Rendezvous in Madrid
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Rendezvous in Madrid |
| Original title | The Happy Thieves |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | George Marshall |
| script | John Gay |
| production |
James Hill Rita Hayworth |
| music | Mario Nascimbene |
| camera | Paul Beeson |
| cut | Oswald Hafenrichter |
| occupation | |
| |
Rendezvous in Madrid (Original title: The Happy Thieves ) is an American comedy film starring Rita Hayworth and Rex Harrison from 1962. The novel The Oldest Confession by Richard Condon was used as a literary model .
action
James "Jim" Bourne is a lovable crook who specializes in forging and stealing famous paintings. Together with his long-time companion Eve Lewis, he dares the big coup. They steal Velázquez 's famous painting Venus in front of the mirror from the private collection of the Duchess Blanca , which is exchanged for a perfect forgery by her friend Jean Calbert. Now Eve is supposed to smuggle the real work of art from Madrid to Paris . Once there, she has to find that the picture is no longer in the role in which Jim had hidden it. Jim is horrified to find out about it. The suspicion finally falls on a hotelier who, on behalf of an unknown financier, could have switched the role of the original painting for a duplicate at the train station in Madrid. However, before Jim can confront him, the hotelier is murdered.
At a celebration on the magnificent estate of the Duchess Blanca, she announced that she would soon marry the popular torero Cayetano. Also present are Jim and Eve, who have a cousin of Blanca, Dr. Victor Muñoz, suddenly submits that he had uncovered the theft of the work of art and that he was not only in possession of the recovered original, but also of evidence photos showing how Jim stole the picture. With this trump card in hand, Muñoz wants to force Jim to steal a valuable painting by Goya from the Prado . With no other choice, Jim plans the robbery down to the last detail while his friend Jean makes a copy of the Goya. This is to be brought to the Prado on an easel and replaced with the original at a suitable moment.
Eve is only moderately enthusiastic about the plan, which seems all too daring to her. Nevertheless, Jim manages to convince her of the success of the company. He promises her to persuade the bullfighter Cayetano to stay away from the bullring at his next fight in order to cause a sensation all over Madrid and thus distract the guards of the museum. When Cayetano changed his mind after initial agreement, he was shot from behind in the Muñoz arena. Jim and Jean use the horror of the crowd and the general confusion to put their plan into practice. But when a number of tourists unexpectedly turn up at the museum, the plan goes wrong and they are arrested by the police.
Meanwhile, Blanca has mercilessly taken revenge on the killer of her fiancé, who is now found dead in his own blood. Jim and Jean are then suspected of having committed the murder of Muñoz. Although the murder charges against both of them will soon be dropped, the prosecutor pleads for a ten-year prison sentence for manslaughter. After Eve has spoken to her Jim, he honorably takes the sole blame to save Jean from jail. Eve, in turn, is ready to wait for Jim to start a new, calmer life with him.
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The film was shot on original locations in Madrid, including the Museo del Prado . Rita Hayworth's daughter Yasmin from her marriage to Prince Aly Khan can also be seen as an extra in one scene. The film was produced by Hayworth and her then husband James Hill with their joint production company Hillworth Productions. When Rendezvous in Madrid was published in January 1962 by United Artists in the United States , the two spouses already went their separate ways. In Germany the film opened in cinemas on March 16, 1962. On August 19, 1972, it was first shown on German television by ZDF .
Reviews
"Pleasantly pointed comedy with charming and playful leading actors," said the lexicon of international films . The Motion Picture Exhibitor wrote at the time that “this confused comedy” never really got going. That in turn was "a shame, since the good cast would have been capable of a far better performance". The problem lies with the story, which has "difficulty" "deciding whether to be serious or not". The actors would "more or less" stagger through "this indecision".
Dick Williams of the Los Angeles Times found it “regrettable” that a rendezvous in Madrid “could not be considered a success in the field of cheeky rogue comedies”. The “mistake”, however, is “not in the cast”. The “inadequacies” are “first and foremost due to script problems”, followed by the direction.
German version
The German synchronized editing was created in 1962.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Eve Lewis | Rita Hayworth | Tilly Lauenstein |
| James Bourne | Rex Harrison | Holger Hagen |
| Jean Marie Calbert | Joseph Wiseman | Günter Pfitzmann |
| Duchess Blanca | Alida Valli | Dagmar Altrichter |
| Dr. Victor Muñoz | Grégoire Aslan | Arnold Marquis |
| Torero Cayetano | Virgílio Teixeira | Rainer Brandt |
Web links
- Rendezvous in Madrid in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Rendezvous in Madrid at Turner Classic Movies (English)
- Pictures of the film on cinema.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, ISBN 0-8065-0439-0 , pp. 224-227.
- ^ Rendezvous in Madrid. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ “This confused comedy drama never really gets off the ground, and that is a shame because the fine cast could have been used for an effort far more worthwhile than this one. [...] The story seems to have trouble making up its mind whether or not to be serious, and the actors are more or less left to flounder in this indecision. " Motion Picture Exhibitor cit. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 225.
- ↑ “Regrettably, The Happy Thieves cannot be considered a success in the zany thieves and bold robberies department. [...] But the fault is not that of the cast. [...] No, the shortcomings may be laid to screenplay problems first, and direction second. " Dick Williams in the Los Angeles Times quoted. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 226.
- ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de