Roberta (film)

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Movie
German title Roberta
Original title Roberta
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1935
length 106 minutes
Rod
Director William A. Seiter
script Sam Mintz ,
Jane Murfin
production Pandro S. Berman for RKO
music Max Steiner ,
Jerome Kern
camera Edward Cronjager
cut William Hamilton
occupation

Roberta is the film adaptation of Broadway - musicals by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach. In addition to Irene Dunne , Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers play the leading roles.

action

Alexander Voyda, owner of the famous Cafe Russe in Paris, refuses to let the jazz band The Wabash Indianians perform because he expected real Indians as musicians. In fact, the chapel is directed by Huck Haines. His friend John Kent, a former football star, takes advantage of the break to introduce himself to his heir, Minnie, who runs the renowned Roberta's fashion salon. There John meets Stephanie, Minnie's devoted assistant and a born Russian princess in exile. Also on site is Lizzie Gatz, Huck's former lover, who is now the - alleged - Polish Comtesse "Tanka" Scharwenka, looking for a rich husband. To prevent Huck from divulging her secret, Lizzie arranges an audition for the Indianians at Cafe Russe. Meanwhile, Stephanie and Minnie take care of John, who has been abandoned by his conceited fiancé Sophie. Stephanie and John fall in love, but the blossoming romance is overshadowed by the sudden death of Aunt Minnie. John, who inherits everything, and Stephanie run Roberta's together. As soon as Sophie found out about John's inheritance, she went to Paris and tried to win back her former fiancé. Stephanie doesn't want to spoil her young happiness and with a heavy heart renounces her love for John. Many mix-ups later, John and Stephanie marry, while Huck and Lizzie finally become a couple.

background

Irene Dunne ended her contract with RKO in 1935 with the appearance in Roberta , during which she had gradually risen to become the studio's most popular star since 1930. Initially, Dunne was best known for her appearances in tearful melodramas, in which she cried a lot and often and endured a never-ending sequence of strokes of fate with stoic composure as in Back Street or No Other Woman . Only gradually did her image change from a martyr of love to the portrayal of self-confident women as in The Silver Cord . After appearing in Stingaree and Sweet Adeline , Dunne had also established herself as a renowned interpreter of Jerome Kern songs. According to reports, the composer particularly valued the singer's style of presentation, which was always somewhat reserved and chilled. For the film rights of the Broadway success Roberta von Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach , which had brought it to a total of 295 screenings in 1933, RKO paid 65,000 US dollars and transferred the lead role to Irene Dunne. At the same time, producer Pandro S. Berman saw the material as an ideal opportunity for the two new RKO stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers . The two actors had attracted attention with their innovative dance interludes in 1933 with their appearance in the Dolores del Río musical Flying Down To Rio . In 1934 the two were announced as leading actors in The Gay Divorcee . But it was only the outstanding financial and artistic success of Roberta that established the Astaire - Rogers duo permanently as a screen couple . In Roberta , the names of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are also mentioned above the title, but only half the size of the name of Irene Dunne, the nominal star of the production.

In order to create suitable roles for Astaire and the two actresses, extensive adjustments had to be made to the script. So the role of Huck Haines from originally two different roles in the stage show were merged, which were played by Bob Hope as band leader and George Murphy as dancer. For Ginger Roger's character, two stage roles have also been combined. Rogers took the opportunity to act as a fake Polish princess in a skilful parody of Lyda Roberti, who had appeared on the Broadway show as Scharwenka. The basic idea - unemployed American actress appears as an alleged Eastern European aristocrat - reappeared a few months later in the Mitchell Leisen comedy The Princess Comes Along with Carole Lombard .

The studio sold the film rights in 1952 to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , who released a remake called Lovely to Look At, starring Kathryn Grayson as Stephanie and Red Skelton and Ann Miller in the Astaire and Rogers characters. Copyright problems prevented the original from being performed until the 1970s. Bob Hope starred in two television adaptations of Roberta in 1953 and 1958 .

Theatrical release

RKO invested around $ 610,000 in the production of Roberta . At the box office, the film proved very popular. In the United States alone, he grossed $ 1,467,000, to which a further $ 868,000 came from foreign markets. With total grossing US $ 2,235,000, Roberta became one of the most successful films of the decade for RKO. The studio ended up making a huge profit of $ 770,000.

Songs

The following songs by Jerome Kern were taken from the stage show:

The song Indiana was also from the stage show, but was not composed by Kern, but by Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley .

Only as background music were used in the film:

  • You're devastating
  • The touch of your hand
  • Don't ask me not to sing

Jerome Kern also composed two new songs for the film:

The song I Won't Dance was also not from the original stage show, but was written by Kern together with Oscar Hammerstein II for the revue The Three Sisters from 1934, which was a failure in London. Dorothy Fields wrote a new text for the film.

Awards

The film went to the 1936 Academy Awards with a nomination :

  • Best movie song: Lovely to Look At

Reviews

The New York Times was completely enthusiastic and saw the main credit for the success at Fred Astaire:

“The film is a model of sophistication in a musical, and Mr. Astaire, the elegant master of light comedy and dance, is the main ingredient. Watching him glide across the dance floor with the lightness of a cat is one of the main pleasures in cinema today. […] The eternal witch, Miss Claire Dodd, succeeds as usual in disrupting the romance. [...] Mr. Astaire and 'Roberta' are examples of the abundance, elegance and humor in a music film. If the flick shows anything like a flaw at all, it is the unfortunate fact that Mr. Astaire and his excellent partner Miss Rogers cannot dance for the entire duration. "

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951', Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p. 55.
  2. ^ The work is a model for urbanity in the musical films and Mr. Astaire, the debonair master of light comedy and the dance, is its chief ornament. To watch him skipping on effortless cat's feet across a dance floor is to experience one of the major delights of the contemporary cinema. [...] That perennial vixen, Miss Claire Dodd, manages with her usual success to interrupt the romance. [...] Mr. Astaire and "Roberta" have [...] established a model for lavishness, grace and humor in the musical film. If there is a flaw in the photoplay, it is the unfortunate circumstance that Mr. Astaire and his excellent partner, Miss Rogers, cannot be dancing during every minute of it.