The little hut
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The little hut |
| Original title | The Little Hut |
| Country of production | UK , USA |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1957 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Mark Robson |
| script | F. Hugh Herbert |
| production | F. Hugh Herbert, Mark Robson |
| music | Robert Farnon |
| camera | Freddie Young |
| cut | Ernest Walter |
| occupation | |
| |
The Little Hut (Original Title: The Little Hut ) is a British - American comedy film directed by Mark Robson from 1957 with Ava Gardner , Stewart Granger and David Niven in the lead roles. The play La Petite hutte (1947) by André Roussin , which Nancy Mitford adapted for the English-speaking world, served as a literary model .
action
Lady Susan Ashlow feels neglected by her busy husband, Sir Philip Ashlow. One day she persuades Philip to go on vacation with a few friends on their yacht. After a violent storm, Susan, Philip and their friend Henry Brittingham-Brett find themselves stranded on a deserted island in the South Sea. Nelson, the Ashlow's dog, can also save himself on the bank. As before and during her trip, Susan is constantly trying to make her husband and bachelor Henry jealous in order to reinvigorate Philip's interest in her. He is meanwhile fully occupied with building a large hut for himself and Susan, whereupon he wants to build a small separate hut for Henry.
After Philip has finished building the two cottages, Susan finally sees her chance for a romantic night with Philip. Out of jealousy, however, Henry thwarted the plan by persuading Philip to play a game of chess. After several weeks, Henry feels so lonely that he kisses Susan and wants to start a real affair with her. When Susan declines his offer, Philip suggests that they share Susan. He also claims that he and Susan have had an affair for years.
As the captain of his yacht, Philip feels entitled to conduct both marriages and divorces. Now he wants Susan to file for divorce with him, which she does. Philip then leaves Susan alone with Henry in the large hut, while he makes himself comfortable in the small hut. At night, however, he sends his dog Nelson to the big hut to drive Henry away. Later on, Susan and Philip get closer again, as the competition for Susan has actually rekindled his love for her.
After being rescued from a ship and back in their native London , Henry believes the Ashlow's divorce is final. While proposing to Susan at the Ashlow's house, he discovers that Susan is knitting baby clothes. He finally realizes that the Ashlows are happy again.
background
British producer and director Alexander Korda originally secured the film rights to the French theater piece by André Roussin . For the leading roles Korda had planned George Sanders , Zsa Zsa Gabor and David Niven. When director Mark Robson and screenwriter F. Hugh Herbert took over the project with their own, newly founded production company and Herbert had finished the script, they first tried to win Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer , who were married at the time, for the leading roles .
The film was shot in London and in the Cinecittà film studios in Rome . Some of the exterior shots were made in Jamaica . Ava Gardner's costumes were designed by Christian Dior .
On May 3, 1957, the film premiered in New York . In Germany, Die kleine Hütte was first shown in cinemas on November 29, 1957. On November 29, 1969, the comedy was first broadcast on German television.
Reviews
Bosley Crowther of the New York Times complained that the film lacked the "mischievousness" of the original that could have supported the "virtually non-existent plot". The performances of the three main actors are under the "sedate direction of Mark Robson [...] pointless and boring". The whole film seems "so clumsy" that it obscures its "bad taste".
The lexicon of international films described Die kleine Hütte as an "[un] entertaining triangular comedy based on a French model that was tailored to American conditions" and was "quite amusing thanks to charming actors". The film magazine Cinema summarized the comedy with "[k] a hut magic, just banter under palm trees". The final conclusion was: "Nonchalant to the point of irrelevance."
Prisma found that director Mark Robson had “staged the funny triangle story in a somewhat static way”, but that he missed the “frivolity of the French original”, but his work could still convince “with good actors and typically British humor ". For the Protestant film observer, it was a "mediocre American entertainment film about a marriage crisis on a lonely South Sea island".
German version
The German dubbed version was created in 1957 in the MGM synchronization studio in Berlin.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Lady Susan Ashlow | Ava Gardner | Agi Prandhoff |
| Sir Philip Ashlow | Stewart Granger | Wolfgang Lukschy |
| Henry Brittingham Board | David Niven | Curt Ackermann |
| Mario | Walter Chiari | Harry Wüstenhagen |
| Rev. Bertram Brittingham-Brett | Finlay Currie | Walther Suessenguth |
| Mr. Trollope | Henry Oscar | Kurt Waitzmann |
Web links
- The small hut in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Little Hut at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b cf. Notes on tcm.com
- ↑ “The fantastic virtue of the comedy was that there was plenty of mischief going on. But in the motion-picture version […] there isn't even that virtue to sustain a virtually non-existent plot. […] Their acting […], under Mark Robson's ponderous direction, […] comes out witless and dull. [...] The whole thing, indeed, is so clumsy that it fogs the bad taste of the film. " Bosley Crowther : 'The Little Hut'; 3 on an Island Plus No Mischief Equals O The Cast . In: The New York Times , May 4, 1957.
- ↑ The little hut. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 10, 2019 .
- ↑ cf. cinema.de ( Memento from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ cf. prisma.de
- ↑ Protestant film observer . Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 10/1958.
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de