Theater fever

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Movie
German title Theater fever
Original title The Actress
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1953
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director George Cukor
script Ruth Gordon
production Lawrence Weingarten (producer) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Bronislau caper
camera Harold Rosson
cut George Boemler
occupation

Theaterfieber is an American feature film directed by George Cukor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1953 . Ruth Gordon wrote the script for the drama based on her play Years Ago from 1946.

action

The action takes place in New England , the time is in the early 20th century. After going to the theater, 17-year-old student Ruth Gordon Jones dreams of becoming an actress. She is encouraged by the successful actress Hazel Dawn, to whom she writes a fan letter. Ruth applied to a prominent Boston theater manager, but she turned her down. The parents also initially oppose Ruth's career aspiration. The father, a former seaman who does a humiliatingly low job in a factory, wants Ruth to graduate from school and become a PE teacher. After telling his boss about it, getting fired and finding a new, better job, he changes his mind about Ruth's career plans and begins to support his daughter. Ruth rejects Fred Whitmarsh's courtship and goes to New York City , where she plans to graduate from high school and continue trying to become an actress.

Production history

The script was based on Ruth Gordon's autobiographical play Years Ago , which was played on Broadway from December 3, 1946 to May 31, 1947 . Patricia Kirkland , Fredric March , Florence Eldridge and Richard Simon played the main roles in the stage version . For the lead role of the film, the 24-year-old British actress Jean Simmons was selected, who had received an Oscar nomination for her appearance in Hamlet (1948) and an NBR award for The Heir apparent and The Robe (both 1953) . For Spencer Tracy, theater fever was the third film in which he appeared as the loving father of a full-fledged young woman, after Father of the Bride (1950) and A Gift from Heaven (1951, both with Elizabeth Taylor ), and the collaboration with Simmons was very harmonious. The film critics later praised the delicacy of his portrayal, which was even more engaging here than in most of his other films.

George Cukor, who was a close friend of Tracy's partner Katharine Hepburn , has directed more films with Tracy than any other director. After The Whole Truth , Marriage War , Edward, My Son, and Pat and Mike , Theater Fever was their fifth and last film together.

21-year-old Anthony Perkins made his film debut in Theater Fever .

reception

Theatrical release

The premiere of the film took place in the USA on September 25, 1953. The film was not an outstanding commercial success, but was highly valued by the film critics due to the high acting achievements.

Reviews

"Routinely staged, but overly committed to the original, the film, which is particularly noticeable for its acting performances, is not one of Cukor's strongest works."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Theater fever. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed June 3, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used