''Once More, with Feeling!'' is a 1960 British comedy film starring Yul Brynner and Kay Kendall in her final film appearance and directed and produced by

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer. He received the Honorary Academy Award in 70th Academy Awards, 1998, and the Golden Lion#Golden Lion – Honorary Award, Career Golden Lion ...

from a

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

by Harry Kurnitz, based on his play. The film was released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

and has music by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, and

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, arranged by Muir Mathieson. The cinematography was by Georges Périnal and the costume design by Givenchy.

Plot

Egomaniacal and temperamental Victor Fabian is the London Festival Orchestra's conductor. His wife, Dolly, is a harpist who acts on her husband's behalf, presenting his impossible demands to the symphony's backers, only to then find him dallying with a considerably younger musician. Dolly decides to leave him, whereupon he destroys her harp. Victor's conducting suffers in Dolly's absence and the orchestra needs her back. His agent, Max Archer, tries to get him a new contract, but young Wilbur, son of the orchestra's patron saint, insists to Victor's horror that any agreement must include a performance of his mother's favorite piece of music, John Philip Sousa's '' Stars and Stripes Forever''. Rather than return, Dolly wants a divorce so she can marry Dr. Richard Hilliard, a physicist. An angry Victor blurts out that to be divorced, two people must first be married. It turns out colleagues only assumed Victor and Dolly were husband and wife, and they had never actually tied the knot. Victor won't grant a quick marriage and equally quick divorce unless she agrees to live with him for three more weeks. He wears down her resolve, and Hilliard catches her in a frilly nightgown. A frustrated Dolly tells both she just wants to live alone. She applauds from the audience as Victor, with great reluctance, launches the orchestra into a rousing ''Stars and Stripes Forever''.

Cast

* Yul Brynner as Dr. Victor Fabian * Kay Kendall as Dolly Fabian *

Gregory Ratoff Gregory Ratoff (born Grigory Vasilyevich Ratner; ; April 20, c. 1893 – December 14, 1960) was a Russian-American film director, actor and producer. As an actor, he was best known for his role as producer "Max Fabian" in ''All About Eve'' (195 ...

as Maxwell Archer * Geoffrey Toone as Dr. Richard Hilliard * Maxwell Shaw as Jascha Gendel / Grisha Gendel * Mervyn Johns as Mr. Wilbur Jr. * Martin Benson as Luigi Bardini * Harry Lockart as Chester * Shirley Anne Field as Angela Hopper

Background

The play ''Once More, With Feeling'', which was adapted for this film, opened in

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

in September 1958 and then on Broadway on 21 October 1958 at the National Theatre, in a production directed by George Axelrod and designed by George Jenkins, and starring Joseph Cotten, Arlene Francis, and Walter Matthau, who was nominated for a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

as Best Featured Actor. The play ran for 263 performances. The film was Kay Kendall's last. She died of leukemia on 6 September 1959 before the film's release.

Novelization

In January, 1960, Pyramid Books issued a paperback novelization "based on the stage and screen plays"; the author was celebrated American potboiler novelist and showbiz biographer Ann Pinchot (1905–1998). The cover price was 35¢. It was concurrently published in the UK, also as a paperback, by WDL; the cover price was 2'6. The nearly identical front panel designs feature a painting by prolific paperback cover artist Tom Miller, intimately depicting Kay Kendall, reclining on a couch with a martini, and Yul Brynner, behind the couch, leaning in.

References

External links

* * {{Stanley Donen 1960 films 1960 romantic comedy films British romantic comedy films Films about classical music and musicians British films based on plays 1958 plays Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Stanley Donen Films with screenplays by Harry Kurnitz Films set in London 1960s English-language films 1960s British films English-language romantic comedy films