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The Private Affairs Of Bel Ami
''The Private Affairs of Bel Ami'' is a 1947 American drama film directed by Albert Lewin. The film stars George Sanders as a ruthless cad who uses women to rise in Parisian society, co-starring Angela Lansbury and Ann Dvorak. It is based on the 1885 Guy de Maupassant novel ''Bel Ami''. The film had a 1946 premiere in Paris, Texas. The score is by Darius Milhaud. Plot In Paris in 1880, Georges Duroy, an ex-soldier working as a poorly paid clerk, encounters his former comrade-in-arms, sickly journalist Charles Forestier. Rachel, already rebuffed once by Georges, sits down at their cafe table. After Georges rudely dismisses her, Charles tells him the quickest way to better himself in Paris is by using his charms on women. Charles then suggests he seek a vacancy at his newspaper, ''La Vie Française'', despite having no writing experience. Georges then takes Charles' advice and goes to Rachel. He meets widow Clotilde de Marelle at a dinner party hosted by Charles and his wife. Charle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Lewin
Albert Lewin (September 23, 1894 – May 9, 1968) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Personal life Lewin was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Newark, New Jersey. He earned a master's degree at Harvard and taught English at the University of Missouri. During World War I, he served in the military and was afterwards appointed assistant national director of the American Jewish Relief Committee. He later became a drama and film critic for the '' Jewish Tribune'' until the early 1920s, when he went to Hollywood to become a reader for Samuel Goldwyn. Later he worked as a script clerk for directors King Vidor and Victor Sjöström before becoming a screenwriter at MGM in 1924. Lewin was appointed head of the studio's script department and by the late 1920s was Irving Thalberg's personal assistant and closest associate. Nominally credited as an associate producer, he produced several of MGM's most important films of the 1930s. After Thalberg's death, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swan Song
The swan song ( grc, κύκνειον ᾆσμα; la, carmen cygni) is a metaphorical phrase for a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement. The phrase refers to an ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song just before their death since they have been silent (or alternatively not so musical) for most of their lifetime. The belief, whose basis has been long debated, had become proverbial in ancient Greece by the 3rd century BC and was reiterated many times in later Western poetry and art. Swans learn a variety of sounds throughout their lifetime. Their sounds are more distinguishing during courting rituals and not correlated with death. Origin and description In Greek mythology, the swan was a bird consecrated to Apollo, and it was therefore considered a symbol of harmony and beauty and its limited capabilities as a singer were sublimated to those of songbirds. Aesop's fable of "The Swan and the Goose" incorporates the swan song legend as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Fraser (actor)
Richard Fraser (born Richard Mackie Simpson; 15 March 1913 – 19 January 1972) was a Scottish film, television, and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his role in the 1945 film ''The Picture of Dorian Gray''. Early life After graduating from Sedbergh School as Richard Mackie Simpson, Richard's mother divorced and his name was shortened to Richard Mackie. After attending Cambridge University, Richard Mackie studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Having spent time as a London stage actor, Richard emigrated to the US and in New York married Louise Christine Sheldon, the couple then moved to Hollywood before the Second World War. Discovering that there was already a Richard Mackie acting in the US he adopted the stage name Richard Fraser. He then signed a contract with 20th Century Fox and appeared in numerous films. Career His American film career reached its peak with his performance as James Vane, the vengeful brother of Sibyl Vane in the film ''The Pictu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katherine Emery
Katherine Drewry Emery (October 11, 1906 – February 7, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Emery was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1928 and then went home to Montclair, New Jersey, to act in semi-professional plays and direct plays for children. Career Emery debuted professionally with the University Players in West Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1932. Her movie roles include ''Eyes in the Night'' (1942), '' Isle of the Dead'' (1945), ''The Locket'' (1946), '' The Walls Came Tumbling Down'' (1946), ''The Private Affairs of Bel Ami'' (1947), '' Arch of Triumph'' (1948), ''Chicken Every Sunday'' (1949), '' Strange Bargain'' (1949), ''Payment on Demand'' (1951), ''Hiawatha'' (1952), and '' Untamed Frontier'' (1952). Her final role was in '' The Maze'' (1953). She is also known for her stage roles, including creating the role of Karen Wright in the original 1934 Broadway production of '' The Children's Hour.' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Wilson (American Actress)
Marie Wilson (born Katherine Elizabeth Wilson; August 19, 1916 – November 23, 1972) was an American radio, film, and television actress. She may be best remembered as the title character in ''My Friend Irma''. Early life Wilson was born in Anaheim, California, on August 19, 1916. Her nickname at Anaheim High School was "Maybelle". Wilson graduated from high school in 1933. Career Radio Although Wilson was afraid of the microphone used in radio, she played scatterbrained Irma Peterson in the radio comedy ''My Friend Irma'' from April 11, 1947, to August 23, 1954. Film Wilson began her career in Hollywood in the 1934 film ''Down to Their Last Yacht'' as a ship passenger, and then appeared in '' Babes in Toyland'' as Mary Quite Contrary. Wilson appeared in ''Ladies Crave Excitement'' (1935), ''The Girl Friend'' (1935), '' Stars Over Broadway'' (1935), ''Miss Pacific Fleet'' (1935), '' The Big Noise'' (1936), ''Melody for Two ''Melody for Two'' is a 1937 American musical fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Bassermann
Albert Bassermann (7 September 1867 – 15 May 1952) was a German stage and screen actor. He was considered to be one of the greatest German-speaking actors of his generation and received the famous Iffland-Ring. He was married to Elsa Schiff with whom he frequently performed. Life and career Bassermann began his acting career in 1887 in Mannheim, his birthplace, after he began to study chemistry at the Technical University of Karlsruhe in 1884/85. He then moved to Berlin. From 1899, he worked for Otto Brahm. He began work at the Deutsches Theater Berlin from 1904, the same year that his future wife, actress Elsa Bassermann (née Schiff), moved to Berlin to work at that same theater. In 1909, the year after they married, he started working at the Lessing Theatre, though he also continued at the Deutsches Theater, working there with Max Reinhardt from 1909 to 1915. Roles included ''Othello'' in 1910, Faust Part II with Friedrich Kayssler in 1911, Shylock in ''The Merchant o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Dee
Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. Her first film was the musical ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930). She starred in the film ''An American Tragedy'' (1931). She is also known for starring in the 1943 Val Lewton psychological horror film ''I Walked With a Zombie''. Early life The younger daughter of Francis "Frank" Marion Dee and his wife, the former Henriette Putnam, Frances Marion Dee was born in Los Angeles, California, where her father worked as a civil-service examiner. When Dee was seven years old, her family moved to Chicago, Illinois. She attended Shakespeare Grammar School and Hyde Park High School, where she went by the nickname of Frankie Dee. After graduating from Hyde Park High in 1927, of which she was vice president of her senior class, as well as voted Belle of the Year, she spent two years at the University of Chicago, where she participated in dramatic activities, then returned to California. Career Following her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962. Life and career Haas was born in Brno, Austria-Hungary (now in the Czech Republic), and died in Vienna, Austria from complications of asthma. He and his brother, Pavel Haas, studied voice at the Brno Conservatory under composer Leoš Janáček. Pavel Haas went on to become a noted composer himself before he was killed in Auschwitz in 1944. Czechoslovak theater and film After graduating from the conservatory in 1920, Hugo Haas began acting at the National Theater in Brno, in Ostrava and in Olomouc. In 1924 he moved to Prague and regularly appeared at the Vinohrady Theatre, where he remained until 1929. In 1930,Kolektiv autorů: ''Národní divadlo a jeho předchůdci'', Academia, Prague, 1988, p. 128 Karel Hugo Hilar made Hugo Haas a member of the Prague National ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later John Ford's company, best known for his roles in horror films, Westerns, and Shakespearean theater. In the later decades of his career, he starred mostly in low-budget B-movies. In total, he holds 351 film and television credits, making him one of the most prolific English-speaking actors of all time. Carradine was married four times, had five children, and was the patriarch of the Carradine family, including four sons and four grandchildren who are or were also actors. Early life Carradine was born in New York City, the son of William Reed Carradine, a correspondent for the Associated Press, and his wife, Genevieve Winnifred Richmond, a surgeon.Krebs, Albin. "John Carradine, Actor, Dies; appeared in Numerous Roles", ''New York Times,'' Nov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were perceived as unnecessarily mean. Crowther was an advocate of foreign-language films in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini. Life and career Crowther was born Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. in Lutherville, Maryland, the son of Eliza Hay (née Leisenring, 1877–1960) and Francis Bosley Crowther (1874–1950). As a child, Crowther moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he published a neighborhood newspaper, ''The Evening Star''. His family moved to Washington, D.C., and Crowther graduated from Western High School in 1922. After two years of prep school at Woodberry Forest School, he entered Princeton University, where he majored in h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage (surrealist technique), frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and Grattage (art), grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst is noted for his unconventional drawing methods as well as for creating novels and pamphlets using the method of collages. He served as a soldier for four years during World War I, and this experience left him shocked, traumatised and critical of the modern world. During World War II he was designated an "undesirable forei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Temptation Of Saint Anthony (Ernst Painting)
''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' is a 1945 painting by the German artist Max Ernst. It depicts the desert father Anthony the Great as he is tormented by demons in Egypt. The painting is located at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany. The painting was made for the "Bel Ami International Art Competition", where 11 surrealist and magic realist painters were asked to submit a painting to be used in Albert Lewin's film ''The Private Affairs of Bel Ami'', based on Guy de Maupassant's novel ''Bel Ami''. The painting, which should be 36 × 48 inches and on the subject of the temptation of Saint Anthony, would be shown as the only colour segment in the otherwise black and white film. The invited artists were Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, Eugène Berman, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Max Ernst, O. Louis Guglielmi, Horace Pippin, Abraham Rattner, Stanley Spencer, and Dorothea Tanning. All contestants except Fini did deliver a painting. The judges of the compe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
