Indiscreet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Stanley Donen |
Screenplay by | Norman Krasna |
Based on | Kind Sir by Norman Krasna |
Produced by | Stanley Donen |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Freddie Young |
Edited by | Jack Harris |
Music by | |
Production company | Grandon Productions |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | $8 million (US) [1] |
Indiscreet is a 1958 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.
The film is based on the play Kind Sir by Norman Krasna. This was Bergman and Grant's second film together, following Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946). It was one of the first films to popularize the artistic use of split screens. The film was remade for television in 1988 starring Robert Wagner and Lesley-Anne Down.
Anna Kalman is a famous London-based theater actress who has given up hope of finding the man of her dreams. Through her brother-in-law, Alfred Munson, Anna meets Philip Adams, a handsome economist, and she is instantly smitten with him.
Anna invites Philip go to the ballet, but he demurs, politely noting he is married. Philip adds that he is separated and unable to get a divorce from his wife. Undeterred, Anna asks again and Philip agrees.
They hit it off on their first date and continue seeing each other frequently. Soon, they fall in love. Anna's sister Margaret cautions her, but Anna rebuffs the suggestion.
As their romance blossoms, Philip receives a temporary transfer notice to New York for his work at NATO, which distresses Anna greatly as it will keep them apart for as much as five months.
On the day before Philip is scheduled to sail, Alfred reveals he knows Philip is a bachelor and asks him why he kept this secret. Philip reveals that he is unenthusiastic about the idea of marriage but can't give up on women. Philip assures Alfred that he sincerely loves Anna. He also says he plans to surprise Anna on her birthday the next day.
Anna tells Alfred and Margaret that she plans to go to New York to surprise Philip. To discourage her, Alfred discloses Philip's plan. Margaret complicates the situation by revealing that Philip is unmarried. Anna is furious upon learning this, but decides to go on as if nothing happened, secretly forming a plan to get even with him.
Anna arranges an elaborate ruse where it will appear that she was having an affair with David, an old flame, when Philip comes to visit her on her birthday, but it does not go as planned. When Anna hears David has had an accident and can't come, she tries to persuade her elderly caretaker Carl to stand in as David. Philip arrives and proposes marriage, but leaves when he mistakes Carl for David. Anna is distraught but Philip returns and she is able to clear up the confusion. Anna tells Philip she is happy the way things are, but Philip is adamant about getting married. Anna is overwhelmed with joy and the film ends with the couple embracing.
No film studio sought the rights to the play Kind Sir , so Norman Krasna's co-producers - Joshua Logan, Mary Martin, and Charles Boyer - agreed to Krasna's offer to buy the rights himself for $10,000. Krasna did not tell his fellow producers he had lined up Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman to star in a film. [2]
In March 1955 United Artists announced Krasna would direct a film version for that studio. [3] It was originally announced that the film would be made with either Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield, and with Clark Gable as the male star. [4]
Krasna asked Stanley Donen if he wanted to direct while the latter was making Kiss Them for Me with Grant. Donen agreed "but only with Cary". Grant agreed but only if his co-star was Ingrid Bergman (the two had last acted together in Notorious [1946]). Bergman agreed provided the film could be shot in England; she had a theatre commitment in Paris. Krasna agreed to make the changes from the play. Donen and Grant formed a company together, Grandon Productions, to make the film. [5] In September 1957 Bergman announced she and Grant would star in the film for Warners. [6]
Scenes in the Players' Club were filmed at the Garrick Club in London. The club agreed to let them film there but not to use their name. [7]
The film ranked in the top 10 British box office hits in terms of gross profits in 1958. [8] [9] Kinematograph Weekly listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958. [10] In North America it made $3.6 million. [11]
It was popular and well reviewed. Logan saw the movie expecting to find it different from the play and was surprised to find it "verbatim" like Kind Sir. "Krasna's writing and my taste were more than vindicated," said Logan. "Had I been well [directing the play] it would have been another story." [12]
Indiscreet was nominated for three Golden Globes, two BAFTAs, and one Writers Guild of America award but failed to win any of them.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Indiscreet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Michaels |
Written by | Norman Krasna Walter Lockwood Sally Robinson |
Based on | Kind Sir 1954 play by Norman Krasna |
Produced by | John Davis |
Starring | Robert Wagner |
Cinematography | Bob Edwards |
Release date | 24 October 1988 |
Country | USA |
Language | English |
The film was remade as a 1988 television movie. It was announced in March 1987 as a vehicle for Robert Wagner. [14] Wagner pitched the idea to CBS because he loved the original. [15] Lesley-Anne Down's casting was announced in February 1988. [16] Filming was supposed to start in February 1988 but was pushed back to mid April. Filming finished by May. [17]
The Chicago Tribune wrote: "Leslie-Anne [sic] Down obviously is no Bergman... Wagner is no Grant, try as he may.... "Indiscreet" is more flimsy than brittle, filled with lighter-than-air dialogue and the old hiding-out-on-window- ledges and falling-out-of-rowboat gambits. On the up side there is Down, who at times looks positively Ava Gardnerian, whether parading around in backless dresses or demonstrating a very special talent for saucily closing doors with her tush." [18]
The Los Angeles Times said: "The vapidity of both [lead] performances is magnified by come-hither camera shots that linger too long on their empty faces... Down has a little more flounce to the ounce, but the best she can do as a woman deceived is to fly into a deep snit. Production values evoke the silky-bland noblesse oblige that has been canonized for TV by "Dynasty" and "Knots Landing"." [19]
"Go out and rent the original on video cassette", said The New York Times . [20]
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Indiscreet may refer to:
The 12th British Academy Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1959, honoured the best films of 1958.
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Kind Sir is a 1953 play written by Norman Krasna and directed by Joshua Logan. It was the inspiration for the 1958 film Indiscreet.