''Night of the Quarter Moon'' is a 1959 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 ...

directed by

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 B ...

and written by Franklin Coen and Frank Davis. The film stars Julie London,

John Drew Barrymore John Drew Barrymore (born John Blyth Barrymore Jr.; June 4, 1932 – November 29, 2004) was an American film actor and member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and E ...

Anna Kashfi Anna Kashfi (born Joan O'Callaghan; 30 September 1934 – 16 August 2015) was a British film actress who had a brief Hollywood career in the 1950s but was better known for her tumultuous marriage to film star Marlon Brando and the controversie ...

, Dean Jones,

Agnes Moorehead Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900April 30, 1974) was an American actress. In a career spanning four decades, her credits included work in radio, stage, film, and television.Obituary ''Variety'', May 8, 1974, page 286. Moorehead was th ...

and

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

. The film was released on March 4, 1959, by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 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 ...

Plot

A young man returns home with a new bride, but his family objects when they learn she is of mixed race.

Cast

* Julie London as Ginny O'Sullivan Nelson *

as Roderic "Chuck" Nelson *

as Maria Robbin * Dean Jones as Lexington Nelson *

as Cornelia Nelson *

as Cy Robbin *

Ray Anthony Raymond Antonini (born January 20, 1922), known as Ray Anthony, is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter, and actor. He is the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Biography Anthony was born to an Italian family in Ben ...

as The Hotel Manager * Jackie Coogan as Desk Sergeant Bragan * Charles Chaplin, Jr. as Young Thug * Billy Daniels as Headwaiter *Cathy Crosby as Singer * James Edwards as Asa Tully *

Arthur Shields Arthur Shields (15 February 1896 – 27 April 1970) was an Irish actor on television, stage and film. Early years Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, Shields started acting in the Abbey Theatre when he was 17 years old ...

as Captain Tom O'Sullivan *

Edward Andrews Edward Bryan Andrews Jr. (October 9, 1914 – March 8, 1985) was an American stage, film and television actor. Andrews was one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films from the 1950s into the 1980s. His stark white hair ...

as Clinton Page * Robert Warwick as Judge *Marguerite Belafonte as Hostess

Production

The film was based on an original story by Frank Davis and Franklin Coen.

Albert Zugsmith Albert Zugsmith (April 24, 1910 – October 26, 1993) was an American film producer, film director and screenwriter who specialized in low-budget exploitation films through the 1950s and 1960s. With a background in music promotion (Ted Weems, P ...

, who had a producing deal with MGM, bought it in September 1957. Zugsmith gave lead roles to John Drew Barrymore, who had been in the producer's ''High School Confidential'', and Julie London.

Reception

Box Office

According to MGM records the movie earned $465,000 in the US and Canada and $475,000 elsewhere, making a loss to the studio of $146,000.

Critical

It was described by Mae Tinee in a ''Chicago Tribune'' review as, "one of the most inept films I've ever encountered ..contrived and insulting to the intelligence ..completely tasteless ..sordid, sexy and senseless ..contrived and ridiculous ..a sheer waste of time."

Awards

won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the

Cartagena Film Festival The Cartagena Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias), or FICCI, is a film festival held in Cartagena, Colombia, which focuses mainly on the promotion of Colombian television series, Latin American films and short ...

in 1961.Anna K. Brando and E. P. Stein, ''Brando for Breakfast'', Berkley Pub Group, 1980.

References

External links

* * 1959 films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1950s English-language films 1959 romantic drama films American romantic drama films Films directed by Hugo Haas Films scored by Albert Glasser Films about interracial romance Films about race and ethnicity 1950s American films {{romantic-drama-film-stub