Stingaree

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Movie
Original title Stingaree
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1934
length 77 minutes
Rod
Director William A. Wellman
script Becky Gardiner ,
Lynn Riggs ,
Leonard Spigelgass
production Pandro S. Berman for RKO
music Max Steiner
camera James Van Trees
cut James B. Morley
occupation

Stingaree is a feature film starring Irene Dunne and Richard Dix and directed by William A. Wellman . The two stars had already stood together in front of the camera in the Oscar-winning Western Cimarron . The film combines a number of genres such as operetta , western and adventure film.

action

Wealthy Australian sheep farmer Hugh Clarkson and his wife await the arrival of noted composer Sir Julian Kent. Mrs. Clarkson believes she is a gifted singer, an idea that no one else shares. becomes. Young Hilda Bouverie also lives in the Clarksons' household, who, in contrast to Mrs. Clarkson, is actually a gifted talent. Just as Sir Julian approaches with the stagecoach, it is attacked by the well-known bandit Stingaree. Stingaree, who is an excellent singer himself, kidnaps Sir Julian. The next day, when the entire household, with the exception of Hilda, leaves to see Sir Julian, Stingaree sneaks into the Clarksons estate. Hilda takes the attractive stranger for Sir Julian and sings a few bars for him. The - alleged - Sir Julian alias Stingaree is very impressed by the talent and promises Hilda to help her to make a career herself. After some mix-ups, Stingaree managed to get the real Sir Julian Hildas to take care of himself. A short time later she was celebrating triumphs at all the leading opera houses in the world. One day Hilda realizes how much she basically loves Stingaree. She gives one last performance at the Melbourne Opera House and is finally kidnapped by Stingaree. Both ride into the sunset.

background

Irene Dunne was already a trained singer when she came to Hollywood in 1930. Nevertheless, her singing talent was not used by her studio RKO in the following years and Dunne mostly played in tearful melodramas. Only Stingaree gave her the opportunity to put her skills to the test. As with almost every of her films so far, Irene Dunne was only the second choice and only got the role after MGM did not approve the originally intended Jeanette MacDonald .

Stingaree reunited her with Richard Dix , her partner in Cimarron , who was Dunne's breakthrough in 1931 and earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress. Meanwhile, Dix's popularity was dwindling and his name was only mentioned in the opening credits after that of Irene Dunne. The two actors were originally supposed to appear together in the comedy The Ace last year , but the plans fell apart. The role of Stingaree was initially intended for Leslie Banks before going to Dix.

Most of the outdoor shots took place at the ranch of Edgar Rice Burroughs , author of the Tarzan novels, while the scenes set in the Melbourne Opera House were in the still upright sets of the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera Universal Studios premises were filmed. The rental for the sets was $ 1,500.

Theatrical release

Production costs ended up being $ 408,000, which was roughly the average for an A-movie at RKO. At the box office, Stingaree proved unpopular, grossing just $ 563,000. In the end, the studio lost $ 49,000.

Reviews

The film was highly praised in the New York Times .

“[The] unbelievable events are very entertaining. Miss Dunne gives a charming performance and sings the many songs with great skill. "

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ [the] impossible happenings are highly entertaining. Miss Dunne gives a charming performance and sings several songs very agreeably.