One in a million

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Movie
Original title One in a million
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 92 minutes
Rod
Director Sidney Lanfield
script Leonard Praskins
Mark Kelly
production 20th Century Fox
music David Buttolph
Charles Maxwell
camera Edward Cronjager
cut Robert L. Simpson
occupation

One in a Million is an American ice revue film with Sonja Henie from 1936. Directed by Sidney Lanfield.

action

Tad Spencer is stranded with his show troupe in the Swiss Alps after the Grand Hotel where they were supposed to perform burned down. Tad watches the young Greta Müller ice skating and is convinced that he can be successful with an ice ballet. He can get Greta to give a trial performance in a casino in St. Moritz, for which he should receive 950 francs.

The American reporter Bob Harris investigates the hotel fire for his report. The fire is rumored to have been started to kill a European minister. He hires his photographer Danny Simpson to pursue the sinister suspect Ratoffsky. Bob also tries to hook up with Greta. He finds out that Greta's father Heinrich was Olympic champion in ice skating in 1908, but his victory was revoked because he had accepted money for ice skating lessons. For the upcoming Olympics, Greta was trained by her father. Bob follows the troupe to St. Moritz and warns Greta of a possible exclusion from the games because of her involvement. Greta is grateful to Bob for his warning and returns with him in a sleigh.

Greta wins the Olympic Games. She refuses to go to New York with Spencer to turn pro there. Spencer blackmails her by telling the Olympic Committee about her appearance in St. Moritz. Greta's father returns the medals to the committee himself when he learns of his daughter's appearance. With Spencer, Bob tries to explain the situation to the secretary of the committee. The secretary Sir Fredrick Brooks turns out to be the former suspect who, as Ratoffsky, traveled incognito in the Swiss Alps.

Since Greta did not receive any money for her performance in St. Moritz and Spencer paid all expenses, Brooks regards Greta's Olympic status as an amateur as proven. Now the group travels to New York with Greta as the new star to perform in Madison Square Garden.

background

The Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie decided after the end of her unprecedented series of successes with three Olympic victories , ten world championship titles and six European championship titles in mid-1936 for a career in film. After tough negotiations about terms, she finally signed with 20th Century Fox for a fee of 100,000 US dollars and star billing , terms that had previously not been granted to any other new actor. The success of her debut in One in a Million , which grossed almost $ 2,000,000 at the box office, led to a new film contract that guaranteed her fee of $ 125,000 per film and the promise of first billing , according to which her Name would be announced before any other actor.

The studio developed a very special form of the revue film for Henie with spectacular shows in the form of ice revues. For this, a special camera had to be developed in order to be able to record the extremely fast movements of the ice skaters without distortion. In addition, it was necessary to specially prepare the ice for the revue scenes. A top layer of milk-colored ice was applied to make the recordings easier. A wafer-thin film of water always had to be guaranteed, as this was the only way to prevent pieces of ice from being thrown around during braking maneuvers and fast turns and spoiling the recording.

music

In the course of the plot the following musical numbers are performed. Sonja Henie's ice revue numbers are marked separately.

  • The Moonlight Waltz (revue number)
  • We're Back in Circulation Again
  • Lovely Lady in White (Eisrevuenumber)
  • Who's Afraid of Love?
  • One in a Million (ice revue number)

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1937 , the film received a nomination in the category

  • Best dance director

Web links