| Enchanted April | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Harry Beaumont |
| Written by | Samuel Hoffenstein Ray Harris |
| Based on | The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim |
| Produced by | Kenneth Macgowan |
| Starring | Ann Harding Frank Morgan Katharine Alexander Reginald Owen Jane Baxter Ralph Forbes Jessie Ralph Charles Judels Rafaela Ottiano |
| Cinematography | Edward Cronjager |
| Edited by | George Hively |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 66 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $346,000 [1] |
| Box office | $165,000 [1] |
Enchanted April is a 1935 American comedy drama film directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Ann Harding, Frank Morgan and Katharine Alexander. It was made by RKO Pictures. The original 1922 novel The Enchanted April has also been adapted for the stage multiple times, and adapted for the 1991 film by screenwriter Peter Barnes.
At Hampstead Court Housewives Club, two women sit in the living room with a fireplace. Outside it's raining. One of the women reads a book (a biography of Madame Du Barry); the other woman is nervously looking around the room and finally decides to look up the newspaper. When she sees a certain announcement, she has to talk, saying to the other woman how beautiful it would be to leave dreadful London and go south to Italy, renting a Castle for two or more people and splitting the costs. So they find the way to San Salvatore, and the Enchanted April is there from the very minute they arrive.
Their husbands and lovers are soon popping up and passing by, and the Italians who know, understand the English people. A mixture of slapstick comedy and on the other side the rarefied figure of Ann Harding.
San Salvatore is based on Castello Brown, overlooking Portofino, where Elizabeth von Arnim had stayed. The film was not shot on location, but Jane Baxter did visit later "to see what the house was really like". [2]
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Enchanted April was released in 2005 on a region 2 French DVD on the "Éditions Montparnasse" label, titled Avril enchanté. It features a very clean print from an unconverted NTSC-PAL master, hence its unaltered 66 minute running time, and optional French subtitles in a small yellow font. Additionally, there is an informative 21⁄2 minute intro – in French, without subtitles – by film historian and restorer Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films.
Stage Door is a 1937 American drama film directed by Gregory La Cava. Adapted from the play of the same name, it tells the story of several would-be actresses who live together in a boarding house at 158 West 58th Street in New York City. The film stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, Gail Patrick, Constance Collier, Andrea Leeds, Samuel S. Hinds and Lucille Ball. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures. Eve Arden and Ann Miller, who became notable in later films, play minor characters.
Enchanted April is a 1991 British film directed by Mike Newell. The screenplay by Peter Barnes was adapted from Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel The Enchanted April. It stars Miranda Richardson, Josie Lawrence, Polly Walker, and Joan Plowright, with Alfred Molina, Michael Kitchen, and Jim Broadbent in supporting roles.
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The Enchanted April is a 1922 novel by British writer Elizabeth von Arnim. The work was inspired by a month-long holiday to the Italian Riviera, probably the most widely read and perhaps the lightest and most ebullient of her novels.
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