The cat on a hot tin roof (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The cat on the hot tin roof
Original title Cat on a hot tin roof
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1958
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Richard Brooks
script Richard Brooks,
James Poe
production Lawrence Weingarten
for MGM
music Charles Wolcott
camera William H. Daniels
cut Ferris Webster
occupation
synchronization

The cat on a hot tin roof (original title: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ) is the film adaptation of the play of the same name by Tennessee Williams . The film, directed by Richard Brooks , premiered on September 18, 1958 , became one of the biggest box office hits of the 1950s. Nominated for six Academy Awards, he won none of the trophies.

title

The title of the film comes from an argument between Maggie and Brick at the beginning of the film. Maggie describes her feelings about the state of their marriage as "I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof all the time." Brick then recommends that she jump off this roof, as cats do so and land on their four paws in the process - separation, or she should look for a lover, which she indignantly refuses. Maggie declares that she will eventually win. At the end of the argument, Brick asks what she would imagine if a cat were to win on a hot tin roof. "Just stick with it."

action

Brick, a young man around 30, reluctantly let his wife Maggie persuade him to go home for his father's birthday. His father "Big Daddy", the head of the family, is still in the hospital for the time being due to chronic health problems. On the eve of his birthday, Brick drives to a football stadium, drinks - as always - bottles of whiskey and wistfully thinks of the old days when he played American football with his best friend Skipper, who is now dead . While intoxicated, he tries a hurdle run and breaks his ankle.

Big Daddy returns home the next day. The doctors certify that he is in excellent health. He is picked up at the airport by his second son Gooper, his wife and children, and Maggie. Brick, now in plaster of paris and crutches, didn't want to come. You drive to the manor house where the birthday celebrations are being prepared.

Brick is in his room drinking. He doesn't want to know anything about his father or his wife, doesn't want to go to the garden to celebrate, let alone give his father the gift that Maggie had bought. Bricks wife Maggie as well as the other son Gooper and his wife Mae did not come to the celebration entirely unselfishly: If in doubt about the health of the father they seek to be able to take over the huge estates of Big Daddy. Only Brick has not the slightest interest in it. After the death of his friend Skipper, he became a drinker, taciturn and resigned. He secretly accuses himself of not helping his friend in a difficult situation and of being to blame for his death. He accuses his wife of having cheated on him with Skipper in this situation. He also has no affection for his father because he is only interested in money and his lands. Maggie, who loves Brick and wants him to have a child, suffers from Brick's aversion, yes, his hatred towards her, but wants to fight for him.

In a quiet moment, the family doctor tells Brick that his father is indeed terminally ill, but that it has been kept from him so far in order to protect him. Brick doesn't care for the time being. His father will soon come up to greet him. Brick doesn't speak much, is stubborn. But Big Daddy wants to know why Brick drinks and keeps quiet about why he doesn't love Maggie. He doesn't give up. A dispute develops about love and hate, about the relationships between family members, prejudices, envy and resentment. On this afternoon there is not only a thunderstorm in nature, but also all the frustration that has arisen over the years, all the tensions that Brick and other family members have mendacious about their life together and made it almost unbearable.

background

In contrast to the play, the film Bricks neglects implied homosexuality , because the strange relationship with his friend Skipper was downplayed in the script for the mass market. After all, the film still covers enough points that were considered taboo in the 1950s: adultery , infertility, and alcohol addiction .

Production and reception

  • The 1958 theatrical version was preceded by a Broadway adaptation of the play from 1955 by Elia Kazan , in which Madeleine Sherwood had already played as Mae and Burl Ives as Big Daddy.
  • Tennessee Williams received $ 600,000 from MGM for the film rights.
  • Due to the Hays Code , the aspect of homosexuality from the literary source after Tennessee Williams was completely disregarded, which is why the author advised his readers not to watch the film.
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was nominated for six Academy Awards in 1959 , including “Best Picture”.
  • Elizabeth Taylor had lost her third husband Michael Todd in a plane crash a week before filming began , but was forced to begin filming by the contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .
  • Her fee was $ 125,000; Newman, who was new to the film, received $ 25,000.
  • The film is considered to be the most profitable MGM has ever launched. The rental rents for the film were $ 8.8 million. In total, he made $ 19.2 million.
  • There are two remakes for television: A version by Robert Moore from 1976, with Laurence Olivier , Natalie Wood , Robert Wagner and Maureen Stapleton . The other is from 1985 by director Jack Hofsiss and shows Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange .

Others

Burl Ives, who plays 65-year-old Big Daddy in the film, was actually only 49 years old and thus only a year older than his film son Jack Carson.

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1958 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin .

role actor Voice actor
Brick Pollitt Paul Newman Wolfgang Kieling
Maggie Pollitt Elizabeth Taylor Marion Degler
Harvey "Big Daddy" Pollitt Burl Ives Paul Wagner
Gooper Jack Carson Wolfgang Lukschy
Dr. Baugh Larry Gates Siegfried Schürenberg
Deacon Davis Vaughn Taylor Kurt Waitzmann

Reviews

Cinema magazine gave the film the highest rating and drew the conclusion: “Intense chamber play. A timeless classic ”. The Lexicon of International Films described him as "[r] outinized, brilliantly theatrical adaptation of the play by Tennessee Williams". Der Spiegel criticized the weakening of the content, but called it "still impressive".

Awards

Nominations at the 1959 Academy Awards :

The British Film Academy Awards nominated Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for Best Picture, Paul Newman for Best Foreign Actor and Elizabeth Taylor for Best Foreign Actress.

literature

Web links

Commons : The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brenda Maddox: Who's Afraid of Elizabeth Taylor? A Myth of Our Time , Evans, 1977, ISBN 0-87131-243-3 , p. 135.
  2. ↑ The cat on the hot tin roof (1958) in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ( memento of the original from December 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved October 18, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synchrondatenbank.de
  3. ↑ The cat on the hot tin roof. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 30, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ “die bremer kinotaz - all films, all dates” section “The cat on the hot tin roof” from April 15, 2004 - Author: “City” - Source: “Der Spiegel” , accessed on April 4, 2011, quotation here accordingly , not literally.