Reluctant model

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Movie
German title Reluctant model
Original title Together again
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 93 minutes
Rod
Director Charles Vidor
script F. Hugh Herbert ,
Virginia Van Upp
production Virginia Van Upp for Columbia Pictures
music Werner R. Heymann
camera Joseph Walker
cut Otto Meyer
occupation

Model Against Will (OT: Together Again ) is an American comedy film from 1944 in which Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer make their third and final joint appearance as a screen couple after Restless Love and When Tomorrow Comes .

action

After the death of her much older husband, Anne Crandall takes over his office as mayor of the small town of Brookhaven in Vermont. Five years later, Anne has earned the respect and love of the townspeople through her tireless commitment to the common good. Her professional involvement gradually worries her father-in-law, Jonathan Crandall, who advises her to remarry. Anne indignantly rejects this request and instead donates a bronze statue of her husband, which is placed in front of the town hall. One night lightning strikes the statue's head from the torso. Pushed by her daughter Diana, Anne travels to New York to persuade the famous sculptor George Corday to design a new statue. George immediately falls in love with the beautiful widow and takes her out to dinner. Later, the two of them go to a chic nightclub where the famous striptease artist Gloria La Verne performs. Anne spills something on her dress and while she washes the stain out and then dries her dress under the hair dryer, the police raid the club. Gloria La Verne escapes through the toilet, tears the dress from Anne's hands and thus escapes unrecognized. The police mistake Anne, who is only in the room in underwear, for Gloria and arrest her. In the end, Anne manages to clear up the circumstances of the arrest and, embarrassed, drives back to Vermont, determined not to tell anyone about the incident. George, who fell in love with Anne, follows her. Numerous complications arise when Diana falls in love with George and thus arouses the jealousy of her admirer Gilbert Parker. To make Diana jealous again, Gilbert flirts with Anne and in the end actually falls in love with her. In the end, it's Jonathan who untangles all romantic entanglements and brings the right couples together.

background

Irene Dunne had risen to become one of the most popular female stars in Hollywood by the mid-1930s through appearances in tearful melodramas such as Back Street , The Secret of Madame Blanche or Magnificent Obsession . Her appearance in Theodora Goes Wild brought her a second nomination for an Oscar in 1936 and enabled her to switch to the comedic field. In 1939 she made her first appearance on the side of Charles Boyer in Restless Love, directed by Leo McCarey . The film was a huge hit and the two actors reunited a few months later for the production of When Tomorrow Comes . In the following years there was no lack of attempts to get the successful screen pair back in front of the cameras. In 1940, for example, Irene Dunne was slated to star alongside Boyer in All This And Heaven Too , before the role went to Bette Davis . In 1942 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer wanted to engage the two of them for the US remake of Gaslicht , before the film with Boyer and Ingrid Bergman finally went into production a good two years later as The House of Lady Alquist .

It was not until mid-1944 that the producer Virginia Van Upp finally found suitable film material in the romantic comedy Model Reluctantly . Irene Dunne had recently signed a contract for two films with Columbia Pictures , the autocratic and notorious for his vulgarities boss Harry Cohn treated the actress in contrast to his other female stars with respect and respect. For actresses, the film made a welcome change after a series of highly dramatic appearances in the patriotic works Clash in the Clouds and The White Cliffs of Dover . For this reason, she also turned down David O. Selznick's offer at the same time to participate in the home front epic When you said goodbye and decided on reluctant model and the collaboration with Charles Boyer.

The production was initially released under the working title A Woman's Privilege before the film was renamed Together Again , a nod to the successful reunification of Dunne and Boyer. Released into national distribution at the end of 1944, Modell was an unwilling financial and artistic success. Irene Dunne repeated her role in December 1946 on the popular radio show Lux Radio Theater with Walter Pidgeon at her side.

Reviews

The New York Times praised the film as a great entertainment. The two supporting actors Mona Freeman and Jerome Courtland were particularly highlighted. Overall, the film offers

"Cheerful, feather-light entertainment that is perfectly tailored to the talents of the participants."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Buoyant, featherweight entertainment that is eminently suited to its principals' talents.