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Posted: |
Apr 12, 2023 - 10:05 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The same team responsible for 1954’s RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11—producer Walter Wanger, executive producer Walter Mirisch, and director Don Siegel—reunited for the 1956 sci-fi/horror classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. In a normal small town, several patients of “Dr. Miles Bennell” (Kevin McCarthy) report that their relatives are imposters, or 'not themselves.' In each case, the delusion passes quickly, but the deeper suspicions of Miles and his friend “Becky Driscoll” (Dana Wynter) are confirmed when writer “Jack Belicec” (King Donovan) discovers a 'blank' body slowly taking on Jack's physical characteristics. A fantastic biological conspiracy has seized the town: seedpods from outer space are replacing human beings with passive simulacra devoid of emotion. Farmers are growing more pods to spread the menace to other communities. Realizing too late that the local authorities have been taken over, the couple has no choice but to flee for their lives.
Except for the opening and ending sequences at a hospital, the story is told as a flashback, with intermittent voice-over narration by Kevin McCarthy portraying “Dr. Miles Bennell.” These framing sequences and the narration were added to the film at the insistence of the studio and shot a few months after principal photography was completed, which accounts for the actors, including Richard Deacon and Whit Bissell, being excluded from the credits. According to a 1969 Films and Filming article, Don Siegel claimed that Allied Artists studio heads also wanted to edit out some other moments from the film, but it is unclear whether this was done.
Although a May 1955 Hollywood Reporter news item stated that INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was the first Allied Artists film to be, as the ads stated, “Filmed in SuperScope,” that claim is questionable. First, THE RETURN OF JACK SLADE was the first Allied Artists SuperScope movie to be released. Second, films “shot” in SuperScope are filmed using regular 35mm film and lenses. They are just framed by the director and cinematographer so that a 2.00:1 segment of the picture can be extract from the film in the lab and then squeezed when printed so that the wide image can be projected using anamorphic lenses.
It’s believed that the decision to make INVASION a SuperScope film wasn’t made until after filming was completed. It’s thought that Don Siegel framed the film for normal 1:85:1 “flat” projection, and the narrower ratio was forced on the film over his objections. The original film negative is not known to exist, just the 2.00:1 printing materials. So, there is no way to revert the image to Siegel’s preferred framing, except by cropping it at the sides. In any case the difference is slight, causing a loss of less than 10% of the height of the image.
Carmen Dragon’s score for the film was released by La-La Land in 2015. Produced for under $425,000, the film was a big earner at the box office, grossing $6 million domestically.
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Posted: |
Apr 13, 2023 - 12:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Actor Rod Taylor took his first cinematic trip forward in time, not in THE TIME MACHINE, but in the 1956 sci-fi thriller WORLD WITHOUT END. Taylor was the radioman on America's first manned explorer rocket, which only begins its adventure when it finds itself transported to the Earth of 2508. To the crew’s amazement, a group of elderly human men greet them. The leader introduces himself as “Timmek” (Everett Glass) and he introduces the men to his beautiful daughter “Garnet” (Nancy Gates).
Walter Mirisch was the uncredited executive producer of the film. As it happened, several reviews of WORLD WITHOUT END commented on the similarities between its plot and that of H. G. Wells’ famous novel "The Time Machine." According to a modern source, Wells’ estate sued the producers of WORLD WITHOUT END for plagiarism, but the outcome of the suit is not known.
Writer-director Edward Bernds first sought Sterling Hayden and then Frank Lovejoy for the lead. Producer Richard V. Heermance eventually hired Hugh Marlowe to play scientist “John Borden,” because he asked for only a quarter of the other actors' salaries. According to Bernds, Marlowe was often lazy and unprepared.
WORLD WITHOUT END was given a larger budget than Allied Artists’ usual "B" pictures. Consequently, they were able to book it under percentage contracts rather than flat rates. Unfortunately, the film underperformed and grossed just $1.5 million at the U.S. box office. Leith Stevens’ score was released by Dragon’s Domain in 2020.
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He rejected John Barry's score for the 1969 film Sinful Davy and replaced it with music by Ken Thorne. Director John Huston wanted a contemporary score for his period film. Eventually Thorne's music was released on CD. Barry's score is lost. I blame Walter Mirisch. And by the way, Thorne's music didn't exactly help the boxoffice on the film, a flop.
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He rejected John Barry's score for the 1969 film Sinful Davy and replaced it with music by Ken Thorne. Director John Huston wanted a contemporary score for his period film. Eventually Thorne's music was released on CD. Barry's score is lost. I blame Walter Mirisch. And by the way, Thorne's music didn't exactly help the boxoffice on the film, a flop.
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Posted: |
Apr 14, 2023 - 9:22 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In CRIME IN THE STREETS, eighteen-year old “Frankie Dane” (John Cassavettes) is angst-ridden and sullen but is a natural leader. He spends every possible moment out on the streets organizing rumbles with rival gangs and harassing passersby. Local social worker “Ben Wagner” (James Whitmore) works hard trying to bring the boys around, but so far has failed miserably. After the most recent rumble, an interfering neighbor turns in one of the boys for having a zip gun. Frankie vows revenge. Most of the boys refuse to get involved, but he can count on psychopath “Lou Macklin” (Mark Rydell) and fifteen-year-old “Angelo” (Sal Mineo) who idolizes him.
This Reginald Rose story originally aired on television on March 8, 1955, as part of the anthology series “The Elgin Hour.” John Cassavetes and Mark Rydell were members of the cast with Robert Preston in the James Whitmore role. For the film, Walter Mirisch was the uncredited executive producer. Producer Vincent Fennelly was negotiating with Sidney Lumet, who directed the television episode, to direct the motion picture, but Don Siegel eventually got the job.
Franz Waxman’s score was released on a Decca LP and was re-issued on CD by Varese Sarabande in 2009. The $280,000 production had good domestic grosses of $3.2 million.
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Posted: |
Apr 14, 2023 - 9:45 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Producer Walter Mirisch worked again with Joel McCrea in THE FIRST TEXAN. This historical film purported to tell the story of Sam Houston (McCrea), who enters Texas in 1832, after he suddenly resigns as governor of Tennessee following a scandal where he had left his wife after two days of marriage. When Houston arrives in San Antonio, Jim Bowie (Jeff Morrow) attempts to recruit him into a secessionist conspiracy, but he has left politics behind him. Settling in San Antonio, Houston falls in love with Katherine Delaney (Felicia Farr), the niece of his landlord.
As tensions rise, Houston talks Bowie out of a sudden revolt, pointing out that General Santa Anna (David Silva) wants an excuse to take over the Mexican government, and they should organize an army before they revolt. Hoping for a peaceful life, Katherine makes Sam promise to stay out of any revolt, but Davy Crockett (James Griffith), one of his oldest friends, appears with a message from President Andrew Jackson (Carl Benton Reid). Houston rides to Washington, where Jackson explains that he wants Texas to revolt, become a republic and then vote to join the Union, and convinces Houston to lead the revolt.
Byron Haskin directed the 1956 film. Roy Webb’s score (conducted by Paul Sawtell) has not had a release. The film had decent grosses of $2.9 million in the U.S.
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Posted: |
Apr 15, 2023 - 10:34 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In HOLD BACK THE NIGHT, John Payne is Marine officer “Capt. Sam MacKenzie,” fighting in the Korean War. He carries with him a bottle of Scotch, which he also carried during WWII, a gift from his wife, “Anne” (Mona Freeman), who is seen in flashback. The scotch is to be opened upon victory and thus becomes a symbol of hope to the men he leads. There are also flashbacks to “Kitty” (Audrey Dalton), an Australian woman MacKenzie fell in love with during WWII. Chuck Connors and Peter Graves appear as soldiers under his command.
Allied Artists had anticipated producing this adaptation of Pat Frank's 1952 novel as early as November 1954. In late 1954 and early 1955, the production was to star Richard Basehart and Neville Brand and was to be directed by Thomas Carr. However, in March 1955, executive producer Walter Mirisch announced that the picture was being taken off the studio's production schedule because some of the actors sought for leading roles would not be available before the heavy snowfall melted in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where much of the film was to be shot. The production went back onto the schedule in early 1956, with Allan Dwan directing. Hans Salter’s score has not had a release.
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Posted: |
Apr 15, 2023 - 2:41 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In the Civil War-set family drama FRIENDLY PERSUASION, the Birdwells, a prosperous Quaker family, try to remain detached from the Civil War that is raging to the south. As the film opens, the family, led by father “Jess” (Gary Cooper) and mother “Eliza” (Dorothy McGuire), prepares to go to Sunday meeting, daughter “Mattie” (Phyllis Love) primps and fantasizes about her sweetheart, “Gard Jordan” (Mark Richman), while older brother “Josh” (Anthony Perkins) plays war with younger brother “Little Jess” (Richard Eyer), but warns that their preacher (mother Eliza) does not like war talk.
William Wyler produced and directed the 1956 film, which was scripted, in part, by blacklisted writer Michael Wilson. The picture was Wyler’s first color film. Walter Mirisch was the uncredited executive producer. FRIENDLY PERSUASION received six Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.
In April 1956, six months before the film’s release, composer Dimitri Tiomkin conducted a benefit performance, with a thirty-piece orchestra, in the grand ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the first public performance of his score for the film. The film's title song (also titled "Thee I Love"), with music by Tiomkin and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, was one of the biggest hits of singer Pat Boone's career. Tiomkin’s score was released on LP by RKO/Unique. It was re-issued on LP by Venise in 1960 and by Varese Sarabande in 1982. Move Sound Records provided the first CD in 1993, followed by Varese in 1997.
At a cost of $3 million, FRIENDLY PERSUASION was one of the most expense Allied Artists productions. It finished as the #12 film of 1956, with a $14.4 million gross.
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Posted: |
Apr 16, 2023 - 1:39 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Walter Mirisch’s fourth film with Joel McCrea was THE TALL STRANGER. In the film, McCrea is Union officer “Ned Bannon,” wounded in battle, who joins up with a wagon train heading westward. He is ostracized by those passengers who'd fought on the Confederate side, though “Ellen” (Virginia Mayo) welcomes his presence.
The onscreen credits read "From a story by Louis L'Amour;" however, the short story "Showdown Trail," the basis for the film, was written under one of L'Amour's early pseudonyms, "Jim Mayo." The story was rewritten and republished as "The Tall Stranger" in 1957.
Thomas Carr directed the 1957 film, which grossed an average $2.4 million domestically. Six minutes of Hans Salter’s score were released on the Medallion LP “Far Horizons: The Western Film Scores of Hans J. Salter.”
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Posted: |
Apr 17, 2023 - 1:06 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In 1957, Walter Mirisch left his job as head of production at Allied Artists, and along with his brothers Marvin and Harold, formed his own production company--The Mirisch Company. He arranged to have his films distributed by United Artists, a relationship he would maintain through scores of films. The first production of The Mirisch Company was FORT MASSACRE, a western starring Joel McCrea. It was the fifth collaboration between Mirisch and McCrea.
In the film, an embittered cavalry sergeant, “Sgt. Vinson” (McCrea), must take over his regiment after their commanding officer is killed during an ambush. Vinson is driven by his hatred of Apaches, who were responsible for the death of his wife and children. He and his remaining men, including “Pvt. Travis” (John Russell) and “Pvt. McGurney” (Forrest Tucker), try to ride 100 miles to the safety of Fort Crane in New Mexico territory.
Joseph Newman directed the 1958 film, which has an unreleased score by Marlin Skiles. The film grossed an average $2.3 million at the U.S. box office.
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Posted: |
Apr 17, 2023 - 9:41 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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MAN OF THE WEST finds Gary Cooper as former outlaw “Link Jones,” who has saved some money to help a schoolteacher, but the train he is on gets held up by outlaws. He is stuck with two others passengers and ends up finding his old uncle “Dock Tobin” (Lee J. Cobb), who he lost contact with after he attempted to go straight, and just happens to be leading the gang of outlaws who hold up the train.
Anthony Mann directed this 1958 western. Although the film states that it is “A Walter M. Mirisch Production,” there is no credited producer, and the film was copyrighted by Ashton Productions, Inc.
Mirisch wrote in his biography that during the shooting, he and Gary Cooper were invited to dinner by Joel McCrea at his ranch, which was not far from the shooting set. McCrea told Cooper that early in his career he had accepted some roles that Cooper had turned down. Cooper doubted this, but none argued any further. Mirisch reported that the dinner was a very agreeable affair.
Leigh Harline’s score for the film has not had a release. The film has a credit for a title song by Bobby Troup, but the song does not appear in the picture, even though the film’s poster says “Hear Julie London sing ‘Man of the West’!” Jazz musician and sometime actor Troup also managed the film’s co-star, singer-actress Julie London, throughout the mid-1950s. The two married in 1959. London recorded the title song for release on a Liberty Records 45rpm. The $1.5 million production of MAN OF THE WEST grossed a healthy $5 million at the U.S. box office.
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Posted: |
Apr 18, 2023 - 4:03 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The plot for SOME LIKE IT HOT was taken from a 1951 German film, “Fanfaren der Liebe,” written by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan. The story, to which writer-producer-director Billy Wilder had purchased the rights, featured two Depression-era musicians who are driven by poverty to pretend to be gypsies, black men, and finally women in order to find work with various bands.
The script for this Mirisch Company presentation, by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, found musicians “Joe” (Tony Curtis) and “Jerry” (Jack Lemmon) witnessing a mob hit, whereupon they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women. But further complications set in when they both are attracted to stunning singer and ukulele player “Sugar Kane Kowalczyk” (Marilyn Monroe).
I.A.L. Diamond stated that he and Wilder spent a year developing the script. Wilder and Diamond decided to drop the first two plot devices from the Thoeren-Logan film and focus on the men dressing as women and joining an all-girl band. Initially, the Wilder-Diamond script was set in contemporary times because they felt they needed a situation more powerful than poverty to compel the characters to dress as women. Diamond suggested that a period setting would make it easier for the audience to accept female impersonation, and Wilder then came up with the idea to set the story during the jazz age and have their characters witness a gangland slaying as motivation for hiding out.
Tony Curtis was signed first, but United Artists pressured Billy Wilder to cast a bigger box-office name than Jack Lemmon for the second male lead. Once Marilyn Monroe signed on, however, Wilder was able to cast Lemmon. Mitzi Gaynor was considered for “Sugar,” until Monroe wrote to Wilder, expressing the hope that they could work together again after their success with 1955’s THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH. Even so, Monroe consented to appear in the film only after the Mirisch Company offered her 10% of the gross. Longtime actor-comedian Joe E. Brown was brought out of semi-retirement to play wealthy, oft-married “Osgood Fielding III.” Diamond credited Wilder with casting supporting actors George Raft, Pat O’Brien, and George E. Stone, all popularly associated with playing in gangster films in the 1930s and 1940s.
The sequences set in Florida were shot on location at the Hotel Del Coronado Resort near San Diego, California. One reason why Wilder chose this location was Marilyn Monroe's ongoing personal problems. He wanted a location where she could live on site and not have to be transported. Nevertheless, according to Curtis, Monroe was routinely 2 to 3 hours late to the set, and occasionally refused to leave her dressing room.
Due primarily to delays caused by Marilyn Monroe, production on the film ran two months over schedule and over half a million dollars over budget. In one instance, Monroe required 47 takes to get the line "It's me, Sugar" correct, instead saying either "Sugar, it's me" or "It's Sugar, me." After take 30, Billy Wilder had the line written on a blackboard. Another scene required Monroe to rummage through some drawers and say "Where's the bourbon?" After 40 takes of her saying "Where's the whiskey?", "Where's the bottle?", or "Where's the bonbon?", Wilder pasted the correct line in one of the drawers. After Monroe became confused about which drawer contained the line, Wilder had it pasted in every drawer. Fifty-nine takes were required for this scene and when Monroe finally does say it, she has her back to the camera, leading some to wonder if Wilder finally gave up and had the line dubbed.
The first preview for SOME LIKE IT HOT was at the Bay Theatre in Pacific Palisades, CA, where a conservative, middle-aged audience barely responded to the comedy. Many studio personnel and agents offered advice to Billy Wilder on what scenes to reshoot, add and cut. Jack Lemmon asked Wilder what he was going to do. Wilder responded: "Why, nothing. This is a very funny movie, and I believe in it just as it is. Maybe this is the wrong neighborhood in which to have shown it. At any rate, I don't panic over one preview. It's a hell of a movie." Two nights later, a second preview was held at the Village Theater in Westwood Village and the audience, primarily made up of university students, stood up and cheered.
The Very Reverend Monsignor Thomas F. Little of the National Catholic Legion of Decency found SOME LIKE IT HOT to contain “screen material elements that are judged to be seriously offensive to Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency. ... The subject matter of ‘transvestism’ naturally leads to complications; in this film there seemed to us clear inference of homosexuality and lesbianism. The dialogue was not only ‘double entendre’ but outright smut. The offense in costuming was obvious."
MPAA head Geoffrey Shurlock responded in a letter dated 18 March 1959: "So far there is simply no adverse reaction at all; nothing but praise for it as a hilariously funny movie. I am not suggesting, of course, that there are not dangers connected with a story of this type. But girls dressed as men, and occasionally men dressed as women for proper plot purposes, has been standard theatrical fare as far back as ‘As You Like It’ and ‘Twelfth Night.’.... We of course are not defending the two exaggerated costumes worn by the leading lady.”
Kansas authorities delayed distribution of the film for two months when the state Board of Review refused to approve the picture unless over one hundred feet of footage, mostly of the love scene between “Sugar Kane” and “Shell Oil, Junior” (Curtis) was cut. The Memphis Board of Censors rejected the film, then agreed to pass it if it was restricted to adults only.
Most of the reviews of the 1959 film were positive. The film has gone on to become one of the highest regarded comedies of all time, and Brown’s closing line of "Nobody's perfect" is one of Hollywood's most iconic moments. The $2.9 million production was a smash at the domestic box office, grossing $23.2 million and coming in as the #5 film of the year. SOME LIKE IT HOT won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (black & white) and received nominations for Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography (b&w), Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
In 2001, the American Film Institute selected SOME LIKE IT HOT as the number one comedy film of all time, and it was the #22 film on the AFI’s 2007 list of the greatest American films, moving down from the 14th position it held on AFI's 1997 list. Adolph Deutsch scored the film. A few score cues appeared on the United Artists Records LP release, which mostly included jazz band source cues. The LP had its first CD release in Japan in 1991. Rykodisc provided the first U.S. CD release in 1997, adding some dialogue excerpts. Varese Sarabande eliminated the dialogue for its 2004 re-issue.
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In 1959’s THE MAN IN THE NET, Alan Ladd stars as “John Hamilton,” a Connecticut artist who goes on the run from cops and vigilantes when he is falsely charged with the apparent murder of his alcoholic wife “Linda” (Carolyn Jones).
Michael Curtiz directed the thriller, which was produced by Walter Mirisch. Hans Salter’s score has not been released. The film grossed an anemic $1.5 million in the U.S.
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Posted: |
Apr 19, 2023 - 11:45 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Walter Mirisch’s sixth and final film with Joel McCrea was 1959’s THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY. Whereas in McCrea’s first film with Mirisch, WICHITA, McCrea played Wyatt Earp, in this final film he played buffalo hunter and gambler Bat Masterson. Julie Adams, in her first film after her contract with Universal ended, was "Pauline Howard," the fiancée of Bat's brother, Ed Masterson (Harry Lauter).
Joseph M. Newman directed the film, which has an unreleased score by Hans. J. Salter. Originally entitled “The Bat Masterson Story,” Mirisch re-titled the film THE GUNFIGHT AT DODGE CITY to try to emulate the success of 1957’s GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL. But without stars of the caliber of Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, Mirisch’s film could only rustle up $2.1 million at the U.S. box office, compared to $13.4 million for rival producer Hal Wallis’ film.
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Posted: |
Apr 19, 2023 - 9:21 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE HORSE SOLDIERS were an irregular troop of Union men on a mission into the Confederacy. Ex-railroad man, Yankee Colonel “John Marlowe” (John Wayne) leads, feuding every step of the way with his company doctor “Major Kendall” (William Holden). Also confusing issues is “Hannah Hunter” (Constance Towers), a Southern Belle who learns of their plans and must be brought along for security reasons. They succeed in their 'dirty' raid on a railhead town, but their escape back to Union lines looks grim, with several rebel armies closing in from all sides - including a company of children from a Confederate military academy.
Legendary director John Ford helmed the 1959 film. John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin produced the film for The Mirisch Company. The film marked the beginning of mega-deals for Hollywood stars. John Wayne and William Holden received $775,000 each, plus 20% of the overall profits, an unheard-of sum for that time. The final contract involved six companies and numbered twice the pages of the movie's script. The film landed in the top 25 films of the year, with a $10.9 million gross.
The film’s score, by David Buttolph, makes liberal use of Civil War-era melodies, many of them performed vocally as marching songs. The United Artists Records LP, their first for a Mirisch film, was more of a Civil War concept album containing a few Buttolph score cues. The LP was first officially released on CD in the U.S. by Film Score Monthly in 2007 as part of their box set “The Unforgiven: Classic Western Scores From United Artists.” (It had seen a Japanese release as early as 1988.)
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Posted: |
Apr 20, 2023 - 12:06 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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CAST A LONG SHADOW stars Audie Murphy as boozing, gambling “Matt Brown,” who drifts back to his one-time ranch and fuels the fights of yesteryear when he meets up with “Chip Donahue” (John Dehner), the foreman of the ranch of an old cattle baron, Jake Keenan, who has died. The cattle baron believed that Matt was his illegitimate son, and Matt inherits his estate of his 87,000-acre ranch and his fortune. Matt rekindles his relationship with his former girlfriend “Janet Calvert” (Terry Moore), but loses his gal and makes new enemies.
Thomas Carr directed (his final film) and Walter Mirisch produced this 1959 western. Interiors for the film were shot at the studios of Mirisch’s old employer, Allied Artists. Exteriors were filmed in California's Malibu Mountains. Film Score Monthly released Gerald Fried’s score in 2007 as part of their box set “The Unforgiven: Classic Western Scores From United Artists.” The film had a meager domestic gross of $1.9 million.
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Associate producer I.A.L. Diamond and producer-director Billy Wilder wrote THE APARTMENT specifically for Jack Lemmon, just after filming finished on SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959). Wilder stated that he was inspired by the character of the man who lends his apartment to the lovers in BRIEF ENCOUNTER, the 1945 David Lean film. Wilder had originally planned the story as a play, but upon realizing that the important office set could not be shown to full effect on a stage, he and Diamond reconceived it as a film. Diamond asserted that the film comments on "the mores of the American business community."
The Mirisch Company film begins with voice-over commentary by Jack Lemmon, as "C. C. ‘Buddy’ Baxter," who describes the vastness of New York and the large, impersonal nature of the Consolidated Life Insurance Company where he works. Buddy (Lemmon) tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, particularly personnel manager “J. D. ‘Jeff’ Sheldrake” (Fred MacMurray). But complications and a romance of his own with elevator girl “Fran Kubelik” (Shirley MacLaine) ensue.
The picture involves a running gag in which Buddy affects the executives’ jargon by adding “wise” to the end of numerous words. This form of slang, which was popular at the time, was also used in the film's advertising.
Although it was announced that Paul Douglas was cast as "J. D. 'Jeff' Sheldrake," he suffered a fatal heart attack on 11 September 1959, while eating breakfast in New York just before he was to fly out to the Coast for filming. Fred MacMurray was then offered the role. MacMurray stated that he was initially reluctant to portray such a nefarious character when the public associated him with roles such as the father in the popular television comedy “My Three Sons,” but that he reconsidered after thinking about his successful role as a murderer in Wilder's 1944 film noir classic DOUBLE INDEMNITY. According to MacMurray, after the film's release, he was accosted by women in the street who berated him for making a "dirty, filthy movie," and one of them hit him with her purse, because she brought her six-year-old to see it thinking it was a Disney film. (MacMurray had just signed a long-term contract with Disney to do family films like 1959’s THE SHAGGY DOG.) MacMurray’s fan mail was overwhelmingly against his role as the no-good Sheldrake. People hated seeing the usually amiable, sympathetic actor play such a heel. The response shook him so much, he vowed never to take on another such role.
The script for THE APARTMENT was only half-finished when shooting began, a customary practice of Wilder's that allowed him to tailor the roles to the actors after they were cast. Nevertheless, once the words were down on paper. Wilder and Diamond would not allow even the slightest deviation from their script. Shirley MacLaine drove them crazy with her ad-libbing. She was forced to do one of the elevator scenes five times because she kept missing one word.
Exterior shooting all took place at night in New York City, including locations such as Central Park, the Majestic Theatre lobby and Columbus Avenue. The rest of the film was shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Los Angeles. There, the filmmakers constructed the huge interior set of the insurance office, designed to represent the demoralizing, impersonal nature of the corporate environment.
The set was made of glass and metal and covered more than 25,000 square feet. Wilder described the techniques they used to create the vast office space, including forced perspective with progressively smaller sized desks that recede into cardboard cutouts. Although Wilder that he placed progressively smaller actors at the desks, finally casting dwarves, art director Alexander Trauner has stated that the actors in the back rows were children. The set included nearly $4 million worth of loaned office equipment, attended to by operators supplied by the IBM corporation.
Although Adolph Deutsch received sole screen credit for the music score, the very popular "Theme from The Apartment" was actually a pre-existing piece of music (originally called "Jealous Lover," 1949) by British composer Charles Williams, who was known for his scores for British films and BBC radio dramas. Deutsch’s score was re-recorded for a United Artists LP release by Mitchell Powell and the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra. The LP was re-released on CD as part of Film Score Monthly’s “MGM Soundtrack Treasury” box set in 2008. Kritzerland re-issued the score in 2009, paired with Andre Previn’s THE FORTUNE COOKIE. The original film tracks no longer survive.
Reviews of THE APARTMENT were strong, with The New York Times reviewer stating that Lemmon “takes precedence as our top comedian by virtue of his work in this film.” The film marked the beginning of a transition for Lemmon from purely comedic roles to dramatic ones as well, culminating with his portrayal of an alcoholic in 1962’s THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES.
THE APARTMENT won many honors, including Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Art Direction (Alexander Trauner and Edward G. Boyle) and Editing (Daniel Mandell). In addition, Lemmon, MacLaine, Jack Kruschen, cinematographer Joseph LaShelle and sound director Gordon E. Sawyer received Oscar nominations.
THE APARTMENT garnered Golden Globe awards for Best Picture, Actor and Actress; the Grammy for Best Soundtrack; the Directors Guild of America Award for Wilder; and the picture won the British Film Academy Award for Best Film. More recently, THE APARTMENT was ranked 80th on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the greatest American films, moving up from the 93rd position it held on AFI's 1997 list. The $3 million production came in at #8 on the list of top-grossing films of 1960, with a $19 million domestic take.
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Apr 20, 2023 - 3:43 PM
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Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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It’s sometimes thought that Walter Mirisch’s production of the 1960 classic THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was an unacknowledged remake of Akira Kurosawa’s THE SEVEN SAMURAI. But the film was very much acknowledged in the opening credits as being based on that 1954 Toho film. In May 1958, Yul Brynner’s Alciona Productions had secured the rights to THE SEVEN SAMURAI and announced that Brynner was to star in the film and United Artists would distribute it. In October 1958, Brynner actually registered the title “The Magnificent Six” when he believed one of the principal characters would be dropped from the film.
By August 1959, Brynner had sold the project to The Mirisch Company, who in turn hired Walter Newman to write the screenplay and arranged to co-produce the film with Alpha Productions, John Sturges’ company. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was Sturges’ first credit as a producer, the first film for Alpha Productions and the first collaboration between Alpha and The Mirisch Company, a partnership which led to many co-ventures.
By December 1959, at the urging of Brynner, executive producer Walter Mirisch had hired Steve McQueen, an actor already known for his role in the television series “Wanted Dead or Alive.” Reportedly, McQueen faked a car accident in order to gain time off the series to do the film. Sturges’ final cast selections were hurriedly made to avoid a Screen Actors Guild strike, which ran from 7 March to 18 April 1960. Production got underway on 29 February 1960 at Estudios Churubusco, Mexico City.
When filming began in Mexico, problems arose with the local censors, who demanded changes to the ways that the Mexican villagers would be portrayed. Walter Newman, who had written the screenplay, was asked to travel to the location to make the necessary script revisions, but refused. The changes written in by William Roberts were deemed significant enough to merit him a co-writing credit. Newman refused to share the credit, though. He also objected to how John Sturges filmed several of his scenes and became furious when Sturges gave some of Yul Brynner's carefully crafted, character-driven lines to Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. Consequently, Newman had his name removed from the film entirely, so Roberts is the only person credited with the screenplay.
According to a John Sturges, the music for the 1960 movie was to be composed by Dimitri Tiomkin. However, the director had a quarrel with his favorite composer because Sturges did not agree to having a song during the opening credits, as he had with GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL. Tiomkin was dismissed and replaced by Elmer Bernstein.
For whatever reason, Bernstein's score for the film was not released at the time by the fledging United Artists Records, which had released Bernstein’s GOD’S LITTLE ACRE as their second release after having been formed in 1958. Even after Bernstein’s score received an Academy Award nomination, no release was forthcoming. Bernstein lost the Oscar to Ernest Gold’s EXODUS, another United Artists film release, and a score which UA Records was precluded from releasing because producer-director Otto Preminger had a contract with RCA to release the scores from his films. (UA Records released a competing LP, with the EXODUS score re-recorded by Mitchell Powell and the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra.)
In any case, Bernstein’s score has been re-recorded several times, perhaps first by Bernstein himself, in 1966, when it was released as the score to this film’s sequel, RETURN OF THE SEVEN. Subsequent recordings of the score were made by James Sedares and the Phoenix Symphony (Koch Records, 1994) and Bernstein and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RCA, 1999). The original mono tracks were finally released in 1998 by Rykodisc. They were re-issued by Varese Sarabande in 2004, and made their most recent appearance in Quartet’s 2022 “Magnificent Seven Collection” set.
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN was budgeted at $2 million and grossed a healthy $6.4 million domestically. It reportedly did even better overseas. Although many contemporary reviews of the film were not supportive, the film’s reputation has continued to improve with time.
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Kirk Douglas re-teamed with director Gottfried Reinhardt (THE STORY OF THREE LOVES, 1953) for the 1961 drama TOWN WITHOUT PITY. Douglas played Maj. “Steve Garrett,” the defense counsel for four drunken soldiers who had raped a 16-year-old German girl (Christine Kaufmann). Location scenes for the United Artists release were filmed on the French Riviera and in the German towns of Bamberg and Forcheim.
Douglas’ Bryna Company was named as a co-producer along with the Mirisch Corporation, although Bryna does not receive screen credit. The picture was initially denied a Production Code seal of approval. However, presumably after edits were made, it was reported that the seal had been granted. The Catholic Legion of Decency rated the film as an “A-III,” which indicated it was “morally unobjectionable for adults.” The German version of the film, which opened in March 1961 ran 112 minutes. By the time of the picture’s October 1961 U.S. premiere, it had been cut to 105 minutes.
Dimitri Tiomkin scored the film, and the title song he wrote with Ned Washington became a big hit for singer Gene Pitney. Although the Los Angeles Times review criticized the film’s overuse of the title tune, the song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song (losing to “Moon River”), and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song – Motion Picture. Actress Christine Kaufmann also received a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. The film grossed a modest $2.9 million at the U.S. box office.
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Posted: |
Apr 21, 2023 - 3:57 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. co-starred with Lana Turner in a 1961 adaptation of the steamy best-seller BY LOVE POSSESSED. Zimbalist played law firm partner “Arthur Warren,” whose marriage to “Clarissa” (Barbara Bel Geddes) is shaky. One of his partners, “Julius Penrose” (Jason Robards, Jr.) also has a problematic marriage because of an automobile accident that has left him impotent. After several chance meetings, Arthur enters into an adulterous affair with Julius's frustrated, alcoholic wife, “Marjorie” (Turner).
Screen rights to James Gould Cozzens’s novel were purchased by Associated Artists Productions several months prior to the book’s scheduled August 1957 release. In April 1958, Variety announced that United Artists, which had acquired Associated Artists, would finance and release the film. Seven Arts Productions, recently formed by Ray Stark (former vice-president of Associated Artists) and Eliot Hyman, was slated to produce. The following year, an April 1959 Daily Variety article noted that Stark and Hyman were ending their partnership, and Mirisch Pictures had joined Seven Arts to co-produce BY LOVE POSSESED.
Producer Walter Mirisch announced director John Sturges’ involvement in August 1960. Mirisch negotiated with Warner Bros. to loan out the services of actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., with whom Lana Turner had long wanted to co-star. Turner received a salary of $300,000, while Zimbalist, Jr., was paid $200,000. The film’s total budget was $2.5 million.
Sturges kept location shooting to a minimum and was quoted as saying, “We can show our New England scenes while the credits are on. Once we get going, I don’t want the characters getting in and out of automobiles all through the picture as a lame excuse to work in New England scenery.” Sturges also indicated the film would only deal with the “‘now’ story” of Cozzens’s novel, which he described as “eighty percent” flashbacks and introspection. Filming took place at the Columbia Pictures studio lot in Hollywood.
Sturges and Mirisch again turned to Elmer Bernstein for the score to their film. Bernstein’s score did not get a release until 2007 when Varese Sarabande issued it on CD. The film had average grosses of $5.3 million in the U.S after it was released on 14 June 1961.
On 19 July 1961, Trans World Airlines began showing in-flight movies on a regular basis. BY LOVE POSSESSED kicked-off the program and became the first movie screened in-flight by an airline on a regularly scheduled flight. It was seen by first class passengers on a Boeing 707 between New York and Los Angeles.
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Posted: |
Apr 22, 2023 - 3:55 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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The stage version of the musical play WEST SIDE STORY opened on Broadway on 26 September 1957 to critical and popular acclaim. The show ran for an initial 732 performances, followed by a successful national tour, another 249 performances in New York City, and a two-year run in London. WEST SIDE STORY was directed and choreographed by the innovative Jerome Robbins, who stated that he had been interested in creating a contemporary version of William Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” since the late 1940s, and that Arthur Laurents, the show’s writer, and composer Leonard Bernstein added the gang theme to the story. The show marked the first Broadway success of composer Stephen Sondheim, who was the lyricist for WEST SIDE STORY.
A November 1959 Daily Variety news item reported that producer-director Robert Wise planned to make the film version of the show as a joint venture of his B&P Productions, The Mirisch Company, and Seven Arts Productions, for release by United Artists. A December 1960 Hollywood Reporter news item announced that Robbins would co-direct with Wise. Jerome Robbins had initially refused to work on the film unless he could direct it. Executive producer Walter Mirisch was nervous about handing the reins entirely over to Robbins, who had never made a film before, so he enlisted Robert Wise to direct the drama while Robbins would handle the singing and dancing sequences.
Although Robbins and Wise are credited as co-directors onscreen, Robbins was asked to leave the production early during the shooting. It was rumored that Robbins was taking too much time with the dances, and that the two directors had disagreements. Providing a more diplomatic explanation, Wise stated in a December 1960 Daily Variety article that Robbins’ departure was not due to artistic differences or his co-director’s personal failings, but because it was taking too long to coordinate their respective ideas, and since Wise had been with the film project about a year longer than Robbins, it was he who remained.
By the time Robbins left, he had completed choreographing all but two numbers, and several of his assistants, Margaret Banks, Tommy Abbott and Tony Mordente, remained with the production, assuring that Robbins’ basic choreography, which was mostly retained from the theater production, was executed correctly. Robbins also retained film editing rights, although the extent and length of time of his participation during post-production has not been determined.
Twenty-two actors were taken to New York City to shoot the prologue in the areas of 68th Street, which was demolished shortly after filming to build Lincoln Center, and 110th Street in the Puerto Rican district. The troupe shot on the New York streets for five weeks. Robbins felt that the film necessitated more realistic sets than the stage production's stylized sets, and he adapted his stage choreography to match the more realistic settings in the picture.
Jimmy Bryant and Marni Nixon dubbed the singing voices of the leads, Richard Beymer (“Tony”) and Natalie Wood (“Maria”). Tucker Smith, who portrayed “Ice” in the film, also served as a singing double for Russ Tamblyn for at least one song. While WEST SIDE STORY was still in its roadshow engagement, Columbia Records released its soundtrack album, which would later win a Grammy award. The album has rarely been out of print. It was first re-issued on CD in Japan in the early 1980s and then in the U.S. by Sony (in a slightly expanded version) in 1992.
Professional ghost singer Betty Wand filed a $60,000 damage suit against B&P Enterprises, the producers, and the CBS, claiming that she had provided the singing voice for Rita Moreno (“Anita”) on two songs, “A Boy Like That” and “I Have a Love,” on an emergency basis and that, without her knowledge, her voice was used in the soundtrack album. A cross suit filed by CBS asked that B&P be held liable for any damages on the grounds that CBS released the soundtrack album believing that Moreno sang the songs. Wand’s suit was settled out of court, although the amount of the settlement was not reported.
WEST SIDE STORY won ten Academy Awards, the second highest number of Oscars received for an individual film at that time. Besides Best Motion Picture, the film also won Best Actor in a Supporting Role (George Chakiris), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Moreno), Art Direction (Boris Leven and Victor A. Gengelin), Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp), Costume Design (Irene Sharaff), Best Director (Wise and Robbins), Best Film Editing (Thomas Stanford), Best Musical Score (Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal), and Best Sound.
The $6.5 million production was the second-highest grossing film of 1961 at the U.S. box office, with a take of over $41 million. The film was the strongest box office hit in many areas overseas in United Artists’ history. In May 1966, news items reported that the film had run for four years at Paris’ George V Theatre, the longest run in French motion picture history at that time.
According to a May 1966 Daily Variety news item, Walter Mirisch rejected a record $3-million offer from a television network to broadcast the film, because The Mirisch Company had plans for a theatrical re-release within the next few years. The film was re-issued in the fall of 1968.
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Posted: |
Apr 23, 2023 - 10:40 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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In January 1958, the Mirisch Company acquired film rights to Ferenc Molnár’s play Egy, ketto, három (ONE, TWO, THREE), with Billy Wilder set to write and direct the adaptation. Egy, ketto, három, first staged in 1929, follows the young daughter of a Scandinavian businessman who falls in love and marries a Socialist taxicab driver while vacationing in Paris. The girl’s Parisian host, a banker and friend of the family, then scrambles to make the cab driver acceptable to the father-in-law. Wilder, who saw the play performed in Berlin, circa 1930, planned to throw out Molnár’s dialogue and set the action in 1961 to incorporate up-to-date jokes inspired by contemporary newspaper headlines.
He and co-writer I.A.L. Diamond relocated the story to Berlin, then divided between Communist East Germany and the republic of West Germany. The boss’s daughter in the screenplay, seventeen-year-old “Scarlett Hazeltine” (Pamela Tiffin), became the child of a Coca-Cola Company executive, and her romantic interest an East German “beatnik,” “Otto Ludwig Piffl” (Horst Bucholz). She was being watched over in West Berlin by “C. R. MacNamara” (James Cagney), a fast-talking Coca-Cola sales representative, and his wife “Phyllis” (Arlene Francis).
An article in the 5 December 1961 New York Times credited the Mirisch Company production of ONE, TWO, THREE as being one of the rare Hollywood films that dared portray “any aspect of Soviet life” in the Cold War era, but Wilder insisted, “We are not trying to explore the political situation in depth. We are just trying to entertain and not stir up trouble.” Nevertheless, Diamond stated that he and Wilder listened to coverage of the ongoing “Berlin crisis” on the American Forces Network every morning before going to set, and at night, they read the international edition of New York Times before updating the script to include current events and political/military personnel changes.
Principal photography began 5 June 1961 in West Berlin, where locations included restored sections of the Kurfürstendamm, the Siegessäule, the Tiergarten, and the Coca-Cola bottling plant. One scene was scheduled to be shot on the East Berlin side of the Brandenburg Gate, depicting Otto Ludwig Piffl on a motorcycle with a balloon attached, riding into Soviet-controlled territory. However, filming was shut down after one day when guards noticed the message on the balloon reading, “Russki Go Home!” The scene was re-shot at Bavaria Studios, where the Brandenburg Gate was recreated by art director Alexander Trauner. Wilder indicated that the “joke” on the balloon cost the production $200,000 by necessitating the re-shoot.
ONE, TWO, THREE is famous for its rapid-fire dialogue delivered primarily by James Cagney. The instruction at the front of Wilder and Diamond's screenplay reads: "This piece must be played molto furioso. Suggested speed: 110 miles an hour--on the curves--140 miles an hour in the straightaways. "
Filming moved from West Berlin to Bavaria Studios in Munich, where a large “city of rubble” fashioned after East Berlin was constructed. The set was later used in the film ESCAPE FROM EAST BERLIN (1962). In late August 1961, principal photography was halted due to injuries incurred by Horst Buchholz, who was in an automobile accident off set. The shoot resumed on 16 October 1961 at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio lot in Hollywood, where a replica of the Berlin Tempelhof Airport was built.
Publicist Tom Wood stated that Coca-Cola had “no tie-up” with the picture, but Wilder chose to portray the company partly to fulfill a promise he had made to give them equal screen time after featuring Pepsi-Cola prominently in his 1957 film LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON. While American Coca-Cola executives were happy with the free publicity, many European Coca-Cola bottlers with Communist patrons were upset by the picture’s “poking fun at the Communists.”
The picture was released on 15 December 1961 at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles, and the following week in New York City, in time for Academy Award consideration. One Academy Award nomination went to Daniel Fapp for Best Cinematography. Fapp had been called in as a replacement for a Swedish cinematographer who was fired after microphones and microphone shadows appeared in dailies.
Golden Globe Award nominations were given for Best Picture – Comedy, and to Pamela Tiffin for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. Tiffin lost the award to Rita Moreno for another Mirisch Company film, WEST SIDE STORY. The $3 million production grossed an above-average $7.1 million at the U.S. box office.
Andre Previn was credited for musical direction and adaptation on a score that made liberal use of Aram Khachaturyan’s “Sabre Dance” and Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” The only recorded piece that has been released from the film is something called the “One, Two, Three Waltz.”
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THE CHILDREN’S HOUR marked the second time producer-director William Wyler made a feature film adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s 1934 play of the same name. The previous picture, THESE THREE (1936), was also released by United Artists. However, production company Samuel Goldwyn, Inc. had retained rights to the play, which The Mirisch Company acquired for an unspecified amount. Wyler addressed the differences between the two adaptations of the play, noting that THESE THREE had converted the lesbian scandal, as written by Hellman, into a story about “two women in love with the same man.” Wyler stated, “We never did the play the first time. It could not be made as a movie in those days.” The director also joked that Samuel Goldwyn sold the film rights to Mirisch for “a great deal more” than Wyler had initially paid.
Audrey Hepburn’s casting in the role of “Karen Wright” was announced in August 1960. Shirley MacLaine was cast as “Martha Dobie” as part of a four-picture deal with The Mirisch Company, that also included TWO FOR THE SEESAW (1962). James Garner also signed a four-picture deal with Mirisch, and THE CHILDREN’S HOUR would be his first for the production company. Garner was paid a $150,000 salary for the role of “Dr. Joe Cardin.” Twelve-year-old Karen Balkin had been cast in the coveted role of “Mary Tilford,” which marked her theatrical motion picture debut.
Audrey Hepburn arrived in Los Angeles to prepare for the film on 30 March 1961. Principal photography was slated to begin 5 June 1961. Roughly two months later, Hepburn and MacLaine hosted a luncheon for cast and crew, catered by Romanoff’s Restaurant, as a “pre-pic windup” celebration.
According to Daily Variety (DV), Wyler was reportedly told by Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) chief Geoffrey Shurlock that THE CHILDREN’S HOUR would not receive a Production Code Seal because of its underlying theme of lesbianism. However, DV ran a correction the following day, after receiving complaints from Wyler and Marvin Mirisch, who insisted the film had not yet been submitted for a Code Seal. Wyler had been advised, not that the film would not receive a seal, but that the Production Code must be changed in order for it to qualify. The Production Code forbade “sex perversion, or any inference of it.” Two other upcoming films, ADVISE AND CONSENT (1962) and a Warner Bros. project titled “The Devil’s Advocate,” reportedly dealt with homosexuality, further challenging the “sex perversion” clause.
Lilian Hellman flew to Los Angeles from New York City to attend one of the sneak previews. The following week, MPPDA’s Geoffrey Shurlock was scheduled to view the final edit. Despite earlier speculation, Shurlock awarded THE CHILDREN’S HOUR a Production Code Seal, and called Wyler to congratulate him on “the way the subject matter was handled.” Reportedly, Wyler cut several scenes hinting at Martha's homosexuality. Advertisements for the film carried one of the following warnings: “Because of the adult nature of its theme, this motion picture is not recommended for children” or “Because of the mature nature of its theme—this motion picture is recommended for adults only.” However, an 11 December 1961 DV brief complained that the “adults only” advisory required a magnifying glass to read.
The film premiered 19 December 1961 at the Fox Wilshire Theatre, where Wyler’s previous film, BEN-HUR (1959), had been playing before THE CHILDREN’S HOUR replaced it. The film remained at the Fox Wilshire, where it opened to the public on 20 December 1961. THE CHILDREN’S HOUR received five Academy Award nominations: Actress in a Supporting Role (Fay Bainter); Art Direction (Black-and-White); Cinematography (Black-and-White); Costume Design (Black-and-White); and Sound.
THE CHILDREN’S HOUR had a budget of $4 million, and was part of The Mirisch Company’s fourteen-film, $45-million production slate for the 1960—1961 season. The actual costs of the film, however, were closer to $2 million. The film had a decent domestic gross of $4.5 million. Alex North’s score was released by Kritzerland in 2010.
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