Quality Street (1937)

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Movie
German title In quiet alleys
Original title Quality Street
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1937
length 83 minutes
Rod
Director George Stevens
script Allan Scott
Mortimer Offner
production Pandro S. Berman
music Roy Webb
camera Robert De Grasse
cut Henry Berman
occupation

Quality Street is an American romance film from 1937 by RKO Radio Pictures , which was released in Austria in 1937 under the title In stillen Gäßchen . Directed by George Stevens and produced by Pandro S. Berman . The film is set in 19th century England and is based on the comedy of the same name by JM Barrie from 1901. The screenplay was directed by Allan Scott , Mortimer Offner and Jack Townley . The main characters are Katharine Hepburn and Franchot Tone . Not mentioned in the credits is the appearance of a young Joan Fontaine , who had just signed with RKO Radio Pictures.

action

In 1805, bachelors are few and far between on Quality Street. Twenty-year-old Phoebe Throssel pricks up the ears when one of them, Dr. Valentin Browne, wants to tell her something important. Both she and her older sister Susan believe that he is about to propose to one of them. But things turned out differently: Brown declared that he had volunteered to fight for his country in the Napoleonic Wars . Susan hides her desperation and Dr. Brown doesn't realize that Susan is in love with him. She no longer believes that she will ever get married. In contrast, the maid Patty, not a beauty and a bit older, thinks she can do it.

For the next ten years, the Throssels ran a school for young girls and boys. When Dr. Brown returns to the rank of captain after a long time, he invites the sisters to a ball. But when he makes an inappropriate remark about Phoebe's appearance, she refuses.

To distract herself, Phoebe takes off her everyday clothes and slips into a beautiful ball gown. When Brown happens to see this, Patty claims it was Phoebe's niece Livy. He invites her to the ball and Phoebe agrees. She secretly forges a plan to reject a motion in order to get back at Brown.

At the ball, Phoebe is swarmed by many admirers. In the days after the ball, she makes an appointment to meet all of these men. It starts raining at a picnic with Brown. Brown carries her to a Salettl , but instead of confessing his love, he rebukes her for her flighty behavior and declares that he is in love with Phoebe.

The next day, the Willoughbys visit, who have long suspected that Livy and Phoebe are the same person. When Brown comes by, they express this suspicion. He confronts Patty and she finally confesses her lie. After all, Brown pretends to carry Livy home in a large piece of luggage in order to fool the nosy neighbors. He sends the sergeant and Patty, who are now a couple, away with "Livy" so that the two can spend some time together. Brown finally goes into the house and hugs Phoebe.

background

As early as 1927 Sidney Franklin made a silent film of the same name for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Marion Davies and Conrad Nagel in the leading roles.

The remake flopped at the box office and the studio lost 248,000 US dollars . This makes Quality Street one of the few films with Katharine Hepburn that was considered a box office poison. The film was rarely shown on American television until TCM adopted the film. In the meantime there is also a US DVD from Warner Archive .

Roy Webb's score was nominated for an Oscar at the 1938 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Variety , April 13, 1937, p. 12.
  2. ^ Harrison's Reports , March 20, 1937, p. 47.
  3. ↑ See Paimanns Filmlisten , born 1937, Vienna 1937; Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . Volume 7, Berlin 2001, p. 485.
  4. ↑ a b Quality Street in the All Movie Guide (English)
  5. ^ Richard Jewel: RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951 . In: Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television . Vol. 14 No. 1, 1994, p. 44.