Third finger, left hand

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Movie
German title Third finger, left hand
Original title Third finger, left hand
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 97 minutes
Rod
Director Robert Z. Leonard
script Lionel Houser
production John W. Considine Jr.
for MGM
music David Snell
camera George J. Folsey
cut Elmo Veron
occupation

Third Finger, Left Hand (OT: Third Finger, Left Hand ) is an American comedy film from 1940 starring Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas . Directed by Robert Z. Leonard . For Myrna Loy, nicknamed "The Perfect Wife" due to her previous appearances alongside Clark Gable and William Powell , it was one of the few roles in which she played an unmarried woman.

action

Margot Sherwood Merrick is the pretty and successful editor-in-chief of a respected fashion magazine. In order to keep the numerous admirers at bay, Margot claims to be married. However, their plan threatens to fail when Jeff Thompson falls in love with Margot. He reacts extremely mean when he finds out about her and simply claims in New York society that in reality he is Margot's supposedly long-lost husband. Things get even more complicated when Philip Booth, another rival for Margot's favor, appears on stage. All kinds of misunderstandings later, including a fictitious marriage between Margot and Jeff, the two realize how much they love each other.

background

Myrna Loy had worked in Hollywood since 1925, but it wasn't until she switched to MGM in 1932 that she finally rose to star. In 1934 and thanks to The Thin Man , Loy became one of the most famous comedians. The actress formed a popular screen couple with William Powell, and in 1938 Loy was voted Queen of Hollywood in a national poll, with Clark Gable the King. With the end of the decade, however, her career began to lose momentum. Their traction at the box office subsided and the studio gave roles that were believed to be safe, such as in Top and Bottom and The Daredevil to Claudette Colbert . In addition, Rosalind Russell was a competitor for good comedy roles with the same studio under contract.

Third finger, left hand puts Loy, who was the perfect wife in the eyes of the public, as an independent, professionally successful business woman, as so-called "Boss Lady", one, a type of far more stars like Rosalind Russell or Jean Arthur in Was linked. The actress was well aware of the abrupt change from the classic role of the leading lady to the sole solo star and said in her biography:

“In most of my films, I added the male character who usually carried the plot. My role was therefore often subordinate, but that was what I wanted. "

The studio reacted to the very cautious reaction of the fans and put Loy back on as the wife of William Powell in the next two films. The Hollywood production was probably the last MGM film or the last US film ever to be shown in German cinemas before the USA entered the war. In 1940, despite the participation of the German-Jewish emigrant Felix Bressart , it came to the national distribution.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In most of my pictures I complemented the male character, who usually carried the story. This often meant that my roles were subordinate, but that's the way I wanted it.
  2. ↑ cf. Boguslaw Drewniak's 'Der deutsche Film 1938–1945', an overview. Düsseldorf 1987, p. 823