Henry's love life
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Henry's love life |
| Original title | The World of Henry Orient |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16, later 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | George Roy Hill |
| script |
Nora Johnson Nunnally Johnson |
| production | Jerome Hellman |
| music | Elmer Bernstein |
| camera |
Boris Kaufman Arthur J. Ornitz |
| cut | Stuart Gilmore |
| occupation | |
| |
Henrys Liebesleben is an American comedy film, shot in New York City in 1963, starring Peter Sellers in the title role of a pianist involved in numerous amorous affairs, whom two adolescent teenagers are stubbornly in love with. The film is based on the novel "The World of Henry Orient" by Nora Johnson (1933-2017), who also participated in the script. Her father was co-writer Nunnally Johnson . Directed by George Roy Hill .
action
The film has two storylines that run parallel to each other and ultimately merge with one another: Henry Orient is a talented and celebrated as vain star pianist who uses every free minute to follow the women to prove his qualities as a gifted lover. One day the pubescent teenagers Valerie, called Val, Campbell Boyd and her best friend Marian Gilbert, called Gil, invade his (love) life with some penetrance, force and youthful recklessness. The two 14-year-olds romp through the city like two impetuous, exuberant and happy wild caught, telling each other every secret and raving about their great love. When they happened upon Henry Orient one day, it was over for them. Overwhelmed by overflowing feelings towards the grown and much older man, Val and Gil begin to pursue Henry from now on . Your fanatics will soon know no more borders. They imagine the wildest adventures at his side in their imaginations and put their crushes on paper in a diary. The two young girls even attend Henry's next concert in New York, which increasingly irritates the artist and completely upsets him while he is playing the piano. The private Henry is a libertine rascal. It doesn't matter to him whether his lover is freely available or engaged or even married. And so he soon believes that Val and Gil are pursuing him on behalf of the presumed husband of Stella Dunnworthy, his current lover, to convict him of adultery.
The two friends may have had a happy childhood, but their own house blessing hangs wrong at home: While Marian's mother, who lives with the girl, has long been divorced, the marriage of Val's parents is currently on the brink: Mrs. Boyd, hers Mother, cheats on her good-natured but also somewhat simple-minded husband by the line and thread. When Val finds out and speaks to her mother, she denies her new affair and reads Val's diary. She completely misinterprets Val's enthusiasm about Henry Orient. Isabel Boyd believes that her daughter was harassed or even seduced by the pianist, whereupon Mrs. Boyd visits Henry and warns him urgently not to want to see Val again. Henry doesn't understand a word, of course, as he's not aware of any guilt in this case. The two notorious cheaters soon find a liking for each other and begin an affair that is promptly observed by the two girls who continue to stalk Henry when Val and Gil ambush him in front of his apartment.
A world collapses for Valerie, while her lying mother initially denies everything. When Frank Boyd discovers the cheating activities of his faithless wife, he separates from her. Henry fears that the whole affair could seriously damage his career and hastily leaves the United States. Vall's deep disappointment in relation to Henry and her mother also has something wholesome: she has thoroughly cured her freak-like crush and, thanks to this experience, has grown up a bit. From now on she will focus her amorous fantasies on boys of the same age as well as on other topics. In addition, her father Frank is now starting to take care of her more, as he is partly to blame for the tragic developments of recent times due to his constant traveling.
Production notes and trivia
Henry's love life was filmed between June and October 1963, a short re-shoot in wintry, snowy New York took place at the end of the year. The film premiered on March 19, 1964 at New York's Radio City Music Hall . The cinema release in Germany took place on June 18, 1965.
Henry's love life was the US entry for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in April / May 1964. He was also nominated for the Golden Globe and won the NBR Award .
The actresses of the pubescent girls, Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth , 16 and 15 years old respectively, made their film debuts here. For both director Hill and Tom Bosley , who played the second male lead, Henry's love life was the second movie.
Ann Roth , who made her cinematic debut here, was responsible for the costumes, James W. Sullivan (drafts) and Jan Scott (execution) for the film construction.
The great success of this film led to the fact that Henry's love life by Bob Merrill was also turned into a musical ( Henry, Sweet Henry ). There were 80 performances on Broadway between October 23 and December 31, 1967. Don Ameche embodied Henry Orient in the first line-up.
Reviews
All in all, the reviews were extremely benevolent. Below are some domestic and foreign reviews:
Kay Wenigers The film's large personal dictionary called George Roy Hill's production a comedic "gem" and also described Henry's love life as an "old-fashioned story borne by subtle humor."
The Movie & Video Guide also saw the film as “a wonderful comedy” and called the acting performances of Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley “superb”.
Halliwell's Film Guide judged: "Charming, impeccably structured, refreshingly unusual but overly long comedy".
“With a lot of staging routine, cheerfully served entertainment without particular depth, but in some moments lively and very amusing. Above all, thanks to the acting performance of Peter Sellers, which is sometimes dazzling comedy. "
The New York Times star critic , Bosley Crowther , also took a lot of pleasure in Henry's love life and said it was "one of the happiest and most comfortable films about teenagers in a long time."
Individual evidence
- ^ Henry, Sweet Henry on Internet Broadway Database
- ^ The large personal dictionary of films, Volume 3, p. 677. Berlin 2001
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1479
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 1132
- ^ Henry's love life in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ The New York Times, March 20, 1964
Web links
- Henry Orient in the Internet Movie Database (English)