Marie Galante (film)

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Movie
German title Marie Galante
Original title Marie Galante
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1934
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director Henry King
script Reginald Berkeley based on a novel and play by Jacques Deval
production William R. Sheehan (producer) for Fox Film Corporation
music Arthur Lange
camera John F. Seitz
cut Harold D. Schuster
occupation

Marie Galante is an American feature film ( spy film , adventure film ) directed by Henry King for Fox Film in 1934.

action

The action takes place in a port city in France, time is the present. The beautiful telegram messenger Marie is kidnapped by a drunken ship's captain and taken on the trip. From the back of his man to "Ayner" calls - the "great unknown" of the film plot - the captain receives the order, with a "special cargo" (explosives), which he made previously Yokohama to pick up in the Panama Canal to meet with Ayner to be found.

Three men are on the heels of the stranger: the American Crawbett, the English Ratcliff and the Japanese Tenoki. All three are secret agents in their respective countries who initially know nothing about the identity of the other, suspect each other and play hide and seek with each other. Her research leads her to the Panama Canal, where Marie, who was able to escape her kidnappers on the Mexican coast, finally arrives. In order to earn the money for her journey home, she takes a job as a singer in a bar and becomes friends with the dubious businessman Brogard, who promises to help her.

Due to the strange circumstances of her appearance and her relationship with Brogard, Marie attracts the attention of all three agents. While Ratcliff thinks she is Ayner's accomplice, Crawbett, who falls in love with her, believes her innocence from the start.

Brogard instructs Marie to interrogate naval officers passing through in the bar after the expected arrival of the American fleet in the Panama Canal, thus reinforcing the suspicion against them. When Brogard's shop assistant is found stabbed to death with a Japanese knife and Tenoki finally employs Marie on an espionage service himself, Crawbett and Ratcliff are further confused about the identity of their Japanese colleague.

Brogard - who is none other than the mysterious backer Ayner - is preparing an explosive attack on the turbine power plant of the Panama Canal with his accomplices, in which the American fleet is also to be destroyed. Independently of each other, all three agents discover the plan, but Ratcliff pays for his discovery with his life. Together, Crawbett and Tenoki can thwart the attack. Marie is injured during the exchange of fire, but survives. The final scene shows Crawbett and Tenoki together at the hospital bed of the recovering Marie.

Production and reception

Production history

The production of the film was determined by Fox's desire to bring out the young French actress Ketti Gallian (1912–1972) as a star. Gallian had only started her film career in 1932; Marie Galante was her first leading role. Fox made only one more attempt to use her in a leading role: in Under the Pampas Moon (1935, with Warner Baxter ), after which she only appeared in small roles or in French films.

A flirtation between Marie and the sympathetically drawn Japanese agent Tenoki - portrayed by the American Leslie Fenton, who is by no means Asian - is hinted at in the film , but not carried out due to the production code , which outlawed sexual relationships between screen characters of different skin color.

The song Song of a Dreamer was composed by Don Hartman .

Marie Galante is the 19th and penultimate film that Spencer Tracy starred for Fox. In early 1935 he went under contract with MGM . His great film success only began with this change.

Theatrical release

The film premiered in the United States on October 26, 1934.

literature

  • Donald Deschner: The Complete Films of Spencer Tracy. Citadel, Secaucus NJ 2000, ISBN 0-8065-1038-2 .
  • Romano Tozzi: Spencer Tracy. Pyramid illustrated History of the Movies (= Pyramid Books 3248). Pyramid Publications, New York NY 1973, ISBN 0-515-03246-8 (German edition: Spencer Tracy. His films - his life (= Heyne books 32, 9). Heyne, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-453-86009- 8 ).

Web links