The Royal Family of Broadway
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Royal Family of Broadway |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1930 |
| length | 82 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director |
George Cukor , Cyril Gardner |
| script |
Herman J. Mankiewicz , Gertrude Purcell |
| camera | George J. Folsey |
| cut | Edward Dmytryk |
| occupation | |
| |
The Royal Family of Broadway is an American comedy film from 1931. The screenplay is based on the play The Royal Family by Edna Ferber and George Simon Kaufman .
action
Julia Cavendish is a successful Broadway actress. Her mother Fanny is the grand dame of the theater and her daughter Gwen will soon be on stage too. Julia's plan to end her career meets with rejection in society. Julia's brother Tony, who dropped the Cavendish name, went to Hollywood to film. Now he's come back incognito. The police are looking for him because he injured a director in a fight on the film set. He is also being followed by a young actress who wants to sue him for a breach of contract for half a million dollars.
Tony's arrival brings chaos to the Cavendish house. When the businessman Gilmore Marshall, an admirer of Julia's, shows up, Julia decides to really stop acting. However, the Cavendish's manager Oscar Wolfe has scheduled a meeting with a writer that afternoon. Julia has to cancel her date with Gilmore. When Gwen and her boyfriend Perry Stewart argue about their views on life, she does not want to attend the meeting. Fanny explains to her daughter and granddaughter that family life is not a career and that Julia's successes have kept her alive. Meanwhile, Tony is looking for a way to leave the country. Gilmore gives him fake ID. Disguised as a page, he can avoid the crowd in front of the house. Perry shows up and Julia asks her daughter to marry him.
As the new season dawned, Gwen made her stage debut to marry Perry. Julia also ended her career and married Gilmore. Only Fanny is still on stage, against the advice of her doctor. Oscar fears that Julia will feel uncomfortable without the theater. In fact, Julia feels melancholy that same evening at eight o'clock when she is normally on stage. When Gilmore tells her about his plans to move to the plains of the South American highlands, Julia thinks about her own plans. Gwen arrives and surprises Julia with the intention of starring in Oscar's play while Perry is away on business.
Tony shows up, this time on the run from the Princess of Albania. He describes the plot of a play whose script he has bought. While Gilmore and Perry are talking about business and the Cavendishs are talking to Oscar about the theater, the news reaches them that Fanny has collapsed between acts. Everyone rushes to the theater, but Fanny, who wanted to finish the play, has died. Julia says goodbye to Gilmore to finish the piece for her mother.
criticism
Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times said the film was consistent and wonderfully effective. The film runs with a security and speed that are decisive points in favor of the production.
Awards
In 1931 Fredric March was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Actor .
background
The premiere took place on December 22, 1930 in New York.
The film is one of over 700 Paramount Pictures productions shot between 1929 and 1949, the television rights of which were sold to Universal Pictures in 1958 .
The play The Royal Family premiered on December 28, 1927 at the Selwyn Theater in New York. 345 performances of the piece followed. The Cavendishs in the film are loosely based on the Barrymores family of actors : the siblings Lionel, Ethel, and John Barrymore were all famous actors when this film was made.
The 1977 Emmy- winning TV adaptation ( The Royal Family ) starred Rosemary Harris as Julia and Eva Le Gallienne (who won an Emmy) as Fanny
Web links
- The Royal Family of Broadway in the Internet Movie Database (English)