The best man
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The best man |
| Original title | State of the Union |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 124 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Frank Capra |
| script |
Anthony Veiller Myles Connolly |
| production | Frank Capra (producer) for Liberty Pictures |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera | George J. Folsey |
| cut | William Hornbeck |
| occupation | |
| |
The Best Man is an American fictional film (political satire) directed in 1947 by director Frank Capra for the short-lived film production company Liberty Pictures, based on a play by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse .
action
The action takes place in Washington, DC , time the present. The powerful newspaper publisher Sam Thorndyke, an influential supporter of the Republican Party , is seriously ill and entrusts his daughter, the equally cool and ambitious Kay, to continue the company in his favor. Then he ends his suffering by shooting himself.
Kay decides to raise aircraft manufacturer Grant Matthews to be a Republican presidential candidate and appoint Spike McManus to lead the campaign. Kay is waging a private campaign of revenge against some Republican politicians and wants to bring her own presidential candidate into play in order to play her enemies against each other. Because Matthews is her lover, over whom she has power, because she inflates his self-confidence, she hopes to be able to guide him in the future. Matthews, a down-to-earth self-made man from Nevada , does not initially want to know anything about a candidacy. He has great reservations about the policy, which is tearing the country apart with its duplicity. Kay can only convince him when she asks him to use his campaign to unite the country.
To clear Matthews ' image and prevent possible revelations about his affair with Kay, Matthews' wife Mary is included in the campaign. She is disappointed with his marital infidelity, but continues to believe in his human greatness and that she can win her husband back. She accompanies Matthews on his advertising tour, and under her influence he develops a political program that - contrary to the guidelines of his political advisor Conover - corresponds to his true convictions: promoting national productivity, fighting inflation, communism and foreign dictatorships, relieving the poor and creating a world ruled together in which all people become brothers.
Despite the overwhelming response from the audience to this new program, Conover finally convinced Matthews that the delegates whose vote Matthew's election actually depends on will not vote for him. In order not to jeopardize his candidacy, Matthews follows Conover's advice and forms alliances with several influential personalities, which assure him of support, but also force him to make massive political compromises.
Mary is convinced that Matthew's change of direction is due to Kay's influence and confronts her rival:
“And you, Kay Thorndyke. You and your mad ambition. Catering to his conceit, dealing and double-dealing. You were going to make a big man of him, weren't you, Kay? You couldn't see that he was a big man. But you killed him. That won't be Grant Matthews those people hear tonight. It'll be a shadow, a ghost, a stooge mouthing words that aren't yours, thoughts that aren't your own thoughts. You've killed Grant Matthews, and he's a party to his own murder. Well, I won't be. He wanted a cause, you've got one. Cause of lies, fear, and corruption. "
“And you, Kay Thorndyke. You and your insane ambition. You feed on his self-deception, act and cheat. You wanted to make a great man out of him, didn't you, Kay? You didn't see that he was already a great man. But you killed him. This is not Grant Matthews that people will hear tonight. That will be a shadow, a ghost, a henchman (turning to Matthews) who utters words that are not your own, thoughts that are not yours. You killed Grant Matthews and he is a participant in his own assassination. Well, I will not be a participant in it. He wanted a cause - there you have one. A matter of lies, fear and corruption. "
During a subsequent televised address broadcast live from her home, she gave Matthews her public support again. In the meantime, however, he has come to terms and uses the television appearance not only to publicly unmask the machinery behind his candidacy, but also to accuse himself. He is stepping down from the presidential candidacy, but announces that he will continue to be politically active in order to ensure honesty there. Nothing stands in the way of reconciliation with Mary.
production
The script of the film The Best Man is based on the play State of the Union , a political satire that was released very successfully on Broadway in 1945-1947 . The main roles in the stage version played Ralph Bellamy , Ruth Hussey and Margalo Gillmore .
The best man was the second and last film by the small production company Liberty Pictures, co-founded by Frank Capra, which was released in 1946 Capras Isn't life beautiful? had produced. Because Spencer Tracy wanted to play the lead role, his boss Louis B. Mayer reached an agreement with Capra and agreed to finance the film and take over the distribution. Claudette Colbert was supposed to play the role of Mary, but got into an argument with Capra and was replaced by Katharine Hepburn just before shooting began. Filming, which was carried out on MGM's film site, began on September 29, 1947 and ended on December 6, 1947. MGM also hired the remaining cast: Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Adolphe Menjou and Lewis Stone.
At that time, Adolphe Menjou was a militant, politically far-right advocate of the actions of the Committee on Un-American Activities , which was very willing to convey gossip and rumors about his film colleagues to this institution. Although this meant that conflicts (especially with the very liberal Katharine Hepburn) were foreseeable, everyone involved behaved extremely professionally during the shooting, so that open friction did not arise.
Tracy / Hepburn had the greatest success in the 1940s with comedies ( The Woman You Talk about , 1942; Too Smart for Love , 1945; Marriage War , 1949). Her serious films are less well known. After The Whole Truth (1942) and Endless Is the Prairie (1945), The Best Man was the third serious film starring Tracy and Hepburn. Nevertheless, The Best Man contains isolated elements of a screwball comedy that are so typical of the Tracy / Hepburn films.
The Best Man premiered in New York on April 22, 1948 . The film, which cost approximately $ 2,600,000 to produce, grossed $ 3,500,000 in the United States. The film was first shown on German television on December 13, 1977 under the title Zur State of the Nation .
synchronization
Synchronization according to the German synchronous index .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Grant Matthews | Spencer Tracy | Fred Maire |
| Mary Matthews | Katharine Hepburn | Christa Berndl |
| Kay Thorndyke | Angela Lansbury | Heidi Treutler |
| Jim Conover | Adolphe Menjou | Holger Hagen |
| Spike McManus | Van Johnson | Ivar Combrinck |
| Sam Thorndyke | Lewis Stone | Paul Friedrichs |
| Sam I. Parrish | Howard Smith | Wolfgang Hess |
| Bill Nolard Hardy | Charles Dingle | Horst Naumann |
| Judge Alexander | Raymond Walburn | Manfred Lichtenfeld |
| Lulubelle Alexander | Maidel Turner | Maria Landrock |
| Norah | Margaret Hamilton | Monika John |
| Senator Lauterback | Pierre Watkin | Paul Bürks |
| Grace Orval Draper | Florence Auer | Ingeborg Lapsien |
| Buck Swanson | Irving Bacon | Bruno W. Pantel |
| Blink Moran | Charles Lane | Leon Rainer |
criticism
“Accurate in details, but overall only mediocre staged; excellent in the presentation. "
literature
- Donald Deschner: The Complete Films of Spencer Tracy , Citadel, 2000. ISBN 0-8065-1038-2
- Romano Tozzi: Spencer Tracy , New York: Pyramid Publications, 1973. ISBN 0-515-03246-8 ; German edition: Spencer Tracy. His films - his life . Heyne, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-453-86009-8
Web links
- The best man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- State of the Union (Engl.)
- Still photos
- State of the Union in the Internet Broadway Database
Individual evidence
- ^ Garson Kanin: Tracy and Hepburn. An Intimate Memoir , New York: Viking Press, 1971. Reissued by Plume, 1988. ISBN 1-55611-102-9 , p. 135
- ↑ The best man in the Internet Movie Database (English) Retrieved on August 5, 2017
- ↑ The best man in the German dubbing file , accessed on August 25, 2017
- ↑ The best man. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .