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The Merry Widow (1934 Film)
''The Merry Widow'' is a 1934 film adaptation of the 1905 operetta of the same name by Franz Lehár. The film was directed and produced by Ernst Lubitsch starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald with a supporting cast featuring Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, Sterling Holloway, Donald Meek, Jason Robards Sr. and Akim Tamiroff. A French- language version was produced at the same time and released in France the same year as ''La Veuve joyeuse'' with some but not all of the same cast (Chevalier, MacDonald, and Tamiroff appear in both versions). Lorenz Hart and Gus Kahn wrote new English lyrics for some Lehar songs under the musical direction of Herbert Stothart. Plot Playboy Captain Danilo (Maurice Chevalier) is ordered by King Achmet of Marshovia ( George Barbier) to court and marry Madame Sonia (Jeanette MacDonald), a rich widow who owns a large portion of the kingdom. Cast English * Maurice Chevalier as Captain Danilo * Jeanette MacDonald as Madame Sonia / Fifi * Ed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch". Among his best known works are '' Trouble in Paradise'', ''Design for Living'', ''Ninotchka'', ''The Shop Around the Corner'', ''To Be or Not to Be'' and '' Heaven Can Wait''. In 1946, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his distinguished contributions to the art of the motion picture. Early life Lubitsch was born in 1892 in Berlin, the son of Simon Lubitsch, a tailor, and Anna (née) Lindenstaedt. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish; his father was born in Grodno in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), and his mother was from Wriezen outside Berlin. He turned his back on his father's tailoring business to enter the theater, and by 1911 was a member of Max Reinhar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Una Merkel
Una Merkel (December 10, 1903 – January 2, 1986) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress. Merkel was born in Kentucky and acted on stage in New York in the 1920s. She went to Hollywood in 1930 and became a popular film actress. Two of her best-known performances are in the films '' 42nd Street'' and ''Destry Rides Again''. She won a Tony Award in 1956 and was nominated for an Oscar in 1961. Life and career Merkel was born in Covington, Kentucky, to Bessie (''née'' Phares) and Arno Merkel. In her early childhood, she lived in many of the Southern United States due to her father's job as a traveling salesman. At the age of 15, she and her parents moved to Philadelphia. They stayed there a year or so before settling in New York City, where she began attending the Alviene School of Dramatic Art. Because of her strong resemblance to actress Lillian Gish, Merkel was offered a part as Gish's youngest sister in a silent film called ''World Shadows''. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danièle Parola
Danièle Parola (March 28, 1905 – September 2, 1998) was a French film actress. She starred in the 1932 crime film '' Narcotics''.Youngkin p.465 She was married to the actor and producer André Daven. Selected filmography * '' The Orchid Dancer'' (1928) * ''Delicatessen'' (1930) * '' Narcotics'' (1932) * '' The Last Blow'' (1932) * ''The Merry Widow'' (1934) * ''Adventure in Paris ''Adventure in Paris'' (French: ''Aventure à Paris'') is a 1936 French comedy film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Jules Berry, Lucien Baroux and Danièle Parola.Parish p.35 The film's sets were designed by the art director Eugène ...'' (1936) * '' Under Western Eyes'' (1936) * '' Aloha, le chant des îles'' (1937) References Bibliography * Youngkin, Stephen. ''The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre''. University Press of Kentucky, 2005. External links * 1905 births 1998 deaths French film actresses French silent film actresses Actresses from Paris 20th-century French act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcel Vallée
Marcel Vallée (15 January 1880, in Paris – 31 October 1957, in Fontaine-le-Port) was a French actor, primarily of the theater. He began working in films with Max Linder in 1906. He appeared in some American films. Selected filmography * '' My Aunt from Honfleur'' (1923) * ''The Mystery of the Yellow Room'' (1930) * ''The Girl and the Boy'' (1931) * '' Alone'' (1931) * ''The Night at the Hotel'' (1932) * ''Nights in Port Said'' (1932) * ''A Star Disappears'' (1932) * ''The Champion Cook'' (1932) * '' Topaze'' (1933) * ''The Little King'' (1933) * ''Judex'' (1934) * ''Song of Farewell'' (1934) * ''Divine'' (1935) * '' Miarka'' (1937) * '' The Man from Nowhere'' (1937) * '' Beautiful Star'' (1938) * ''His Uncle from Normandy'' (1939) * ''Whirlwind of Paris'' (1939) * '' Serenade'' (1940) * '' The Blue Veil'' (1942) * ''Madly in Love'' (1943) * '' The Midnight Sun'' (1943) * ''The Ideal Couple'' (1946) * ''That's Not the Way to Die'' (1946) * ''Rooster Heart'' (1946) * '' Rendezv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herman Bing
Herman Bing (March 30, 1889 – January 9, 1947) was a German-American character actor. He acted in more than 120 films and many of his parts were uncredited. Biography Bing was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was son of the opera singer Max Bing (1865-1919) and Frieda Seckback (1869-1939), and brother of actor Gustav Bing (1893-1967), Clara Bing (1895-1976), and Erna Bing Swarzchild. He was married to Carla Lichtenstein and had one daughter. Bing began his career at the circus, at age 16, and vaudeville showing comedic talent. In 1921 he made his film debut in "Ciska Barna, die Zigeunerin". He was production chief of several films in Germany before he went to America, in 1923, with director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau as Murnau's interpreter and assistant director. He also worked under John Ford and Frank Borzage, before establishing himself as a successful character actor well known for his wild-eyed facial expressions and thick German accent. He provided the voic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minna Gombell
Minna Marie Gombell (''née'' Gombel; May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American stage and film actress. Early years She was born Minna Marie Gombel in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of William and Emma M. Debring Gombel. Her father was a medical doctor who came to the United States from Germany in 1880. Her mother was from Baltimore and of German descent. Life and work Gombell was active in stock theater, starring with troupes in Albany, Atlanta, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. Her Broadway credits include ''Indiscretion'' (1928), ''The Great Power'' (1928), ''Ballyhoo'' (1926), ''Alloy'' (1924), ''Mr. Pitt'' (1923), ''Listening in'' (1922), ''On the Hiring Line'' (1919), ''The Indestructible Wife'' (1917), ''Six Months' Option'' (1917), and ''My Lady's Garter'' (1915). She had a successful stage career from 1912 as Winifred Lee before being signed by the Fox Film Corporation in the late 1920s. Her first film was ''Doctors' Wives'' (1931) in which she pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Barbier (actor)
George W. Barbier (November 19, 1864 – July 19, 1945) was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 88 films. Early life and education Barbier was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania to study for the ministry but gave it up to go on the stage. Career Barbier began his career in light opera and spent several years in repertory and stock companies. He eventually played on Broadway, where he appeared in seven productions between 1922 and 1930, among them ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', The Front Page and ''The Man Who Came Back''. He signed a contract with Paramount Pictures in 1929 and later worked as a character actor for most of the major studios. His first film was ''The Big Pond'' (1930). The weighty, white-haired Barbier often played pompous, but mostly kind-hearted businessmen or patriarchs in supporting roles. George Barbier appeared in 88 films until his death in 1945. Personal life Barbier ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Stothart
Herbert Pope Stothart (September 11, 1885February 1, 1949) was an American songwriter, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was also nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score for '' The Wizard of Oz''. Stothart was widely acknowledged as a member of the top tier of Hollywood composers during the 1930s and 1940s. Life and career Herbert Stothart was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He studied music in Europe and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he later taught. Stothart was first hired by producer Arthur Hammerstein to be a musical director for touring companies of Broadway shows, and was soon writing music for the producer's nephew Oscar Hammerstein II. He composed music for the famous operetta, ''Rose-Marie''. Stothart soon joined with many famous composers including Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin and Franz Lehár. Stothart achieved pop-chart success with standards like “Cute Little Two by Four”, “Wildflower”, “Bambalina”, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gus Kahn
Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' Bye!)", " My Buddy" " I'll See You in My Dreams", " It Had to Be You", " Yes Sir, That's My Baby", " Love Me or Leave Me", "Makin' Whoopee", " My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I'm Through with Love", "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "You Stepped Out of a Dream". Life and career Kahn was born in 1886 in Bruschied, in the Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Theresa (Mayer) and Isaac Kahn, a cattle farmer. The Jewish family emigrated to the United States and moved to Chicago in 1890. After graduating from high school, he worked as a clerk in a mail order business before launching one of the most successful and prolific careers from Tin Pan Alley. Kahn married Grace LeBoy in 1916 and they had two children, Donald and Irene. In hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", and "My Funny Valentine". Life and career Hart was born in Harlem, New York City, the elder of two sons, to Jewish immigrant parents, Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart, of German background. Through his mother, he was a great-grandnephew of the German poet Heinrich Heine. His father, a business promoter, sent Hart and his brother to private schools. (His brother, Teddy Hart, also went into theatre and became a musical comedy star. Teddy Hart's wife, Dorothy Hart, wrote a biography of Lorenz Hart.) Hart received his early education from Columbia Grammar School and entered Columbia College in 1913, before switching to Columbia University School of Journalism, where he attended for two years. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foreign-language Version
A multiple-language version film, often abbreviated to MLV, is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of making sound films in only one language, it became common practice for American and European studios to produce foreign-language versions of their films using the same sets, crew, costumes, etc. a BrentonFilm.com retrieved 7 July 2015 The first foreign-language versions appeared in 1929 and largely replaced the |
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff, russian: Аким Михайлович Тамиров (born Hovakim Tamiryants; October 29, 1899 – September 17, 1972) was an Armenian-American actor of film, stage, and television. One of the premier character actors of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tamiroff appeared in at least 80 motion pictures in a career spanning 37 years, developing a prolific career despite his thick accent. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in ''The General Died at Dawn'' (1936) and ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' (1943), and the latter won him the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Orson Welles, a personal friend and oft-collaborator, praised him as "the greatest of all screen actors." Early life and education Tamiroff was born Hovakim Tamiryants ( hy, Հովակիմ Թամիրյանց) to Armenian parents living in the Russian Empire. Different sources cite either Tiflis (in modern-day Georgia) or Baku (i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
