Sensations for millions

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Movie
German title Sensations for millions
Original title Sensations of 1945
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 85-95 minutes
Rod
Director Andrew Stone
script Dorothy Bennett
Frederick J. Jackson and Andrew Stone (original story)
production Andrew Stone
for United Artists
music Mahlon Merrick ,
Mort Glickman ,
Heinz Roemheld
camera Peverell Marley ,
John Mescall
cut James Smith
occupation

Sensations for Millions (original title Sensations of 1945 ) is an American musical film by Andrew Stone from 1944 with Eleanor Powell in the leading role. Leading roles are cast with Dennis O'Keefe , WC Fields , Sophie Tucker , Eugene Pallette , C. Aubrey Smith and David Lichine . The main purpose of the film was to present a multitude of different performances not only musical and dance, up to and including Eleanor Powell's athletic tap dance. A very loosely held plot frames the action on stage.

The film was nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Film Music”.

action

The dancer Ginny Walker is on stage when a deeply veiled woman in the audience stands up and accuses Ginny of stealing her husband. All of a sudden she holds a gun in her hand and fires a shot at the dancer, who then collapses. After Ginny is taken to her cloakroom backstage, the woman appears there, who is Julia Westcolt. It turns out that Ginny planned this gig, and her publicity stunt actually turned out to be a bombshell. When Ginny's press agents, Gus Crane and his son Junior, come to see her, she brags in front of them about her idea and rebukes them for not being more creative in their work for her. Horrified by Ginny's bold manner, Junior, a conservative Harvard graduate, calls her to order and then leaves the room. Ginny then conspires with Gus to teach his son a lesson. When Junior enters the office the next morning, he finds Ginny at his father's desk there. She coolly informs him that Gus has given her control of the business. As Ginny reviews the books, she finds that three clients, a restaurateur, a circus owner, and a ballet manager, have not yet paid their bills. Ginny again blames Junior for not having represented the people the way it should be and then comes up with the idea of ​​summarizing the three talents under the heading "Circus in the Sky".

The number becomes an overwhelming success and Ginny is next planning to bring out The Great Gustafson, a tightrope act. She bets Junior that she can get him on the front page. She wins her bet when the newspaper ran a lead story showing Gustafson's death-defying path on a tightrope across the 1,000-meter-long Royal Gorge. However, Junior shows her how much he disapproves of risking a client's life just to achieve her goal. After this success, Dan Lindsay, a retired Broadway producer , turns to Ginny to help him market his memoirs profitably. Collins, the owner of the Plantation Club, also approaches Ginny to promote his club. Ginny comes up with the idea of projecting the club's offers on a wall across from Times Square , which leads to an uproar. Ginny is arrested for disturbing the peace and has to spend the night in jail.

Ginny's idea of ​​hiring Dan at the Nineties Club to get him a steady income met with Juniors applauded until he found out that Ginny was siphoning off ten percent of the club's profits for the agency and also made Dan that his friends from the show business, such as WC Fields, appear in the club for free. Junior has finally had enough of Ginny's selfishness and tells her that he is leaving the business to rejoin the army. After Junior leaves, Gus tells Ginny that he was hoping that she and his son would become a couple. Ginny then confides in him that she was of the opinion that Junior Chloe Connor, the owner of the dancing horse "Starless Night" loves. Dan says, however, that Chloe is just a client that Junior worried about because she was unable to perform after a serious fall from her horse. Ginny then decides to perform with "Starless Night" and to let the proceeds of the show flow to Chloe. She trains for weeks and on the opening night of her show Junior also appears among the visitors. He has now learned of Ginny's selfless attitude and is very touched by it. When he visits Ginny behind the scenes after the show, he confesses to her that he has always loved her.

production

Production notes, background

The film was produced by Andrew Stone Pictures Corp. The shooting spanned the period from January 3 to March 1, 1944. Further scenes were shot on March 10 and April 28, 1944. The film was distributed in the USA by United Artists and in the Federal Republic of Germany by Constantin Film . Its working titles were Sensations and Sensations of 1944 . According to the film industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter , a decision was made to change the title to Sensations of 1945 in order to achieve a longer running time in theaters. Instead of the announced ten new songs, the film only contained nine. The film was initially supposed to be shot in color, but due to technical problems, a black and white version was created. Director Andrew Stone wanted to offer circus entertainment to audiences who couldn't travel during the war like they did in peacetime, and built six special numbers into the film, which he summarized under the theme "Circus in the Sky". So developed Leon Schlesinger an animated sequence to Cab Calloway Jive Talk to illustrate.

Reactions to a preview of the film in April 1944 led Stone to add additional scenes with WC Fields to the film, according to a message in the Hollywood Reporter . It was Field's last appearance on the big screen.

This was Eleanor Powell's first and only film for United Artists after she left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , where she was a star for many years. It was also her last leading role in a film. Only in 1950 did she return to the screen for a cameo in the music film The Venus falls in love , with Esther Williams in the lead role. Powell's dance in a giant pinball machine, as part of the song Spin Little Pinball , received special attention from critics and viewers and was highly praised.

The war ministry took offense that the film contained some scenes in which soldiers would behave unworthily, as it was said. This delayed a more planned publication. In November 1944, the Hollywood Reporter read that the vaudeville comedian Pat Henning had sued the production company because his performance had been cut out of the film. How the procedure ended is not known.

Music numbers

The songs listed below were composed by Al Sherman , the lyrics are by Harry Tobias .

  • No never
  • Spin Little Pinball
  • Sensations
  • Mr. Hepster's Dictionary
  • Wake Up Man, You're Slippin
  • One love
  • Circus in the Sky
  • Divine Lady
  • Kiss serenade

publication

The film was first published on June 30, 1944 in the United States, where it was later published under the title Sensations . In Portugal and Mexico it was shown in the same year, in Sweden in 1945, in Spain (Madrid) and Denmark in 1947, in Japan in 1951 and in Austria in 1952. In the Federal Republic of Germany the film was first released on September 22, 1950 under the title Sensations for millions to see, an alternative title is sensations from 1945 .

The film was also released in Argentina, Brazil and Italy.

reception

criticism

Hal Erickson wrote for AllMovies and didn't find the film too good. He praised Powell's dance in a giant pinball machine as the highlight of the film and thought WC Field's contribution, which was based on one of his old Ziegfeld Follies numbers, was surprisingly not funny. It was also said that this lengthy, confused story only came to life during the game between a visibly sick Fields and his lively female companion Louise Currie.

TimeOut wrote, based on the title, no, not Hiroshima, the Labor landslide or Hitler's suicide were the sensations of 1945, but a dancing horse, some bears on roller skates and Cab Calloway with Hepster's Dictionary . There are some curiosities in the very hectic film including WC Fields' last appearance. Powell's dance in a pinball machine is also praised here, which is sensational, which cannot be said of the film.

The TV Guide saw the film very positively and spoke of an entertaining show business saga with an astonishing variety of twists and turns.

In Variety , it was said that even if an analysis of the act can only be described as ridiculous this, the film is much more convincing to let suspect as a short retelling of what was due primarily to the Director Andrew L. Stone.

The Movie & Video Guide wrote: “One incredible number has her tap-dancing inside giant pinball machine! Fields' skit (his last appearance on film) is only fair, other specialty numbers are fun ". ( Translation: She has an unbelievable number (Note: Eleanor Powell is meant) in a huge pinball machine. Fields' sketch (in his last film appearance) is quite neat, the other special numbers are fun.)

Halliwell's Film Guide characterized the film as follows: "Slim plot holds together a ragbag of variety acts, some quite choice". ( Translation: The thin plot comprises a hodgepodge of different appearances, some of which are quite first class.)

Award

Academy Awards 1945

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The 17th Academy Awards | 1945 see oscars.org (English)
  2. ↑ a b c d Sensations of 1945 (1944) see notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  3. ↑ Hal Erickson: Sensations of 1945 (1944) see allemovie.com (English). Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  4. ↑ Sensations of 1945 see timeout.com (English). Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  5. ↑ Sensations of 1945 see tvguide.com (English). Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  6. ↑ Sensations of 1945 see variety.com (English). Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  7. ^ Leonard Maltin : Sensations of 1945. In: Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1155 (English).
  8. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Sensations of 1945. In: Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 897 (English).