Such a papa
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Such a papa |
| Original title | Casanova Brown |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1944 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Sam Wood |
| script | Nunnally Johnson |
| production | Nunnally Johnson, Gary Cooper |
| music | Arthur Lange |
| camera | John F. Seitz |
| cut | Thomas Neff |
| occupation | |
Not in the credits:
| |
Such a papa , also The Man Who Didn't Come to the Wedding , or as the TV title Casanova in Nöten , (Casanova Brown) , is a US comedy film from 1944. Directed by Sam Wood . Nunnally Johnson adapted the play Little Accident by Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell and the novel An Unmarried Father by Floyd Dell for the script . The main roles were played by Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright .
action
Fall in Rossmore, Illinois. Madge picks up Casanova, called Cass, from the train. On the first hug, he asks her never, ever to mention New York again. Really never. In the spring, Cass has to ask his good friend JJ, Madge's father, for her hand. But he is sure that Cass is too intelligent to fall into the trap of this terrible woman. If he was after the money - he could forget that. After all, he, JJ, married Madge's mother for this reason, but it didn't work for him. He could not reconcile it with his conscience to do this to his friend, so he says no. However, this does not change the fact that the wedding is now in the summer. When JJ tried again on the day of the wedding rehearsal to talk Cass out of the wedding, the latter received a letter from a maternity hospital in Chicago, ordering him to go to Chicago as soon as possible, but in any case within the same week. Cass first goes to the wedding rehearsal, but soon apologizes and spends the rest of the day in his apartment thoughtfully. Telephone calls in the clinic do not help. JJ comes to see him that evening and the letter comes back on the subject. Cass tells him what happened in New York when he was doing research for a book about his "scandalous ancestor". The wedding of Cass and Isabel is shown in a flashback. And how Isabel Cass then introduces her parents. Cass first has to wait in an anteroom so that Isabel can tell her mother about Cass and the mother can create a horoscope for Cass and the marriage. The result: The mother describes Cass as an astrological catastrophe for her daughter. Meanwhile, Cass, who lit a cigarette while waiting, finds out that there is no ashtray in the house. So he puts the finished cigarette in his suit jacket. When he is finally invited in and the mother tries to explain to him that the wedding is completely impossible for astrological reasons, an emotional discussion quickly ensues in which the suit jacket is not taken into account. This starts to burn. When this is noticed, an attempt is made to extinguish the fire. Since this cannot be done without complications, the whole house burns down. Then Cass is chased away at gunpoint. He is later informed that the wedding has been canceled. Cass and JJ decide that Cass needs to go to this clinic to sort it out. It should be done so quickly that he would be back in time for the wedding.
At the clinic, Cass is referred from one nurse to another. Finally, a nurse takes care of him so that he can undergo a very detailed health check. At the end of this, he learns that he is completely healthy. He is finally received by Doctor Zernerke, who wrote the letter. She tells him in detail that the health check was important for the papers. When he is about to leave, she asks him if he would like to see the baby for a moment. Cass is very impressed by his daughter and is only asked afterwards if he would like to see her mother too. Cass is sent to see her, but keeps asking the doctor if his daughter isn't a particularly well-developed child. The doctor says that it is a very happy family that will have this child. This tells him that his daughter has been put up for adoption. So he is angry when he talks to Isabel about it. But she replies that he already wants to marry another bride and that she herself cannot burden her future wedding plans with a child. When Isabel has to go back to her room, Cass wants to see his daughter again. He decides to kidnap her without further ado. In the meantime, Isabel explains to Dr. Zerneke that she wanted to keep her daughter and win Cass back with the fake adoption. Then she also wants to see her daughter and has to realize that she was kidnapped by Cass.
From the hotel, Cass calls JJ, tells about his daughter and asks him to diplomatically tell Madge that the wedding could not take place. JJ explains this to his wife and daughter in a subordinate clause and suggests that the whole family could go to the movies instead. Cass now begins to look after his daughter in the hotel. After a month he has the help of Monica and Frank, a hotel employee in uniform. The hospital is still looking for him and his daughter. When they have a nutritional problem again, Cass calls them about it. But since he doesn't want to give a name, he doesn't get any information. Frank gets the information personally, but does not consider that he did it in his hotel uniform. Cass now realizes that he has to face. He thinks he needs a wife to do this successfully, so he asks Monica to marry him. She agrees, and they go with the child to the city council to get married. In the meantime, Isabel and her father (but not the mother, who no longer knows what to do after astrology had promised her a grandson) as well as Madge and JJ come to the hotel to see Cass. They soon find out that Cass is getting married. But he can't because in Chicago there have to be three days between registration and the wedding. So he gets the room two rooms down the hall and lets Frank smuggle the most important things past the guests. Isabel caught him there. She now wants to learn from him how to care for a baby, and the two are going to get married. Monica goes to the cinema instead.
production
Production companies
The film was produced by International Pictures, Christie Corporation and Nunnally Johnson Productions. It was the first film ever for International Pictures, directed by William Goetz and Leo Spitz . Gary Cooper was the main shareholder at the time.
The literature and its history
In 1927 Floyd Dell published his novel An Unmarried Father , which was published in German in 1928 under the title Sein Vater, der Junggeselle . Together with the actor Thomas Mitchell , Dell processed the novel in 1928 into the play Little Accident , which was translated into German in 1929 ( joyful event ). The play ran on Broadway from October 1928 to July 1929.
As early as 1930, the play was filmed under the title The Little Accident , directed by William James Craft with Douglas Fairbanks junior and Anita Page in the leading roles. In 1932 a French version of this film was made under the name Papa sans le savoir . Directed by Robert Wyler , the leading roles played Noël – Noël and Françoise Rosay .
The film Little Accident from 1939 is often cited as a film adaptation of this story. The Internet Movie Database also lists Floyd Dell and Thomas Mitchell as authors of the original story for the film. The summary of contents shows, however, that this is a different story, even if there are similarities. The American Film Institute also names Paul Yawitz and Eve Green as the authors of the original script.
Cast and dubbing
Gary Cooper had just ended his 18-year contract with Paramount Pictures . He now wanted to do a little more and also shoot something lighter . A dad like that did both as a comedy because he was also a co-producer. He was particularly pleased to be able to play with Teresa Wright , which he had already done in The Great Throw .
According to an unidentified contemporary source , 26 babies were hired for the film. Among them were Billy Chapin , who played the daughter of Cass and Isabel and was successful as a child actor in the 1950s, and Cheryl Miller , who later became known in Daktari .
Gary Cooper was voiced by Hartmut Reck .
World premieres
The world premiere was on August 5, 1944 in the Liberated Areas of France. It was a gesture by Gary Cooper, who had determined that the US soldiers would not have been able to see a film premiere there, even in peacetime. So he brought the premiere to them. It premiered in the United States on August 23, 1944 in San Francisco . The German premiere was on December 10, 1954. The film was distributed by RKO Pictures .
The film was released on DVD on May 22, 2007.
Reviews
| source | rating |
|---|---|
| Rotten tomatoes | |
| audience |
 
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| IMDb |
 
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The film received a rating of 6.3 out of 10 at IMDb. Rotten Tomatoes did not give a critical rating (due to a lack of reviews), the audience rating was 3.1 out of 5 with an agreement of 41%.
The critics largely agree that the content is quite thin. It is an antiquated comedy with a confused plot, a light or small comedy with a stupid story, or simply a childish film, but in which a huge amount of talent has gone. In Such a Papa there is so much effort with so little content that one gets the impression that everything is given for a laugh . Laughs are there, only the story about it loses its content and comprehensibility. Nunnally Johnson doesn't give his characters any real motivation here.
The cast is charming, the stars outshine the content. Because of Gary Cooper it is even one of the few examples in which the film is better than the script . Most critics find the film entertaining or funny; but it is also written with poor humor .
Awards
Such a dad was nominated for three Oscars at the 1945 Academy Awards, but couldn't win any. Were nominated
- Perry Ferguson and Julia Heron in the category Best Production Design (black and white film)
- Thomas T. Moulton in the Best Sound category
- Arthur Lange in the category Best Film Music (Drama / Comedy)
Web links
- As a dad in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Casanova Brown. In: American Film Institute. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Susan Doll: Casanova Brown. In: Turner Classical Movies. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Floyd Dell: To Unmarried Father . George H. Doran Company, New York 1927, LCCN 27-020817 .
- ↑ Floyd Dell: His Father, the Bachelor . Knaur , Berlin 1928, DNB 572685335 .
- ↑ Floyd Dell, Thomas Mitchell: Joyful Event: Comedy in 3 Acts . Drei Masken Verlag, Berlin 1929, DNB 572685327 .
- ↑ Little Accident. In: International Broadway Database. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ The Little Accident in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Papa sans le savoir in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ The Man Who Did n't Come to the Wedding (1944) Connections. In: IMDb. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Little Accident in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ For example: Little Accident. In: American Film Institute. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Harvey Pack: “Daktari Star” is a Film Veteran at Age 20 . In: The Morning Record . June 11, 1966, p. 4 ( Google Newspapers [accessed May 10, 2016]).
- ↑ Gary Cooper. In: Synchron Forum. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Such a papa. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ David Annandale: Casanova Brown - Movie Legends. In: Upcoming Discs. May 31, 2007, accessed May 10, 2016 .
- ^ A b Casanova Brown (1944). In: Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Such a Papa in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ a b Such a papa. In: prisma. Retrieved May 10, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume, New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-14-751682-4 , pp. 108 (English).
- ^ A b Bosley Crowther : 'Casanova Brown,' A Comedy With Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright, Offered at Music Hall - New British Film at World . In: The New York Times . September 5, 1944 ( online [accessed May 10, 2016]).
- ↑ a b Tom Stempel: Understanding Screenwriting # 65: Hereafter, Fair Game, Morocco, The Good Wife, & More. In: Slant. December 6, 2010, accessed May 10, 2016 .