The ambitious one
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The ambitious one |
| Original title | Payment on Demand |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Curtis Bernhardt |
| script | Curtis Bernhardt Bruce Manning |
| production |
Jack H. Skirball Bruce Manning |
| music | Victor Young |
| camera | Leo Tover |
| cut | Harry Marker |
| occupation | |
| |
The Ambitious (OT: Payment on Demand ) is an American film drama of Curtis Bernhardt from the year 1951 with Bette Davis and Barry Sullivan in the lead roles.
action
At the beginning of the film, Joyce Ramsay expresses her discomfort about the working class background of Phil, her daughter Martha's boyfriend. Her husband David is annoyed by his wife's views, wants a divorce and tells her to think back to their wedding 20 years ago.
In flashbacks of the couple reported the humble beginnings and how they have become increasingly elaborated prosperity reported. David works as a lawyer with his partner Robert Townsend, but receives no assignments. Joyce is a secretary. She becomes pregnant and is given the opportunity to have Swanson, a former factory worker and current patent holder for steel production, as a client. She convinces Swanson to hire David alone for the job. After their plan is exposed, Robert ends the partnership. David is initially angry about his wife's actions, but she appeases him and convinces him that it is best for her unborn child.
In the present, Joyce has to confess to her daughters that their father has left them. She learns that David has been seen with another woman and hires a private detective to investigate.
In another retrospect, David rose to be a board member at Swanson's company. He is being transferred to San Francisco but wants to continue living in the suburbs. But Joyce convinces him to move to town. She meets Emily Hedges and befriends her. The two women combine their aspirations for social advancement. Meanwhile, Robert lives in poor circumstances and seeks a loan of $ 15,000 from his old friend David. In the house, however, he only meets Joyce, who tells him that David is not able to help him. David learns of his wife's lie and accuses her of being numb.
In the present, David and his new girlfriend Eileen Benson are tracked down by Joyce Detective. Joyce claims all of his fortune from David and threatens to reveal his infidelity in court if he fails to comply. David doesn't resist.
During a Caribbean cruise, Joyce meets the Englishman Anthony Tunliffe. During a stay in Port-au-Prince , the two meet Emily, who has since been divorced, deluded and drunk, and who lives with a gigolo. Emily expresses concern about Joyce's future. When Joyce learns that Anthony is married and just looking for an affair, she leaves the ship and returns home. At Martha and Phil's wedding, Joyce meets David again for the first time. When he brings them home, he suggests that they try again. Joyce hesitates, wanting to be sure that David loves her, not just regrets.
background
The original title of the RKO production was The Story of a Divorce . Although the film was shot in 1949/50, it was not released until February 15, 1951, after the success of Alles über Eva . This helped the production to a box office success. The film premiered in Germany on November 14, 1952.
The original script left no doubt about the couple's future. The original ending shows Joyce and David reunited at the breakfast table. This ending again showed Joyce as an ambitious woman who dominates her husband. RKO owner Howard Hughes was unhappy with the ending and the original title. He called director Bernhardt and the two main actors Davis and Sullivan into the studio, informed them about the new title and had a new ending shot. The new ending was shipped by air to New York City , where it premiered at Radio City Music Hall . The new reel of film only reached the venue after the performance had started - under the original title. However, the final role with the new ending could still be shown. Bette Davis later said: “The new ending broke our hearts. The one we had shot was the true ending for our film. We also were brokenhearted over the title change. "
criticism
"Psychological women's drama animated by Bette Davis in the central role with all registers of theatrical acting."
“PAYMENT ON DEMAND combines realism and cinematic clichés. This is what makes up the conflicting feelings that arise when looking. The main construct, as it is only described here in terms of structure, also turns out to be too heterogeneous in details. And even the retrospectives into the life of Joyce Ramsey, which are cleverly faded in and out with transparent backdrop walls, lose their fascination when you see the film for the second time and are reduced to theatrical effects. But then there is always: Bette Davis as Joyce Ramsey. You suffer for her, you feel sorry for her, and sometimes you don't like her either. But then there are: their looks, their walk, their gestures. How she comes down a flight of stairs, how she leaves a room, how she wears a long black dress or a white hat, how she looks in a mirror. How calculating and evil and lonely and small and big. How she, at 42, also plays a young woman and still looks in her mid-fifties. How she shows a void with an abundance. For Barry Sullivan, playing marriage to Bette Davis was an impossible task. PAYMENT ON DEMAND is all a Bette Davis film. "
Web links
- The ambitious in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charlotte Chandler: Bette Davis - The personal biography . LangenMüller, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-7844-3137-6 , pp. 231 f .
- ↑ a b The ambitious one. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 30, 2018 .
- ↑ Whitney Stine: Mother Goddam . Hawthorn Books, 1974, ISBN 0-8015-5184-6 , pp. 238 f .
- ^ Hans Helmut Prinzler : Payment on Demand (1950). In: hhprinzler.de. Retrieved October 30, 2018 .