The little foxes

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Movie
German title The little foxes
Original title The Little Foxes
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 115 minutes
Rod
Director William Wyler
script Lillian Hellman
Arthur Kober
Dorothy Parker
Alan Campbell
production Samuel Goldwyn
music Meredith Willson
camera Gregg Toland
cut Daniel Mandell
occupation
synchronization

Little Foxes is an American drama directed by William Wyler from 1941. The film was based on the play of the same name by Lillian Hellman .

action

The Southern United States in 1900: The Hubbard family of manufacturers made prosperity through harsh business practices. The two brothers Ben and Oscar Hubbard are now planning, together with the businessman William Marshall, to participate in a cotton mill that would make them rich for good. However, they do not have the necessary financial resources, they are short of $ 75,000.

But there is the brother-in-law of the brothers: Horace Giddens is a rich man who has been separated from his wife Regina, the sister of the Hubbard brothers, for a long time. Regina hates her husband, but decides anyway to try to get her husband back to her so that the brothers can get his money. So Regina sends her daughter Alexandra, who should persuade her father to return.

The severely heart-sick man lets himself be softened and returns to his wife. But Horace does not want to give out the money, also because he fears that his daughter could be pressured into marrying her simple-minded and devious cousin Leo, the son of Oscar, in the course of the business deal. Even Aunt Birdie - the sensitive and friendly mother of Leo, who has become an alcoholic due to the hateful family life - warns Alexandra that if she marries Leo, she would end up as hopeless as her. Meanwhile, Alexandra falls in love with David Hewitt, a young and bright newspaper reporter who doesn't think much of the Hubbard family.

Leo works at the local bank where Horace keeps his stock portfolio. Together with his father and uncle, Leo pursues the idea of ​​stealing shares worth 75,000 US dollars from Horace and putting them back unnoticed in the fall, when Horace usually needs the shares. Everything now seems to be turning out for the best for the brothers. You get a stake in the longed-for business with Mr. Marshall and you don't even need Regina's help.

After a while, however, the now terminally ill Horace visits the bank because of his will and notices the theft of the shares. He informs Regina of the theft, which now has her brothers in her hands, but Horace wants to end the affair without a stir: he wants to let it be known that he has legitimately lent Leo the money and thus this door is also locked to Regina. When Horace has a heart attack during an argument with Regina, she denies him life-saving medicine. He wants to get the medicine himself and collapses on the stairs.

Horace dies a little later without another word, which Regina's brothers could relieve of the theft. Regina can now blackmail her brothers at will and demands 75 percent of the income with which she can finally make her lifelong dream of seeing more of the world than just her southern village possible. Alexandra is shocked by the family's malice and rightly suspects that her mother is not innocent of her father's death. While Alexandra leaves the house with David Hewitt, Regina remains lonely.

background

The play premiered on Broadway on February 15, 1939 and was successfully performed for almost a year. The role of Regina played Tallulah Bankhead on Broadway , while Frank Conroy played Horace Giddens. Charles Dingle, Carl Benton Reid, Dan Duryea, Patricia Collinge and John Marriott repeated in the film the roles they had previously played on Broadway. At the request of the filmmakers, the figure of David Hewitt designed by Hellman for the film was also added , which was supposed to stand as a counterpart to Hubbard's schemers.

Bankhead was interested in starring in the film, but her previous films had mostly been failures. Therefore, producer Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler chose Bette Davis for the lead role, who, however, felt very uncertain about being able to continue this performance because of the many praise for Bankhead's performance. Davis saw the character of Regina as completely ruthless and greedy, but Wyler wanted to make the figure more feminine, cultivated and at least a little likeable. This led to arguments during filming and in the end there was a compromise portrayal of Regina that neither Wyler nor Davis really satisfied.

synchronization

The German dubbed version was created in 1974, matching the German television premiere on December 30, 1974 on ZDF .

role actor German Dubbing voice
Regina Hubbard Bette Davis Tilly Lauenstein
Horace Giddens Herbert Marshall Edgar Ott
David Hewitt Richard Carlson Thomas Danneberg
Leo Hubbard Dan Duryea Horst Gentzen
Ben Hubbard Charles Dingle Friedrich W. Building School
Oscar Hubbard Carl Benton Reid Heinz Petruo
Addie, Hubbard maid Jessica Grayson Ursula War
Cal, Horace's servant John Marriott Peter Schiff
Mr. William Marshall Russell Hicks Friedrich Schoenfelder
Mrs. Hewitt, David's mother Virginia Brissac Inge Wolffberg
Julia Terry Nibert Inge Estate
Bank customer Tex Driscoll Manfred Meurer

Reviews

The American review portal Rotten Tomatoes has Die kleine Füchse , based on 14 reviews, with a positive rating of 100%.

“Bitter sarcastic family drama from the southern United States. The psychological realism of the staging has sharp contours and high precision; In what is arguably his best pre-war film, director Wyler demonstrates an impressive feeling for image creation and acting. "

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

The little foxes received a total of nine Oscar nominations, but went completely empty-handed at the 1942 Academy Awards .

literature

  • Lillian Hellman : The little foxes. Piece in 3 acts (original title: The Little Foxes ). German by Bernd Samland . Jussenhoven & Fischer, Cologne undated [stage manuscript]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Broadway League: The Little Foxes - Broadway Play - Original | IBDB. Retrieved September 9, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Mike Peros: Dan Duryea: Heel with a Heart . Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4968-0993-3 ( google.de [accessed September 9, 2018]).
  3. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | The little foxes. Retrieved October 13, 2017 .
  4. ^ The Little Foxes (1941) at IMDb Release Dates. Retrieved October 13, 2017 .
  5. ↑ The Little Foxes at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 13, 2017 .
  6. ↑ The little foxes at two thousand and one