Everybody Does It | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Edmund Goulding |
Screenplay by | Nunnally Johnson |
Story by | James M. Cain |
Produced by | Nunnally Johnson |
Starring | Paul Douglas Linda Darnell Celeste Holm |
Cinematography | Joseph LaShelle |
Edited by | Robert Fritch |
Music by | Alfred Newman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.6 million (US rentals) [1] [2] |
Everybody Does It is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Paul Douglas, Linda Darnell and Celeste Holm. In the film, a businessman's wife tries to become an opera star, failing miserably due to her lack of talent. When it turns out that her totally untrained husband is found to have a marvelous singing voice and goes on tour under an assumed name, his wife is livid. [3]
Darnell sings long stretches of an imaginary opera, L'Amore di Fatima. The music for it was written by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. In a little tongue-in-cheek detail, the poster for the opera lists Tedesco – who wrote real operas — as the composer. To add to the illusion of the opera's authenticity, Douglas also sings some known songs, including a musical setting of the Rudyard Kipling poem Mandalay and the Toreador Song from Carmen. The operatic scenes were staged by Vladimir Rosing.
The film is a word-for-word remake of 1939's Wife, Husband and Friend , which starred Warner Baxter as Borland, Loretta Young as his wife, and Binnie Barnes as Cecil Carver.
Leonard Borland (Paul Douglas) lives and works in New York City as a wrecking contractor, married to socialite Doris (Celeste Holm). Even though – according to her husband – she has no singing talent, Doris considers herself an aspiring opera singer and regularly pressures Leonard to accompany her to operas. Already dismayed by his father-in-law Major Blair's (Charles Coburn) insistence that Doris take some singing lessons, Leonard becomes further estranged from Doris when her career takes off. Despite financing her recital and arranging an important critic to watch her performance, Doris shows no gratitude.
Meanwhile, successful opera singer Cecil Carver (Linda Darnell) is complaining about being unable to locate a suitable baritone for her new production, when she and the critic are suddenly rushed to Doris's opera performance. Cecil is not altogether impressed with the newcomer's talent and invites Leonard to her apartment to share her opinion. The two quickly hit it off and share a passionate kiss. Then, she finds out that Leonard, unlike his wife, has a powerful voice, and immediately assigns him to her production under the name "Logan Bennett". Doris is too busy training with her mother (Lucile Watson) and vocal coach to note what her husband is up to, and believes that he is on the road for his wrecking work.
While on tour, Cecil attempts to seduce him, but Leonard, still much in love with Doris, rejects her. Back in New York, Leonard learns that Doris is now under medical care for shock treatment, caused by a disastrous booking at a movie palace. Even though she decides to give up her musical aspirations, she agrees to guest a cocktail party for celebrities. Noticing Leonard's uncomfortable reaction to Cecil's presence at the party, Doris realizes that she might be her husband's mistress. Cecil is disappointed that Leonard pretends not to know her and assures Doris that she is not attracted to him whatsoever, and only knows him through the opera. The audience, dumbfounded by the revelation that Leonard is an opera singer, demands that he perform at the party.
Humiliated by his betrayal, Doris orders Leonard to leave her. A few days later, Leonard resides penniless in a hotel and finds out that Doris currently lives in Palm Beach. Due to financial troubles, Leonard accepts a steady opera job. At his debut, attended by Doris and her parents, he is surprised by sudden stage fright. An irritated Cecil and her assistant give him some pills and a potion, causing him to feel sick, and fall from the stage before the entire audience. Much to the audience's amusement, he misses his cue and screws up the entire production. He ends his embarrassing performance by falling into the orchestra pit, prompting a livid Cecil to order him to leave. Doris, feeling for her estranged husband, rushes backstage to reconcile with him. Returning home, they find out that Leonard has been offered a lucrative wrecking contract.
Bosley Crowther, critic for The New York Times , praised Douglas's "robust comedic talent" and wrote that "Mr. Douglas, given his head and a very fat part on which to use it, turns in a highly funny job." [4] He also commended the rest of the cast of the "glib and gleesome farce." [4]
A Letter to Three Wives is a 1949 American romantic drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell and Ann Sothern. The film was adapted by Vera Caspary and written for the screen by Mankiewicz from A Letter to Five Wives, a story by John Klempner that appeared in Cosmopolitan, based on Klempner's 1945 novel.
Linda Darnell was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modelling as a child to acting in theatre and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in both lead and supporting roles in big-budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s. She co-starred with Tyrone Power in four films, including the classic The Mark of Zorro (1940). Her biggest commercial success was the controversial Forever Amber (1947), an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the 1940s and Fox's biggest hit of 1947. She won critical acclaim for her work in Summer Storm (1944), Hangover Square (1945), Fallen Angel (1945), Unfaithfully Yours (1948), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), and No Way Out (1950).
Celeste Holm was an American stage, film and television actress.
Linda Womack, now known as Zeriiya Zekkariyas, is an American singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of soul singer Sam Cooke. She later had a successful career as half of the duo Womack & Womack with her husband Cecil Womack.
Unfaithfully Yours is a 1948 American screwball black comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, and starring Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Rudy Vallée and Barbara Lawrence. The film is about a jealous symphony conductor who imagines three different ways to deal with the supposed infidelity of his beautiful wife—murder, forbearance, and a suicidal game of Russian roulette—during a concert of three inspiring pieces of classical music. At home, his attempts to bring any of his fantasies to life swiftly devolve into farce, underscored with humorous adaptations of the relevant music. Although the film, which was the first of two Sturges made for Twentieth Century-Fox, received mostly positive reviews, it was not successful at the box office.
Lexie Carver is a fictional character on the NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives, created by head writer Leah Laiman. The role has been played most notably by actress Renée Jones, who appeared in the role from 1993 until departing in 2012. She is the daughter of crime boss Stefano DiMera, and the psychic Celeste Perrault. She is the mother of Theo Carver, and was the wife of mayor Abe Carver.
Kevin Buchanan is a fictional character from the American soap opera One Life to Live. The character is the first child born to original lead protagonists Victoria Lord and Joe Riley.
Georgina Charlotte Gascoyne-Cecil, Marchioness of Salisbury, was the wife of British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. The eldest daughter of a judge, her lack of wealth and social connections earned the disapproval of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury; despite this, Alderson married his son Robert in 1857.
Celeste Perrault is a fictional character on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. The character is well known for her psychic abilities in the series. Celeste was portrayed by Tanya Boyd and Beverly Todd.
Wife, Husband and Friend is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Loretta Young, Warner Baxter and Binnie Barnes in the three title roles, respectively. The film, based on a script by Nunnally Johnson, tells the story of a contractor and his wife, and how their musical ambitions result in marital tensions and a romantic triangle with a professional singer. The film was remade as Everybody Does It (1949), starring Paul Douglas as the contractor, Celeste Holm as his wife, and Linda Darnell as the singer.
The Crash is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by William Dieterle. The film is based on the 1932 novel Children of Pleasure written by Larry Barretto, and stars Ruth Chatterton as a luxury-loving wife devastated by the Wall Street crash of 1929.
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now is a 1947 American historical musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring June Haver, Mark Stevens and Martha Stewart. I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now is a biographical film about Joseph E. Howard, the "writer" of the popular song of the same title. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, it was shot in Technicolor.
Day-Time Wife is a 1939 screwball comedy directed by Gregory Ratoff, starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell. Darnell and Power play Jane and Ken Norton, a married couple approaching their second anniversary. This was Linda Darnell's second film. Day-Time Wife was the first of four films that Darnell and Power made together over the next few years, the others being Brigham Young (1940), The Mark of Zorro (1940), and Blood and Sand (1941).
Clytie May Hine, was an Australian-born operatic soprano who became a renowned voice teacher in New York.
This Is My Love is a 1954 American drama film directed by Stuart Heisler, written by Hugh Brooke and Hagar Wilde, and starring Linda Darnell, Rick Jason, Dan Duryea, Faith Domergue, Connie Russell and Hal Baylor. It was released on November 11, 1954, by RKO Pictures.
What's Your Husband Doing? is a 1920 American silent comedy film directed by Lloyd Ingraham and written by R. Cecil Smith based upon the play of the same name by George V. Hobart. The film stars Douglas MacLean, Doris May, Walter Hiers, William Buckley, Norris Johnson, and Alice Claire Elliott. The film was released on January 25, 1920, by Paramount Pictures.
City Without Men is a 1943 American film noir crime film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Linda Darnell, Edgar Buchanan and Michael Duane. It was released by Columbia Pictures on January 14, 1943. A group of women lives in a boarding house near a prison where the residents are the wives of the prison inmates.
Kathy O' is a 1958 American CinemaScope comedy-drama film directed by Jack Sher and starring Dan Duryea, Jan Sterling, Patty McCormack and Mary Fickett.
Career in C Major is an opera-themed novella by American writer James M. Cain, first published in 1938. First appearing as a serial in The American Magazine entitled "Two Can Sing", this comic romance is a departure from Cain's first novels, Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) and Double Indemnity (1936), both hardboiled crime stories that included premeditated murder. Redbook magazine, disappointed that Cain had exchanged his hard-boiled themes involving sex and murder for a "comedic adventure", declined to purchase the novella but Liberty obtained the piece and carried it as a serial in 1935.
Nancy Grant is a fictional character from All My Children, an American soap opera on the ABC network, played by Lisa Wilkinson from 1973 until 1984, with a brief return in early 1995.