''Flame and the Flesh'' is a 1954 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a ...
and starring
Lana Turner
Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...
,
Pier Angeli,
Carlos Thompson
Juan Carlos Mundin-Schaffter, known as Carlos Thompson, (7 June 1923 – 10 October 1990) was an Argentine actor.
Career
Of German and Swiss descent, he played leading roles on stage and in films in Argentina. He went to Hollywood in the 1950s ...
and
Bonar Colleano
Bonar Sullivan (14 March 192417 August 1958), also known by the stage name Bonar Colleano, was an American stage and film actor based in the United Kingdom.
Biography Early life
Colleano was born Bonar Sullivan in New York City. He had childhood ...
. It was made and distributed by
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
and produced by
Joe Pasternak
Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood "Golden Age" of musicals at MGM Studios, producing many successfu ...
from a
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
by
Helen Deutsch
Helen Deutsch (21 March 1906 – 15 March 1992) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and songwriter.
Biography
Deutsch was born in New York City and graduated from Barnard College. She began her career by managing the Provincetown Player ...
based on the 1924 novel French ''Naples au baiser de feu'' by
Auguste Bailly. The music score was by
Nicholas Brodszky
Nicholas "Slug" Brodszky (russian: Николай Бродский; April 20, 1905December 24, 1958) was a composer of popular songs for the theatre and for films.
Brodszky was born in Odessa, Russian Empire, into a Jewish family, who moved to ...
and the cinematography by
Christopher Challis
Christopher George Joseph Challis BSC, FRPS (18 March 1919 – 31 May 2012) was a British cinematographer who worked on more than 70 feature films from the 1940s onwards.
Career
After working as camera operator on several films for Michael ...
. It was shot at
M-G-M British Studios near
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
on location around
Positano
Positano (Campanian: ) is a village and ''comune'' on the Amalfi Coast (Province of Salerno), in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.
Climate
The climate of Positano is very mild, of the Mediterranean ...
and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in
Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Alfred Junge
Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry.
Junge had wanted to be an artis ...
.
Plot
Madeline Duvain is evicted from her apartment for non-payment of rent. She wanders the street, where musician Ciccio Duvario takes pity on her and invites her home. The
manipulative Madeline soon begins to take advantage of his kindness.
Ciccio works at a nightclub where his roommate Nino is a very popular singer. Lisa, the club owner's daughter, is in love with Nino, who has been seeing a married woman.
Nino realizes that Lisa would be good for him, so they set a wedding date. But when he meets Madeline, the attraction is immediate. They run off together. Ciccio vows to find and kill them.
Madeline grows frustrated when Nino has difficulty finding work. She seduces a club owner into hiring Nino to sing. Nino finally understands the kind of woman she is, striking the club owner and slapping her. Madeline knows too late that she loves him as Nino leaves her forever, hoping that Ciccio will forgive him and Lisa will take him back.
Background and production
The film is a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of a 1938 French film, ''Naples au baiser de feu'', also known in the USA as ''
The Kiss of Fire
''The Kiss of Fire'' (French: ''Naples au baiser de feu'') is a 1937 French romantic comedy film directed by Augusto Genina and starring Tino Rossi, Michel Simon, Mireille Balin and Viviane Romance.Plastino & Sciorra p.128 The film is based on th ...
'', itself a remake of a 1925 French silent film of the same name. Both earlier versions were based on the same novel.
The film was shot in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Italy.
In this film, Lana Turner, famously blonde, appears as a brunette.
Cast
*
Lana Turner
Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...
as Madeline
*
Pier Angeli as Lisa
*
Carlos Thompson
Juan Carlos Mundin-Schaffter, known as Carlos Thompson, (7 June 1923 – 10 October 1990) was an Argentine actor.
Career
Of German and Swiss descent, he played leading roles on stage and in films in Argentina. He went to Hollywood in the 1950s ...
as Nino
*
Bonar Colleano
Bonar Sullivan (14 March 192417 August 1958), also known by the stage name Bonar Colleano, was an American stage and film actor based in the United Kingdom.
Biography Early life
Colleano was born Bonar Sullivan in New York City. He had childhood ...
as Ciccio
*
Charles Goldner
Charles Goldner was an Austrian-born actor who appeared in a number of British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Vienna, Austria, on 7 December 1900, he made his screen debut in the 1940 film '' Room for Two'' and went on to appear in '' ...
as Mondari
*
Peter Illing
Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor.
Selected TV series
* '' Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky
* '' The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono
Filmography
* '' The S ...
as Peppe
*
Rosalie Crutchley
Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley (4 January 1920 – 28 July 1997) was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, ...
as Francesca
*
Marne Maitland
James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian character actor in films and television programmes.
Biography
Maitland was born in Calcutta, and educated at Bedales School before going up to Magdalene College, ...
as Filiberto
*
Eric Pohlmann
Eric Pohlmann (german: Erich Pohlmann; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, th ...
as Marina Proprietor
* Catharina Ferraz as Dressmaker
* Alex Gallier as Playboy
Reception
According to MGM records, the film earned $1,329,000 in the US and Canada and $965,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $171,000.
References
External links
*
*
1954 films
1954 drama films
American drama films
Films set in Italy
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films based on French novels
American remakes of French films
Films directed by Richard Brooks
1950s English-language films
Films produced by Joe Pasternak
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
Films shot in Italy
1950s American films
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