The man from Philadelphia

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Movie
German title The man from Philadelphia
Original title The Young Philadelphians
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1959
length 124 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Vincent Sherman
script James Gunn
production James Gunn
music Ernest Gold
camera Harry Stradling Sr.
cut William H. Ziegler
occupation

The man from Philadelphia is an American film drama from the year 1959 by Vincent Sherman with Paul Newman in the lead role. The film is based on the 1956 novel The Philadelphian by Richard P. Powell .

action

Philadelphia , in the 1920s. On their wedding night, Kate Judson Lawrence, the granddaughter of an Irish servant, learns that her wealthy upper class husband, Bill, is impotent. After Bill escapes from both hotel rooms one night for this reason, Kate seeks consolation in her childhood friend, the crude Mike Flanagan, a second generation Irish worker. The next day, Kate learns that Bill was killed in a car accident. When Kate gives birth to a child, Anthony Judson Lawrence, Bill's mother claims that the child could not be from Bill and that she, the patriarch, would not see it as an ancestor with the right to inherit. On the one hand, Kate is not at all interested in the wealth of the Lawrence clan, but on the other hand she definitely wants to rise to the social ladder of the city for her son, and for this she needs the name Lawrence, which is well known in this city. Kate threatens the old woman with making the events of the fateful night public and thus socially tarnishing the name Lawrence, should Anthony, called only Tony by everyone, not be allowed to bear the name Lawrence. Despite Mike's vulgar appearance, Mike is determined to get rich and marry Kate. But Kate decides differently: She prefers a genteel poverty, especially since she is firmly convinced that, as she puts it, Mike will never be able to open "the right doors" for Tony

Twenty years have passed since then. Tony started law school at Princeton and works at Mike's successful construction company during the summer break. There he met by chance Joan Dickinson, the daughter of the respected lawyer Gilbert Dickinson. Although she is not engaged, she is expected to one day marry a certain upper-class Carter Henry. But Joan doesn't believe in such "arrangements" within her social class. Although Tony can't afford much, she likes this straight forward guy, and Joan gets involved with him. She soon falls in love with Tony, but is a little disturbed that his pride in not having made it “up” yet prevents him from marrying her soon, as does the prejudices of her blasé family. Tony wants to have achieved something in his job before he gets married. Tony's friend from Princeton times, Chester "Chet" Gwynne, who has a considerable drinking problem, is also a real victim of this classroom conceit. He advises Joan to get Tony impregnated in order to force a marriage. In addition, she should make sure that no one in her family comes up with the idea of ​​"buying out" Tony from Joan with a considerable sum of money. Following Chet's advice, Joan tries to seduce Tony, but Tony is decent enough not to take advantage of her. A little later, the attorney-father Joans offers Tony to employ him in his office if he agrees to wait with the marriage until he has his law degree in his pocket. When Tony agrees to this suggestion, he leaves the impression that he is putting his professional advancement above his love for Joan. She then leaves for Europe disappointed. Here, just as arranged by the devious Gilbert Dickinson, she meets again Carter Henry, who is valued by him as a better marriage candidate and who has secretly followed Joan.

Weeks later, Tony learns that Joan and Carter have married. He assumes that she “sold” herself in the best possible way. After a binge of drinking, from which he is dragged out by Chet and Mike, a new Tony emerges: more competitive and manipulative - in short: more reckless. When he was given another summer job, he used a trick to oust his competitor Louis Donetti, descendant of Italian immigrants. This enables him to break off contact with Dickinson's company and at the same time expand his future professional fields of activity. His intelligence and hard work are valued by his new mentor, respected attorney John Marshall Wharton, and Wharton's wife, Carol, who is significantly younger than her husband, is drawn to Tony. When she comes to his bed one night, Tony asks her to divorce Wharton and marry him. Tony rightly assumed that Carol only sees him as a toy and is not ready to start all over again. Nevertheless, she takes Tony's elegant "discharge" as a compliment. The working relationship and respect for one another are not damaged by this episode. Soon after, Wharton offered Tony a job in the law firm, and Tony decided to specialize in tax law, an ever-growing branch of his profession.

The Korean War (1950–1953) threw an entire generation off track. Tony, Chet and Carter are all drafted. While Tony is fortunate enough to be accepted into a unit that is not directly involved in combat operations, friend Chet loses an arm in a battle and Carter, meanwhile extremely unhappy in his marital relationship with Joan, is killed in the fray. After the war, Tony returns to Whartons law firm and becomes its youngest junior partner. One day, through Louis, who has since made a career as a unionist, Tony receives a visit from Mrs. J. Arthur Allen, an eccentric widow of a millionaire who has made his fortune in the oil business. She wants to make a will for her dog. Mrs. Allen is both Aunt Joans and an important client of Gilbert Dickinson. Tony is working out a proposal for her that will save her $ 200,000 a year in taxes. In doing so, he uses, not necessarily legally, information from the district official, which he got thanks to Mike's connections. In order not to get the risk of having poached a client from the competition (which could cost the job at the time), Tony carefully avoids any behavior perceived as disreputable when presenting his proposal to Mrs. Allen. The old lady confides in her niece Joan, who thinks Tony's plan is a good one. Tony outdoes the hated Gilbert Dickinson and becomes his new tax and financial advisor instead of his Mrs. Allen's. Tony soon climbs the corporate ladder and becomes a senior partner in Wharton's company. Tony and Joan slowly approach each other again, but without entering into a formal commitment. At a dinner party with Joan, Tony witnesses a difference of opinion between Dr. Shippen "Ship" Stearnes, who knows Tony's illegitimate origin as the executor of the Lawrence estate, and Morton Stearnes, Chet's uncle and asset manager. When Morton is murdered the following night, a drunk Chet, arrested for the murder, calls Tony from prison. Chet admits to visiting Morton that night, but claims he was still alive when he left.

Although Tony is not a criminal defense attorney, Chet desperately wants him to stand up for his case. Stearnes also urges Tony to take on the case because he believes Tony will lose it and also to ensure that the presumably guilty Chet does not cause a scandal that would drag the family into the dirt. Joan assumes that the family will sacrifice Chet to ensure that Chet's abuse will not become public. Fearing that Tony will risk his newly acquired reputation, she offers to hire an outside attorney to represent Chet. Tony doesn't want to let Chet down, however, and so he fights doggedly to solve the murder. Meanwhile, Stearnes threatens old Kate that he will make Tony's actual father public, which in turn puts Mike and Kate in a tight spot. Both finally tell Tony the truth about his origins. Mike is not afraid of what might happen to him, but he is afraid that exposing Kate's reputation would be irreparably ruined. In the process, of all people, Louis, who has meanwhile been promoted to prosecutor, becomes Tony's opponent. Woe to Chets depends on what Morton's butler said. With an alcohol test trick, Tony tears apart the unfavorable statement made by the servant George Archibald for Chet. He then calls Stearnes as a witness, who is supposed to comment on the two quarrel the night before. It finally turns out that Morton apparently committed suicide because he suffered from a brain tumor . Chet is then acquitted, and Joan, who now realizes that Tony is ready to risk even his career for his principles, makes up with her old love.

Production notes

The shooting of The Man from Philadelphia began in mid-September 1958 and ended in mid-December 1958. The film premiered on May 19, 1959 in Philadelphia. The film opened in Germany on January 5, 1960.

Malcolm C. Bert designed the film structures, John P. Austin provided the equipment. The costumes are from Howard Shoup .

Nominations

There were a total of three Oscar nominations for The Man from Philadelphia :

Reviews

AH Weiler wrote in The New York Times : “Although“ The Young Philadephians ”seems to go out of their way to be pointed, he only makes a superficial social comment. The script, developed by James Gunn from Richard Powell's novel The Philadelphian, appears sonorous and with some anger, including sex, murder, drunkenness and ambiguity, which paints the image of a city without much brotherly love. (...) Paul Newman and most of the leading actors bring little more, which is unusual or particularly powerful for the course of the plot, which could have given special emphasis, but instead seems all too familiar. "

Halliwell's Film Guide said that the film adaptation of the novel was "implemented shimmering and depicted with certainty."

For the Movie & Video Guide, wrote: “Newman and Rush have memorable roles as a poor aspiring lawyer and as girls of the society he hopes to conquer. (…) Smith is doing just fine as the frustrated wife of lawyer Kruger ”.

The lexicon of international film found: "A film adaptation of a novel with social criticism and cast with good actors."

Hal Erickson wrote : "Kind of an urbanized, upscale version of Peyton Place, Vincent Sherman's The Young Philadelphians is a glossy, melodramatic adaptation of Richard Powell's bestselling novel The Philadelphians."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Man from Philadelphia. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on June 29, 2020 .
  2. ^ Review in the New York Times, May 22, 1959
  3. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 1145
  4. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1491
  5. ↑ The Man from Philadelphia. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed January 31, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ↑ The Young Philadelphians on allemovie.com

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