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An extraordinary life span for an exceptionally mesmerizing actress.
R.I.P. indeed for an end of a unique era within Golden Age French & British cinema.
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Posted: |
Dec 20, 2016 - 5:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Michele Morgan was the lead, but it was co-star Frank Sinatra whose name and image dominated the advertising for the 1943 musical comedy HIGHER AND HIGHER. The film was loosely based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. But, in order to accommodate Sinatra, the show's book, by Gladys Hurlbut and Joshua Logan, was reworked to feature Sinatra, and all but one song from the Rodgers and Hart score was eliminated. To replace the original score, songwriters Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh wrote four songs especially tailored to Sinatra's vocal style.
This film was Sinatra's first starring vehicle and inaugurated his seven-year contract with RKO, under which he was obligated to appear in two pictures per year for the studio. But Sinatra made only one additional contract film at RKO, STEP LIVELY, before going under contract to MGM. Although HIGHER AND HIGHER was designed as a Sinatra vehicle, previous contractual obligations forced the studio to give Michele Morgan and Jack Haley billing over Sinatra.
In the film, when bankrupt millionaire "Cyrus Drake" (Leon Errol) receives notice that the bank intends to foreclose on his mortgage in thirty days, and his wife and daughter decide to leave him, his valet, "Michael O'Brien" (Jack Haley), a former entertainer, proposes that "Millie" (Michele Morgan), the scullery maid, pose as Drake's daughter Pamela to snag a millionaire. During this charade, Millie meets the boy next door (Sinatra, playing a character named "Frank Sinatra"), who is convinced she is wealthy.
Tim Whelan produced and directed. Eight songs from the film appear on the 2002 Rhino CD box set "Frank Sinatra In Hollywood."
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Posted: |
Dec 20, 2016 - 5:55 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In 1944's PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE, Humphry Bogart stars as "Jean Matrac," a gunner with a Free French air squadron based somewhere in England. The leader of the squadron, "Captain Freycinet" (Claude Rains), tells Matrac's story to a war correspondent. Told in a series of flashbacks, Matrac's tale includes the story of his girlfriend (later his wife), "Paula" (Michele Morgan). Michèle Morgan had missed an earlier opportunity to work with Bogart. She was originally considered for the part of "Ilsa" in CASABLANCA, but RKO wanted too much for her services, so Ingrid Bergman was cast instead. Michael Curtiz directed the film. Four minutes of Max Steiner's score was recorded by Charles Gerhardt for one of his RCA "Classic Film Score" compilation albums.
In the 1946 French Language film LA SYMPHONIE PASTORALE, the pastor of a mountain village (Pierre Blanchar) adopts a small blind girl, "Gertrude." As Gertrude (Michele Morgan) grows up into an attractive young woman, the pastor, now middle-aged, realizes that he is in love with her. Jean Delannoy directed the drama. Twenty minutes of Georges Auric's score was recorded by Adriano and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra for a 2001 Marco Polo CD.
LA SYMPHONIE PASTORALE won the Grand Prix at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946, and Michele Morgan won the Best Actress award.
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Posted: |
Dec 20, 2016 - 10:18 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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BENJAMIN is set in 18th-century France, where "Benjamin" (Pierre Clémenti), a 17-year-old orphan of noble birth, sets off with his faithful guardian, "Camille" (Jacques Dufilho), to visit his wealthy aunt, the "Countess de Valandry" (Michèle Morgan). Benjamin's naiveté in sexual matters prompts the countess' lover, "Count Philippe" (Michel Piccoli), to take the lad under his wing for tutelage. Michel Deville directed this 1968 ribald French comedy. Sources differ on the film's composer, with both Jean Wiener and André Girard being mentioned.
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