The Goldwyn Follies

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Movie
Original title The Goldwyn Follies
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length 115 minutes
Rod
Director George Marshall
script Ben Hecht
production Samuel Goldwyn
music Alfred Newman
as musical director
camera Gregg Toland
cut Sherman Todd
occupation

The Goldwyn Follies is a 1938 American film musical directed by George Marshall .

action

To the dismay of the film producer Oliver Merlin, his latest film with the spirited Russian dancer Olga Samara failed the critics and the audience. Oliver learns that people criticize the lack of human features. When Oliver tackles the next film with Olga, he overhears two women, Hazel Dawes and her friend Ada, criticizing a love scene. Oliver follows Hazel and convinces her to work for him as a consultant on the film project. It should show Oliver what simple moviegoers really want to see.

The initially confused Hazel goes to Hollywood with Oliver. She shares an apartment with actress Glory Wood. Oliver asks Hazel to forget all actors except Glory in order to be able to work with an open mind. Despite all of the measures taken to avoid contact with people involved in the film, Hazel gets to know the Ritz brothers who work as animal trainers. Oliver and Hazel watch a ballet rehearsing a jazz interpretation of Romeo and Juliet . Hazel wants to keep the scene, but she wants to add a happy ending. In her opinion, the film needs a simple and honest hero. Oliver starts looking for a suitable actor. Oliver and his casting director Basil Crane talk to many tenors, but can't find the right one.

One evening Hazel and Glory go to a hamburger stand for something to eat. To their surprise, the chef who works there, Danny Beecher, turns out to be the singer the film needs. Glory manages to get Danny on Crane's radio show. Hazel and Oliver listen to the show. Oliver agrees to screen tests with Danny, which lead to Danny playing the lead role alongside Olga. Danny and Hazel fall in love, although Danny wonders about Hazel's refusal to visit him while filming. Oliver, who is also in love with Hazel, doesn't know anything about Danny's and Hazel's relationship. He is sure that Hazel will reciprocate his feelings and plans a big party at which he will announce his engagement to Hazel. At the same time, Hazel explains to Danny that she works for Oliver.

Danny mistakenly believes that Hazel and Oliver have something with each other. Oliver informs Hazel of his intention to announce their engagement. But Hazel tells him about himself and Danny, whereupon Oliver wants to cut Danny out of the film if she doesn't marry him. Hazel complies and appears at the party. Danny also shows up and hands Oliver a pair of scissors with which he should cut his scenes from the film. He asks Hazel if she would like to move away with him. Hazel is overjoyed and says yes. Oliver realizes that Danny and Hazel really love each other. He tells his guests that he wants to offer Danny a 5 year contract. Hazel is grateful to Oliver for having learned humanity.

Reviews

The Variety found that the mixture of opera, dance, radio and film, recorded in brilliant colors, made the film a lavish production, the individual performances of which by the actors obliterated the memory of some weak scenes.

Chicago Reader's Don Druker criticized George Marshall's inconsistent direction.

Awards

In 1939 the film received two Oscar nominations: Richard Day for best production design and Alfred Newman for best film music .

background

The premiere took place on January 28, 1938 in Miami .

The US comedy group Ritz Brothers , the ventriloquist Edgar Bergen , the ballet of the New York Metropolitan Opera , the musical director of the film Alfred Newman and the then unknown Alan Ladd had guest appearances .

Oscar-nominated Richard Day was responsible for the color design of the production design. The responsible outfitter was Julia Heron . Ray Rennahan was the technical consultant for the Technicolor cameras. The choreography of the dances was done by George Balanchine , the future husband of Vera Zorina. For both of them it was their first work on a feature film.

Ben Hecht wrote his script based on one of his stories. The scenes with the Ritz Brothers were written by Sid Kuller and Ray Golden. Sam Perrin and Arthur Phillips contributed some comedy scenes.

George Gershwin , who composed some of the songs for the film with his brother Ira , died more than six months before the film premiered. The Gershwins composed the songs Love Walked In , I Was Doing All Right , Love Is Here to Stay , I Love to Rhyme and Just Another Rhumba . After the death of George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin worked with Vernon Duke . I Am Not Complaining and Spring Again from the two can be heard here. The arrangements for the ballet scenes of Romeo and Juliet and the water nymph ballet also came from Duke .

For the first color film that Samuel Goldwyn produced, a budget of approximately 1.8 million US dollars was available. The film became one of Goldwyn's greatest failures. This production was supposed to be the start of a revue series like the one that big studios like Paramount Pictures ( Big Broadcast ), MGM ( Broadway Melody ) and Warner Bros. ( Gold Diggers ) put on the market every year. After the death of Florenz Ziegfeld junior in 1932, Goldwyn worked for six years to realize his plan.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. criticism of Variety (Engl.)  ( Page no longer available , searching web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.variety.com
  2. Critique of the Chicago Reader
  3. Information at IMDb