Five pennies

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Movie
German title Five pennies
Original title The Five Pennies
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1959
length 117 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Melville Shavelson
script Melville Shavelson,
Jack Rose ,
Robert Smith
production Jack Rose for
Paramount Pictures
music Thorton W. Allen ,
Sylvia Fine ,
MW Sheafe ,
Leith Stevens
camera Daniel L. Fapp
cut Frank P. Keller
occupation

Five Pennies (Original title: The Five Pennies ) is a musical biography from 1959 directed by Melville Shavelson . In the leading role of the famous jazz musician Red Nichols is Danny Kaye to see. The plot is very idealized with the real biography of Nichols. Leading roles are occupied by Barbara Bel Geddes , Louis Armstrong , Harry Guardino , Bob Crosby and Bobby Troup .

The film was nominated for a total of four Academy Awards.

action

The talented but naive cornet player Red Nichols traveled from his small hometown in Utah to the big city of New York City in 1924 . He started working in Will Paradise's band and soon attracted attention for his unusual way of playing. He marries the singer Willia Stutsman and they start their own Dixieland group under the name The Five Pennies (a reference to Nichols' name, since a nickel is as much as five pennies).

Just as Red Nichols is at the height of his career, Red and Willa's daughter Dorothy falls seriously ill with polio . The family withdraws from the music business and now lives in Los Angeles. Dorothy is making progress in health, and when she is finally a teenager she learns of her father's previous fame as a musician. She persuades him to start a comeback tour. This threatens to be a failure at first, also because Red does not want to part with his earlier music style, which is now considered outdated. In the end, many famous colleagues from Red's past appear, who ultimately make his comeback a success.

Production background

Danny Kaye had to learn the cornet instrument for the film so that it looks real on the outside when he plays in the film. However, you can hear the real Red Nichols, who recorded the entire cornet playing for the film. Kaye can be heard as a singer in both the original English version and the German dubbed version. He memorized the German texts phonetically .

The film structures were created by Hal Pereira and Tambi Larsen , the equipment by Sam Comer and Grace Gregory . Edith Head was responsible for the costumes. Wally Westmore oversaw the makeup and mask making. W. Wallace Kelley took care of the camera work for the second directing team (Second Unit); Farciot Edouart and John P. Fulton took care of the special photography.

Nichols played the film music with a studio orchestra (including Dick Cathcart , Stan Wrightsman , George Van Eps , Allan Reuss , Nick Fatool ) and his band Five Pennies ( Benny Carter , Wayne Songer (as), Elmer "Moe" Schneider (tb), Heinie Beau (cl), Eddie Miller (ts), Joe Rushton (bassax), Gene Plummer (p), Morty Corb (kb), Shelly Manne (dr) Danny Kaye, Susan Gordon (vcl), Louis Armstrong ) conducted by Leith Stevens one. The recordings took place in the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles between October 1st and 20th, 1958.

reception

Publication, criticism

The film premiered on June 18, 1959 in New York, the American mass start was on June 30, 1959 in Los Angeles. The film received mostly positive reviews in America. Five Pennies started in Germany on January 29, 1960.

“ The Five Pennies ... is surprisingly edifying for the eyes and ears. As a careful dramatization of the hectic life of this well-known jazz man, "Loring" Red Nichols, the song-filled story came to the Capitol Cinema yesterday and is highly enjoyable Schmaltz, served with a Dixieland beat by some authentic singers ... In fact, it does it Kaye and Armstrong team, using their masterful trademark scat singing, wonders with the new, pretty lyrics to 'When the Saints Come Marching In'. Danny Kaye and colleagues at The Five Pennies take you on a journey that may be over-sentimental in a few places, but one that is highly entertaining. "

- Bosley Crowther , The New York Times , 1959

"Solid and refreshing biography with impressive musical interludes."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

1960 Academy Awards nominations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed June 18, 2016)
  2. ↑ Review by Bosley Crowther in the New York Times
  3. ↑ Five pennies. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 15, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used