Fire Head (1932)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Fire head |
| Original title | Red-Headed Woman |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1932 |
| length | 79 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jack Conway |
| script | Anita Loos |
| production |
Albert Lewin , Irving Thalberg |
| music |
Richard A. Whiting , Raymond B. Egan |
| camera | Harold Rosson |
| cut | Blanche Sewell |
| occupation | |
| |
Feuerkopf (original title: Red-Headed Woman ) is an American comedy film by Jack Conway from 1932. The film produced by MGM is one of the pre-code films that were shot before the mandatory application of the Production Code and therefore still were not subject to strict censorship guidelines. Leading actress Jean Harlow became an overnight star with the title role and was henceforth regarded as the "sex bomb" of the 1930s.
action
The young secretary Lil Andrews, who is mostly simply called "Red" because of her red hair color, wants to rise in society in a small town. With her revealing and frivolous manner, she openly approaches her wealthy boss Bill Legendre Jr. He is happily married to his childhood sweetheart Irene and always rejects Red. One evening, when Red refuses to leave Bill's house after work is done, he lets himself into a flirt with her for the first time. At this moment, of all times, Irene returns home, whereupon Red immediately leaves the house. Bill assures Irene that nothing has happened between him and Red.
Bill's influential father, William Legendre Sr., offers Red a job in Cleveland to keep her away from his son. But Red turns down his offer. When she meets Bill and Irene in a nightclub, she manages to lure Bill into a phone booth and kiss him. Although Bill is strongly drawn to Red, he is determined never to see her again. The next evening, Red goes to Bill's house drunk and makes a scene in front of Irene's eyes. Later Bill angrily goes to her apartment. When he hits her and she tells him to do it again, he complies with her request and can no longer resist her. Shortly thereafter, Irene files for divorce. After Bill Red got married, Irene prophesied that this marriage would not last because it was only built on sex.
Since Red will be cut from small-town society after her wedding to Bill, she is determined to move to New York . When the New York tycoon Charles B. Gaerste pays a visit, the much older man lets himself be seduced by Red. Then Red gets her husband to hold a reception for guests to which all wealthy citizens of the city are invited. When the guests say goodbye early to go to a party in Irene's house instead, Red begins to rage with rage. Bill is now forced to let Red go to New York. After his father showed him a handkerchief from Red, which he found in Gaerstes hotel room, he insisted on Red that he would divorce her immediately should a scandal break out in New York.
Shortly after Red arrived in the metropolis, she became Gaerstes lover. At the same time she gets involved in an affair with Gaerstes French chauffeur Albert. When Bill learns of his wife's antics from a detective on Red, he wants to get a divorce. In addition, he sends guests photos that show Red and Albert in intimate togetherness, whereupon Gaerste dismisses Albert and Red turns his back. Red now wants to go back to Bill. But now he meets again with Irene. After Bill's father has written Red a check for $ 500 to leave town with, Red runs after Bill with the check. As he is about to drive off with Irene in his car, Red pulls out a gun and shoots him. Bill is recovering from his injuries, but will not file a complaint against Red.
Two years later, when Bill is married again to Irene, he sees Red again at a horse race in Paris . Red is now the lover of an elderly millionaire who lives in the highest circles in Paris. When she drives home with this, Albert is the driver behind the wheel.
background
Producer Irving Thalberg had F. Scott Fitzgerald write a screenplay based on a novel by Katharine Brush . This was published in the Saturday Evening Post from August to October 1931 . Since Thalberg Fitzgerald's script seemed too serious, he hired Anita Loos , who then completely revised the script and rewrote it to a comedy. First, Clara Bow should play the title role. When she refused to sign a long-term contract with MGM , the studio selected Jean Harlow , who was only recently under contract with MGM. Harlow had previously achieved a certain level of notoriety with films such as Hell Flier (1930), The Public Enemy (1931) and Before Blondes Are Warned (1931), but critics did not predict her great career. Only film producer Paul Bern , whom Harlow later married in July 1932, recognized her comedic talent and ultimately helped her to the title role in Feuerkopf .
Filming took place under the direction of Jack Conway from April 28 to May 27, 1932 at the MGM studios. Cedric Gibbons was the art director responsible for the film construction. Adrian made the costumes. Although the Production Code was still applied on a voluntary basis in 1932, MGM had ambiguous dialogues and revealing scenes with Jean Harlow removed before it was released. Nevertheless, there were protests in the United States from religious and conservative groups who found the film to be too immoral, even after it was cleared by the censors. One was especially outraged about the all too open treatment of sexuality and the fact that the sinful protagonist gets away with it.
Head of Fire premiered in the United States on June 25, 1932. In Germany and England , the film was banned at the time due to its revealing scenes and bad morals and was therefore not shown in cinemas there. Nonetheless, production made a considerable profit worldwide. Jean Harlow first received positive reviews for her acting performance and rose to Hollywood's A-League. On September 23, 1988, the film, which is also known as Blondes Poison , was finally presented to the German audience and broadcast on German television by ARD .
Reviews
At the time, the industry journal Variety attested Jean Harlow, who until then had been “not very much appreciated” as an actress, “an electrifying performance”. The film has “a strange mixture of directness and subtlety”. Furthermore, "some vamp sequences, of which there are many, [...] are really daring". Janiss Garza of the All Movie Guide found that only Jean Harlow was able to "make the greedy Lil Andrews a likable protagonist". The quick-witted dialogues of Anita Loos are helpful to her and also to the plot.
The lexicon of international films described Feuerkopf as "[p] erfectly trimmed for frivolity, thoroughly amoral comedy", in which Jean Harlow pulls out "all the stops on cunning, sex and cheeky wit". It is "[e] in a still surprisingly entertaining film".
German version
A German dubbed version was created for television in 1988 by Interopa Film GmbH Berlin.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Lil "Red" Andrews | Jean Harlow | Daniela Lohmeyer |
| Bill Legendre Jr. | Chester Morris | Volkert Kraft |
| William Legendre Sr. | Lewis Stone | Günther Jerschke |
| Irene Legendre | Leila Hyams | Liane Rudolph |
| Sally | Una Merkel | Ulrike Möckel |
| Charles B. Gaerste | Henry Stephenson | Klaus Miedel |
| Aunt jane | May Robson | Tilly Lauenstein |
| Albert | Charles Boyer | Gill Gavois |
| Uncle Fred | Harvey Clark | Manfred Petersen |
Web links
- Firebrand in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Red-Headed Woman at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Red-Headed Woman (1932) - Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved June 6, 2019 .
- ^ Rob Nixon: Red-Headed Woman (1932) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved June 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Janiss Garza: Red Headed Woman (1932). In: AllMovie . Retrieved June 6, 2019 .
- ↑ a b fire head. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Red-Headed Woman. In: Variety . 1932, accessed on June 6, 2019 (English): “Jean Harlow, hitherto not highly esteemed as an actress, gives an electric performance. […] Picture is handled with a curious blending of bluntness and subtlety. Some of the 'vamping' sequences, and there are plenty of them, are torrid. "
- ↑ Janiss Garza: Red Headed Woman (1932). In: AllMovie . Retrieved June 6, 2019 : “[O] nly Jean Harlow could have made gold digger Lil Andrews a sympathetic protagonist. [...] Helping both star and story is the snappy dialogue written by Anita Loos. "
- ↑ Fire head. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on May 22, 2017 .