

For a long time MGM could not find a suitable child star for the role of the little boy Tony who could convincingly speak the many lines of dialogue. After a series of tests, director Mervyn LeRoy chose Pat Barker. Only later did it become known that the four-year-old was not a boy, but a girl named Patricia. When LeRoy heard that the press found out, all he said was, "She looked like a boy after we trimmed her hair a bit."

Remarks

  • Blossoms in the Dust was MGM's fifth film to be shot entirely in Technicolor .
  • The film was the first of eight joint films by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.
  • In one dance scene, Pidgeon found it difficult to keep to the choreography , so director LeRoy had a platform with roles made, on which Pidgeon was then spun around in front of the camera with Garson.
  • Director LeRoy later recalled that due to the large number of children on the set, the film crew began the film Bugs in the Mud (Engl .: "Beetle in the dirt") instead Blossoms in the Dust ( Blossoms in the Dust to name).
  • Although the film's plot spans many years, Garson doesn't get older optically.
  • In the opening credits of the film it is explicitly mentioned that apart from Edna and Sam Gladney all other characters in the film are fictional.

reception

publication

On June 26, 1941, Blossoms in Dust premiered at New York's Radio City Music Hall . With a production cost of $ 1,110,983 and worldwide grossing of $ 2,658,000, the film proved to be a notable success for MGM. At the premiere in Fort Worth on July 18, 1941, Edna Gladney was also in the audience and praised the film: “Everything was wonderful. I'm so happy and satisfied. ”Because of the success of Blossoms in Dust , Garson and Pidgeon repeated their roles in a radio play version of the film for Cecil B. DeMilles Lux Radio Theater on February 16, 1942 .

Reviews

At the time, Variety called blossoms in the dust “a remarkable production”, which, however, did not manage to impress. There would be “almost too many children” who “receive a lot of attention”. The result is "sentimental and sugar-sweet". Bosley Crowther of the New York Times described Greer Garson as "a picture of a beauty, with her red hair so beautifully framing her expressive face". In addition, she conveys “convincing sincerity and empathy” in the film. Walter Pidgeon plays her husband "in the style of a true gentleman" and Marsha Hunt is "good in her little role as 'sister'". The extensive cast of supporting actors is "consistently excellent". Crowther said that blossoms in the dust will "touch many hearts".

Hal Erickson of the All Movie Guide found in retrospect that Greer Garson was "dignity and integrity personified" in the role of Edna Gladney. "The emotional, but dramatically and photographically excellent film describes Edna Gladney's fight against social prejudice," summarized the lexicon of international films .

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1942 , Blossoms in Dust was in the categories of Best Film , Best Actress (Greer Garson), Best Cinematography (Karl Freund, W. Howard Greene) and Best Production Design / Color ( Cedric Gibbons , Urie McCleary , Edwin B. Willis ) for nominated for the Oscar . The film won the set design award.

German version

A German dubbed version was made in 1973.

role actor Voice actor
Edna Gladney Greer Garson Marion Degler
Sam Gladney Walter Pidgeon Erik Schumann
Dr. Max Breslar Felix Bressart Leo Bardischewski
Mrs. Kahly Fay Holden Charlotte Witthauer
Mr. Kahly Samuel S. Hinds Ernst Kuhr
Mrs. Keats Kathleen Howard Ingeborg Lapsien
Allan Keats William Henry Hannes Gromball
Judge Henry O'Neill Kunibert Gensichen
Zeke Clinton Rosemond Fred Klaus
G. Harrington Hedger Charles Arnt Manfred Lichtenfeld
Mrs. Gilworth Cecil Cunningham Gretl Merry
Tony Pat Barker Florian Halm
Mr. La Verne Marc Lawrence Fred Maire

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 111.
  2. ↑ “It was a tough assignment. […] Several times I hit on a story line; followed it through with elation until, at the climax, the whole thing fell apart. " Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 111.
  3. ↑ "I was so flattered, I was speechless." Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 111.
  4. ↑ "She looked like a boy after we trimmed her hair a little bit." Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 114.
  5. ↑ Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 118.
  6. ↑ “It was all very wonderful. I am so happy and satisfied. " Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 118.
  7. ↑ “ Blossoms in the Dust is a worthy production […], but the picture fails to impress as being big. There are almost too many kids, with much attention paid to them. Result is a sentimentally sugary flavor. " See Review: 'Blossoms in the Dust' . In: Variety , 1940.
  8. ^ “Miss Garson is a vision of loveliness, with her red hair delicately framing her expressive face, and conveys through the picture a conviction of sincerity and sensitivity. Walter Pidgeon plays her husband in the true manner of an adoring gallant, and Marsha Hunt does well in the brief role of the 'sister'. A large cast of supporting actors is uniformly excellent. [...] Blossoms in the Dust should reach a great many hearts. " Bosley Crowther : Blossoms in the Dust . In: The New York Times , June 27, 1941.
  9. ^ "Greer Garson is dignity and integrity personified in the role of the real-life Edna Gladney." Hal Erickson , cf. omovie.com
  10. ↑ Flowers in the dust. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 10, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  11. ↑ Flowers in the dust. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on April 6, 2017 .