Mahogany (1975)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | mahogany |
| Original title | Mahogany |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1975 |
| length | 109 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Berry Gordy |
| script |
Bob Merrill John Byrum |
| production |
Jack Ballard Rob Cohen |
| music | Michael Masser |
| camera | David Watkin |
| cut | Peter Zinner |
| occupation | |
| |
Mahogany is an American melodrama directed by music producer Berry Gordy from 1975 with Diana Ross , who also designed the costumes, in the lead role. At her side, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Perkins play other leading roles.
action
The story tells of the arduous rise of Tracy Chambers, who came from poor lower-class circles, to become a famous fashion designer. At the height of her fame, she looks back on a rocky career path. Black Tracy grew up in the poor district of Chicago. One night, on the way home, she meets the combative activist Brian Walker, like a colored man, who is trying to rebel against the demolition of the district. The next day, Tracy watches Brian speak to a crowd while another apartment building is being demolished. Even if Tracy is messing around with him and her loud commitment gets on Brian's nerves, she is impressed by his social commitment. Tracy is employed as the secretary of Miss Evans, the manager of a prestigious department store. She is not very enthusiastic that Tracy is late, because she uses every free second for her fashion studies. In the warehouse of the department store, Tracy meets the glamor photographer Sean McEvoy, who is currently taking pictures of models for a telescope advertisement and who promptly thinks the attractive Tracy is also a model. The snooty Miss Evans clears up the mistake and then sends Tracy away like a small servant to get coffee.
Back home, Tracy is just sewing one of her designs, when suddenly Brian stands in front of her apartment door and invites her to lunch. During dinner, Brian explains to her his motivation for his commitment to the “little people”. Tracy, in turn, tells him about her dream of one day leaving the ghetto and becoming a great fashion designer. Tracy has her first chance on the way there the next day when Sean photographs the young designer in a dress she designed herself. Sean is impressed by Tracy's talent and offers her to come to Rome with him. Miss Evans arrives and informs Sean, piqued, that both employers refuse to use black models in his advertising. During an outdoor shoot with ordinary residents of their district in front of a run-down apartment building, Brian comes across an unpleasant encounter, who condemns this work as exploiting the misery of the have-nots. Tracy stands behind Sean's artistic vision, whereupon Brian leaves. A few days later, Tracy is fired by Miss Evans when she discovers that Tracy was supposed to have been sick for a day but was actually turning blue to present her designs to clothing manufacturers.
Tracy now registers unemployed and meets Brian again at the office. They both go to Tracy's apartment and sleep together. Without a job, Tracy temporarily leads Brian's campaign for social policy. Brian asks Tracy for nothing less than to give up her grandiose fashion dreams, which he thinks are only pipe dreams. Instead, she should fight for more social justice at his side in community politics. Deeply disappointed by Brian, who obviously doesn't take her and her life ideas very seriously, she turns away from him. Luckily for her, Tracy receives a call from Sean asking her to travel with him to Italy and model there in front of his camera. In Rome, Sean renames Tracy "Mahogany" because her dark skin color would resemble the brown of mahogany . Sean arranges an audition with Carlotte Gavina, the boss of a top modeling agency in Europe. The audition takes place in a very sparse room with ten men and one woman. Here there is mercilessly openly complaining about even the smallest optical "flaw" Tracy's. Tracy, feeling hurt, tells them that they are obviously looking for a mannequin and asks why they aren't hiring the only woman in the group. The woman is Carlotta Gavina, and she is impressed by the “mahogany” replies. Tracy is hired and has a rapid career as one of the highest-paid photo models in the world, whose pictures grace countless posters and covers of glossy magazines.
But Tracy strives for more, she doesn't just want to be a walking clothes rack. Her goal is to finally establish herself as a fashion designer. She asks Sean to be allowed to wear one of her designer dresses for the next photo shoot, but Sean tears off her top and tells her to wear the clothes that were given to her. That evening, at a charity auction, Tracy appears with one of her creations in place of the dress she was given. The crowd bursts out laughing when Sean, who wants to humiliate them coram publico, offers only five hundred Italian lire for it. Tracy is fighting back tears in the face of this condescending "commandment" when suddenly an elderly gentleman who is stranger to her, who later turns out to be Comte Christian Rosetti, offers two million lire. After the show, Tracy is introduced to Christian, but Sean cuts off and asks to speak to her. After declining Sean's apology, Tracy returns to her apartment.
Brian returns to Tracy's apartment and has to faintly admit to Tracy that despite the great efforts of election workers, he lost the local election he was running for. Nevertheless, he wants to run for the US Congress and asks again for their help. That night, Tracy and Brian go to a party that gay Sean is throwing in their honor. When Sean sees that Brian is uncomfortable with the gays and transvestites present, Sean invites him to look at his gun collection. Upstairs, Sean pulls out a pistol and aims at Brian. Brian jumps at Sean and forces him to the ground. He puts the pistol in his mouth and pulls the trigger. Sean laughs because the gun isn't loaded. Brian is disgusted with this world of upper-class hollowheads. He explains to Tracy that he doesn't want to lead a life like that and leaves the party immediately. Tracy remains stunned and shouts: "Do you know who I am?" (Core line of the theme song). Late that night, Tracy returns to her apartment drunk. Brian has packed his things, ready to move out. The designer angrily accuses her boyfriend of not being able to bear her success, especially since he is not successful himself. Tracy calls him a "loser," Brian replies that her kind of "success" won't make her happy if she doesn't have someone she loves and with whom she can share happiness.
The next day, Tracy is shooting a commercial. Sean is also present and pulls Tracy into a sports car. Then he rushes off with her and speeds down the highway. Sean is mad. He lets go of the steering wheel and accuses Tracy of leaving him for Brian. Tracy screams in fear and turns off the ignition. This blocks the steering and leads to a serious accident in which Sean dies. After weeks of convalescence in Christian's villa, Count Tracy puts a textile factory to seduce him to produce her own clothing line. Tracy is eventually completely healed, but faces tremendous pressure in the face of these goals ahead just before her breakthrough. She almost becomes a fury, threatens and yells at her employees. For one month, Tracy presents her first collection, which is based on the Kabuki theater. The audience applauds frenetically when Tracy hears Brian's voice in her head, a reminder that success is not everything. Tracy returns to the United States. In Chicago, Tracy goes to one of Brian's campaign speeches and waves to him from the crowd. When he sees her, he leaves the stage and they hug.
Production notes
Filming on Mahogany began on November 18, 1974 and ended in February of the following year. The film was shot in Chicago and Rome. The world premiere took place on October 8, 1975, the German premiere took place on May 7, 1976.
Director Berry Gordy, whose only production was this, is the founder of the black record company Motown Records , which also produced this film about a "black success story". The leading actress Diana Ross was his Motown protégé for many years.
The song “Do You Know?” Performed by Diana Ross (Music: Michael Masser , Text: Gerry Goffin ) was nominated for an Oscar in 1976 .
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Tracy / Mahogany (Mahogany) | Diana Ross | Barbara Ratthey |
| Brian | Billy Dee Williams | Randolf Kronberg |
| Sean | Anthony Perkins | Joachim Kerzel |
| Count Christian Rosetti | Jean-Pierre Aumont | Heinz Petruo |
| Linda | Nina Foch | Tina Eilers |
| Carlotta Gavina | Marisa Mell | Cornelia Meinhardt |
| Florence | Beah Richards | Inge Wolffberg |
Reviews
The reviews were almost disastrous across the board. Here are a few examples:
The Movie & Video Guide called the film "stupid" and "artificial" and criticized the "wooden appearances" of most of the actors. Only Perkins' performance, "an extension of his psychological role", is remarkable.
"Films as desperately bad as Mahogany can be are fun in at least one respect: As a spectacle of a lot of people who make a fool of themselves."
Halliwell's Film Guide thought it was "a lot of fun" and was reminiscent of Joan Crawford's junk melodramas .
The Lexicon of International Films found: “A psychologically unreliable love story that overstrains the contrast between Chicago slums and the Roman crowd; the socially critical approaches seem artificial. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Do You Know?" on Youtube.
- ↑ Mahogany in the German synchronous file .
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 807.
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 637.
- ↑ mahogany. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 4, 2020 .
Web links
- Mahogany in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mahogany in the American Film Institute Catalog