The adventurer

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Movie
German title The adventurer
Original title The Flame of New Orleans
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1941
length 79 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director René Clair
script Norman Krasna
production René Clair,
Joe Pasternak
music Frank Skinner
camera Rudolph Maté
cut Frank Gross
occupation

The adventurer (original title: The Flame of New Orleans ) is an American comedy film by René Clair from 1941 with Marlene Dietrich in the leading role.

action

In 1841 a wedding dress floats on the Mississippi , which is finally found by two fishermen. An explanation for the dress floating on the river is quickly found. The Countess Claire Ledoux disappeared on their wedding day. New Orleans residents believe she killed herself out of grief. However, events had taken a different course:

Claire comes to New Orleans as a young European singer to catch a rich bachelorette. She immediately casts an eye on the banker Charles Giraud and from then on pretends to be a countess. When she goes to the opera, she manages to sit next to Charles. She pretends to faint, whereupon Charles takes care of her immediately. Later, as planned, a man is to ambush her in a park and Charles rush to her aid. However, Claire mistakenly believes Robert Latour, the captain of a Mississippi steamer, to be the man who is supposed to cause her distress. Charles then challenges Robert to a duel. Due to her guilty conscience, Claire intervenes at the last moment and tells Charles that the incident in the park was just a misunderstanding. The next day, Robert invites Claire to dinner on his boat. Before Claire accepts Roberts' invitation, Charles proposes to her. She accepts him and lets Robert tell that she unfortunately cannot come. Robert misunderstands the situation and believes Claire needs a doctor. When he rushes to her, he sees Charles and finally realizes the real reason for Claire's rejection.

A few days before the wedding, a Russian named Zolotov arrives in New Orleans. He recognizes Claire, whom he once met in Saint Petersburg . Charles now hear wild stories from Claire's past, which is why he wants to break the engagement with her again. When he visits her, he meets Claire's cousin Lili, whom Zolotov had apparently mistaken for Claire. One evening, Charles sees Lili as a singer in one of her daring shows in a dubious pub. To protect Claire's good reputation, he wants Lili to leave town immediately. He finally offers Robert a deal: If he brings Lili out of town, he will pay off her bank debts.

Shortly afterwards, Robert, who has since fallen in love with Claire, learns that Claire and Lili are one and the same woman. Robert finally accepts Charles' offer. When he leaves with Claire, however, he leaves the decision to her to stay with him or to return to Charles. Claire stays with Robert for the night, but says goodbye to him the next morning. When she meets him at her wedding to Charles, she realizes that she loves him and that this love means more to her than Charles' money. As so often before, she pretends to be unconscious and can sneak away in the ensuing turmoil. When she drives off with Robert on his steamer, she throws her wedding dress into the Mississippi.

background

The film was René Clair's first directorial work in Hollywood . The French filmmaker had previously made a name for himself with comedies such as Long Live Freedom (1931) and The Million (1931). Due to the occupation of Paris by the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War , he was forced to continue his work in the United States. There he initially wanted to make a film with WC Fields and Deanna Durbin , but the producer Joe Pasternak suggested a project with Marlene Dietrich instead.

The shooting took place from January 6th to the beginning of March 1941. Because Marlene Dietrich was dissatisfied with Bruce Cabot as a screen partner, she threatened to leave the project temporarily, whereupon Universal Pictures provided María Montez, who was under contract with the studio, as a replacement for her. When the finished film was submitted to the censorship authority , they complained that Dietrich was too provocative in the film and the film itself was too offensive. According to the scriptwriter Norman Krasna , Universal then cut the film. René Clair later stated that he and Krasna had created the film as a parody of Dietrich's image.

The adventurer premiered on April 24, 1941 at the Orpheum Theater in New Orleans. The comedy was released in German cinemas on September 17, 1948. On January 16, 1980, it was first broadcast on German-language television on DFF 1 . In 2010 the film was released on DVD.

Reviews

"The western romance filmed by René Clair in exile in Hollywood is not one of his or Marlene Dietrich's outstanding films," said the lexicon of international films . The adventurer still offers "pleasant comedy entertainment". According to Prisma , René Clair "[drew] life in the Big Easy of the 19th century in great detail".

The New York Times described the film at the time as an "artificial and cumbersome comedy". In the past, director René Clair has shown that he is a great director. Here and there the typical joke can be seen, but the rest of the film is rather dull. The actors, with the exception of Roland Young, couldn't convince either. The film simply lacks "the Gallic wink, the verve, the incredibly original humor and the compassionate heart of [Clairs] Under the Roofs of Paris , Long Live Freedom and The Million ". Variety said the story was "very thin and well known". Clair had "bravely wrested a few" amusing "scenes from the flimsy material, but the yield was rather" meager ". Marlene Dietrich delivered "a usual performance". Your attempts to appear shy "went completely wrong". Even the few songs on offer couldn't add value to the film.

In retrospect, film critic Leonard Maltin found Clair's first Hollywood film to be “vivid” and “entertaining”.

Awards

At the Academy Awards in 1942 , the film was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Production Design in a Black and White Film. The responsible production designers Martin Obzina , Jack Otterson and Russell A. Gausman could not prevail against the work of Richard Day , Nathan Juran and Thomas Little for Schlagende Wetter .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b cf. Andrea Foshee on tcm.com
  2. ↑ cf. Notes on tcm.com
  3. ↑ The adventurer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 29, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ cf. prisma.de
  5. ↑ “[…] the stilted and sluggish comedy […]. Whatever the reason, the Gallic wink, the verve, the incredibly inventive humor, the compassionate heart of Sous Les Toits , A Nous La Liberte and Le Million is lacking here. " See 'The Flame of New Orleans,' With Marlene Dietrich, Opens at Rivoli . In: The New York Times , April 26, 1941.
  6. ↑ “This Marlene Dietrich starrer is a very thin and familiar tale […]. He works valiantly with the flimsy material, injecting many incidental by-plays that are amusing, but to meagre avail. Dietrich provides a familiar performance […]. Her attempts at coyness miss badly. " See The Flame of New Orleans . In: Variety , 1941.
  7. ↑ "Picturesque, entertaining." Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2006 . Signet 2005, p. 436.