Jeanne Eagels (film)

Last updated
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne eagels d.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Sidney
Screenplay by Daniel Fuchs
Sonya Levien
John Fante
Story byDaniel Fuchs
Produced byGeorge Sidney
Starring Kim Novak
Jeff Chandler
Cinematography Robert H. Planck
Edited by Viola Lawrence
Jerome Thoms
Music by George Duning
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Columbia Pictures
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • August 2, 1957 (1957-08-02)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.1 million (US rentals) [1]

Jeanne Eagels (also titled The Jeanne Eagels Story) is a 1957 American biographical film loosely based on the life of stage star Jeanne Eagels. Distributed by Columbia Pictures, the film was produced and directed by George Sidney from a screenplay by John Fante, Daniel Fuchs and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Fuchs. [2] [3]

Contents

The film stars Kim Novak in the title role and Jeff Chandler.

Many aspects of Eagels' real life were omitted or largely fictionalized. Eagels' family later sued Columbia Pictures over the way Eagels was depicted in the film. [4]

Plot

Drive-in advertisement from 1957 Encina Drive-in Ad - 15 August 1957, Santa Cruz, CA.jpg
Drive-in advertisement from 1957

Jeanne Eagels is a Kansas City waitress. After losing a beauty contest, she asks carnival owner Sal Satori for a job. Her dance in a skimpy costume is called obscene. Sal joins his brother in New York and invites Jeanne to join them at an amusement park on Coney Island.

Taking acting lessons instead, the ambitious Jeanne becomes the understudy in a Broadway show and a star when she gets a chance to play the part. A former successful actress named Elsie Desmond wants to make a comeback in a new play, but Jeanne betrays her and takes the play for herself, willing to do anything to advance. Elsie denounces her in the theater before the first performance and then commits suicide. Sal is also disgusted by Jeanne's behavior. She accepts a proposal from a lowlife named John Donahue, but both descend into alcoholism. Jeanne misses performances and causes fellow actors to lose paychecks.

Jeanne's situation deteriorates further when she must pay alimony to John after a divorce. A new play fails because Jeanne, drunk and on pills, collapses on stage. The actors' guild suspends her for 18 months. Unable to work, she returns to Sal's amusement park and is offered a job dancing. Another performer sexually assaults her in a dressing room. Jeanne, her life in ruins, continues to spiral downward and hallucinate. While trying to take the stage one night, she collapses on a staircase and dies.

Cast

Production

The film was long planned as a vehicle for Kim Novak. [5] Jeff Chandler had just finished a long-term exclusive contract with Universal and played the male lead. [6]

Novak's dress caught fire during filming but Chandler extinguished it. [7]

Reception

Variety called it "unexciting" and let down by its performances. [8]

Soundtrack

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Jeanne Eagels on August 3, 2010 as part of its Kim Novak Collection. The box set also includes the films Picnic (1956), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Middle of the Night (1959) and Pal Joey (1957). [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeanne Eagels</span> American actress (1890-1929)

Jeanne Eagels was an American stage and film actress. Eagels appeared in many Broadway productions, and in the emerging medium of sound films. She was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in The Letter after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39.

<i>The Letter</i> (1929 film) Jean de Limur drama

The Letter is an American pre-Code dramatic film directed by Jean de Limur and released by Paramount Pictures. It was the first full-sound feature shot at Astoria Studios, Queens, New York City. A silent version of the film was also released. The film stars stage actress Jeanne Eagels in her penultimate role and O.P. Heggie. The film was adapted by Garrett Fort from the 1927 play The Letter by W. Somerset Maugham. It tells the story of a jealous married woman who kills her lover and is brought to trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Novak</span> American actress (born 1933)

Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Novak is an American retired film and television actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Cohn</span> Co-founder of Columbia Pictures Corporation (1891–1958)

Harry Cohn was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Chandler</span> American actor (1918–1961)

Jeff Chandler was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was one of Universal Pictures' more popular male stars of the 1950s. His other credits include Sword in the Desert (1948), Deported (1950), Female on the Beach (1955), and Away All Boats (1956). He also performed as a radio actor and as a singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Sidney</span> American film director and producer (1916–2002)

George Sidney was an American film director and producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His work includes cult classics Bye Bye Birdie (1963) and Viva Las Vegas (1964). With an extensive background in acting, stage direction, film editing, and music, Sidney created many of post-war Hollywood's big budget musicals, such as Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Show Boat (1951), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), and Pal Joey (1957). He was also a president of the Screen Directors Guild for 16 years.

<i>Used Cars</i> 1980 film by Robert Zemeckis

Used Cars is a 1980 American satirical black comedy film co-written and directed by Robert Zemeckis. The story follows Rudy Russo, a devious salesman, working for affable, but monumentally unsuccessful used-car dealer Luke Fuchs. Luke's principal rival, located directly across the street, is his more prosperous brother, Roy L. Fuchs, who is scheming to take over Luke's lot. The film also stars Deborah Harmon and Gerrit Graham, and the supporting cast includes Frank McRae, David L. Lander, Michael McKean, Joe Flaherty, Al Lewis, Dub Taylor, Harry Northup, Dick Miller, and Betty Thomas.

<i>Bell, Book and Candle</i> 1958 film by Richard Quine

Bell, Book and Candle is a 1958 American supernatural romantic comedy film directed by Richard Quine from a screenplay by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1950 Broadway play of the same title by John Van Druten and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs. Novak portrays a witch who casts a spell on her neighbor, played by Stewart. The supporting cast features Lemmon, Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanchester and Janice Rule. The film is considered Stewart's final role as a romantic lead.

<i>The Eddy Duchin Story</i> 1956 film by George Sidney

The Eddy Duchin Story is a 1956 American biopic film of band leader and pianist Eddy Duchin starring Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. Filmed in CinemaScope, the Technicolor production was directed by George Sidney and written by Samuel A. Taylor. Harry Stradling received an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography. The picture received four nominations in total and was one of the highest-grossing films of 1956. Incorporating signature elements of Duchin's style into his own, Carmen Cavallaro performed the piano music for the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Wright (actor)</span> American character actor (1894–1962)

William Henry Wright was an American actor. He was frequently cast in Westerns and as a curmudgeonly and argumentative old man. Over the course of his career, Wright appeared in more than 200 film and television roles.

The Pike was an amusement zone in Long Beach, California. The Pike was founded in 1902 along the shoreline south of Ocean Boulevard with several independent arcades, food stands, gift shops, a variety of rides and a grand bath house. It was most noted for the Cyclone Racer (1930–1968), a large wooden dual-track roller coaster, built out on pilings over the water.

<i>Pal Joey</i> (film) 1957 American musical film directed by George Sidney

Pal Joey is a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by George Sidney, loosely adapted from the Rodgers and Hart musical play of the same name, and starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.

<i>The Notorious Landlady</i> 1962 US comedy mystery film by Richard Quine

The Notorious Landlady is a 1962 American comedy mystery film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire. The film was directed by Richard Quine, with a script by Blake Edwards and Larry Gelbart based on the short story "The Notorious Tenant" by Margery Sharp.

<i>The Lady Takes a Flyer</i> 1958 film by Jack Arnold

The Lady Takes a Flyer is a 1958 American CinemaScope Eastmancolor comedy-drama romance film released by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Jack Arnold and written by Danny Arnold based on a story by Edmund H. North.

<i>The Tattered Dress</i> 1957 film by Jack Arnold

The Tattered Dress is a 1957 American CinemaScope film noir crime film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Jack Arnold. It stars Jeff Chandler, Jeanne Crain, Jack Carson, Gail Russell and Elaine Stewart.

<i>Pillars of the Sky</i> 1956 American film

Pillars of the Sky is a 1956 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Marshall and starring Jeff Chandler, Dorothy Malone and Ward Bond. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.

<i>China Doll</i> (film) 1958 film

China Doll is a 1958 romantic drama film set in the China Burma India Theater of World War II and starring Victor Mature and Li Li-Hua. It represented a return to films for director Frank Borzage who had taken a 10-year hiatus before tackling this poignant, yet "offbeat" film.

<i>Outcast</i> (1928 film) 1928 film

Outcast is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film produced and distributed by First National Pictures. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-disc Vitaphone process. It was directed by William A. Seiter and stars Corinne Griffith, often considered one of the most beautiful women in film. This story had been filmed in 1917 as The World and the Woman with Jeanne Eagels. In 1922 a Paramount film of the same name with Elsie Ferguson reprising her stage role was released. Both films were based on a 1914 play, Outcast, by Hubert Henry Davies which starred Ferguson. The Seiter/Griffith film was an all silent with Vitaphone music and sound effects. In the sound era the story was filmed once again as The Girl from 10th Avenue starring Bette Davis. According to the Library of Congress database shows a print surviving complete at Cineteca Italiana in Milan.

<i>Jealousy</i> (1929 film) 1929 film

Jealousy is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film directed by Jean de Limur and released by Paramount Pictures. It is based on the French play Monsieur Lamberthier, by Louis Verneuil. The play was translated by Eugene Walter and ran on Broadway under the title Jealousy in 1928. The film version starred Jeanne Eagels and Fredric March, and is the second sound film and final motion picture featuring Eagels.

<i>Rumble on the Docks</i> 1956 film by Fred F. Sears

Rumble on the Docks is a 1956 American crime film noir directed by Fred F. Sears and starring James Darren, Laurie Carroll, Michael Granger and Robert Blake. The film was based on the novel of the same title by Frank Paley. It was produced by Sam Katzman for release by Columbia Pictures.

References

  1. "Top Grosses of 1957", Variety, 8 January 1958: 30
  2. Variety film review; July 24, 1957, page 6.
  3. Harrison's Reports film review; July 20, 1957, page 114.
  4. Erickson, Hal (2008). "Jeanne Eagels (1957)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved January 8, 2013.
  5. Scheuer, Philip K. (Jan 6, 1957). "A Town Called Hollywood: Kim Novak 'Merges' With Spirit of Jeanne Eagels". Los Angeles Times. p. E2.
  6. Hopper, Hedda (Dec 8, 1956). "Movie to Team McCrea and Mark Stevens". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 18.
  7. "Kim Novak Escapes As Dress Catches Fire". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Feb 15, 1957. p. A24.
  8. "Jeanne Eagels". Variety. 24 July 1957. p. 6.
  9. Ball, Chris (August 4, 2010). "'Kim Novak Collection' offers five of her best films". cleveland.com. Retrieved January 8, 2013.

Further reading