Cynthia (film)

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Movie
German title Cynthia
Original title Cynthia
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1947
length 98 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Z. Leonard
script Harold Buchman , based on a play by Viña Delmar
production Edwin H. Knopf for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Bronislau caper
camera Charles Edgar Schoenbaum
cut Cotton Warburton
occupation

Cynthia is an American feature film ( coming-of-age film ) directed by Robert Z. Leonard from 1947. The film is an adaptation of the play The Rich Full Life by Viña Delmar and was produced by MGM .

action

The first place and time of the action are Wyandotte College, Michigan and the early 1930s. Louise and Larry are young freshmen and when they fall in love they still have big plans: Louise wants to go to Vienna to study music, and Larry is also moving abroad, where he would like to study medicine. They get married, and when Louise soon becomes pregnant they set up their household in Napoleon, Illinois. Larry doesn't become a doctor, but makes a living as a clerk at the local household goods store. The child, Cynthia, is born and turns out to be tender and sickly. The couple's dreams of studying abroad are put on hold.

Fifteen years later, Cynthia is a young woman who is ignorant of the sacrifice her parents made for her. Partly caused by her sickness, which the family doctor Dr. Frank Jannings earns a lot of money, the family's financial circumstances are problematic, and Larry does not manage to get a loan to buy the house in which they rent.

Cynthia suffers from being excluded from many school activities due to her health history. But she takes singing lessons and when she applies to take part in a school opera, she wins the interest of Ricky Latham, the most popular boy at the school. A romance develops. Cynthia actually gets the lead role in the play, but has to give up the project when she catches a cold. This leads to tension between the parents. Larry accuses Louise of encouraging Cynthia beyond her abilities, and Louise wonders if they might have trusted the advice of the possibly overcautious doctor too much. Behind Larry's back and against his express prohibition, she allows Cynthia to attend the school ball with Ricky .

Cynthia is having a wonderful evening, but Larry is so upset when he finds out that he overslept the following morning and is late for work for the first time in fifteen years. When his boss, Dingle, gets upset, Larry quits and decides to go to Chicago with his family. Louise is happy that her husband is finally standing up for his own interests, but Cynthia doesn't want to hear about a move. In fact, all problems - including financial ones - are resolved when Dingle finally shows up and asks Larry to return to his job.

Production and reception

The film is based on Viña Delmar's play The Rich Full Life , which was staged on Broadway for four weeks in the fall of 1945. Virginia Weidler had played the title role in this stage version .

Cynthia was the eighth film that Elizabeth Taylor has starred in. She had been under contract with MGM since 1942. At the time of filming, which took place from October 8 to November 15, 1946, she was 14 years old. Her partner Jimmy Lydon, from whom she got her first screen kiss here, was 23 and had previously worked with Taylor in Our Lives with Father (1947). The film is produced in black and white and 35 mm.

Cynthia premiered in the United States on August 29, 1947.

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