Marie Galante (film)

Last updated
Marie Galante
Marie Galante FilmPoster.jpeg
DVD cover
Directed by Henry King
Written by Jacques Deval (novel)
Reginald Berkeley (screenplay)
Dudley Nichols [ citation needed ] (uncredited)
Produced by Winfield R. Sheehan (producer)
StarringSee below
Cinematography John F. Seitz
Edited by Harold D. Schuster
Music by Arthur Lange
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date
  • October 26, 1934 (1934-10-26)
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesFrench, English

Marie Galante is a 1934 American film directed by Henry King, starring Ketti Gallian and Spencer Tracy, adapted from a French novel by Jacques Deval. Later the same year, the novel was adapted into a French musical titled Marie Galante , with book and lyrics by Jacques Deval and music by Kurt Weill.

Contents

The synopsis of the musical play, as described by the Kurt Weill Foundation, is as follows: "Marie is kidnapped and taken to Panama by a lecherous sea captain, who abandons her when she will not give in to his desires. She becomes a prostitute in order to earn money to return to France; meanwhile, she is unwittingly involved in an espionage plot. She spends most of her money to care for a dying black man whom no one else will tend to. When she does finally save enough money for a steamer fare, she is murdered by a spy who fears discovery the night before the boat sails." [1] In the film, Marie remains an innocent, and one of the heroes is a Japanese General.

Plot

Marie is a telegraph messenger who loves the provincial French port that is her home. She delivers a telegram to a captain in the local cafe. It describes the route he is to take. They return to his ship, the Hettie King, so he can compose a reply. The next morning, the captain berates a crewman for departing while the girl was onboard. Their business is illegal, so they drop her off at "a seacoast town in Central America", where Marie learns that she must get to the Panama Canal to get a ship to France.

In the office of the Governor of the Panama Canal Zone, General Philips, his aide, Ellsworth, and British agent, Ratcliff, discuss Philips's "gallery of suspicious characters", including retired Japanese General Tenoki, who owns a curio shop. Ratcliff anticipates an attempt on the Canal by the notorious spy, saboteur and fomenter of wars, Ryner, a master of disguises who kills his female accomplices. Enter tropical disease specialist, Dr. Crawbett, who promises Ratcliff a fine time at the Pacific Gardens café.

At the Pacific Gardens, Marie makes her first appearance, entrancing all the men. Tapia advises Marie that she will get a cut if she drinks with the customers, and orders "a special", orange juice and water. Eager to get home, Marie orders several drinks in rapid succession, amusing Crawbett. She is ecstatic when she learns that Bogard owns the Parisian Bazaar. Assuming that he is French and will help her, she goes to his shop. He is not French, but he tells her that she can come to the shop and look at pictures of France, and adds that she may be able to help him.

At the cabaret, Crawbett speaks to Plosser with authority, giving him orders and receiving reports about other characters' movements. Offscreen, Marie tells him what happened to her; he believes her.

Tenoki's clerk is mysteriously murdered. Brogard tells Marie to find out about the comings and goings of the American officers, so he can stock his shop appropriately.

Crawbett reveals himself as an agent when he calls the Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C.. Tenoki brings Marie to his home. Plosser and Crawbett see her there and assume the worst. Tenoki asks her to reveal Brogard's secrets, but she knows none, so he sends her home. Crawbett confronts her with his suspicions. She walks away to church. He sees her kneeling before the Madonna and apologizes. She promises not to see these men, and goes to the French consul, who will not help.

Crawbett and Ratcliff meet with the governor. A telegram arrives identifying Marie as a stowaway, marking her as a liar and a dangerous woman. The Hettie King arrives at that moment. Crawbett and Plosser interview the captain and the suspiciously large crew. Asked about the stowaway, they say that she escaped in Yucatán.

Marie refuses Brogard's "commission", and gives Crawbett the original telegram that she delivered to the captain. It is signed "Ryner". Ratcliff suspects that Tenoki is Ryner. Meanwhile, men from the Hettie King assemble at Brogard's shop to go on a sightseeing tour of the locks and the powerhouse.

At the Pacific Gardens, Crawbett tells Marie that he cannot send her home yet. He needs to know about these men. She cannot understand what is at stake; she wants to go home.

Brogard discusses the sabotage plot with his men. Crawbett and Ratcliff find dynamite in the dredges near the powerhouse. Crawbett brings Tenoki to the dredge pit and finds Ratcliff dead and the boxes gone. At the powerhouse, Brogard, disguised as the foreman, receives them.

Tenoki turns out to be a good guy, a Japanese spy looking for Ryner, who threatens peace among nations. Crawbett finds Brogard's dead body, with the mustache missing: It is the powerhouse foreman. At the powerhouse, Crawbett sits chatting with the supposed foreman, delaying Brogard's and Ryner's escapes. Fleeing, Ryner shoots Marie.

The American fleet safely steams through the locks. In the hospital, Plosser and Tenoki bring roses to Marie, who no longer wants to go home. She wants to be with her two best friends.

They are going to Paris.

Cast

Production

According to the AFI Catalog, legal records reveal that after the American release of the film, "Jacques Deval, author of the novel, served notice on Fox's Paris office that the studio must not use his name in connection with the film on the ground that the story has been 'so thoroughly mutilated and changed that it is not his work'. Deval threatened to institute an injunction if the studio insisted on using his name." [3] The film credits do cite Deval as the source of the story.

Soundtrack

Reception

The New York Times's Andre Sennwald admired Ketti Gallian:

Frail, lovely and very quietly over-whelming...a striking addition to the screen's gallery of high-powered ladies. The work in which she appears is an ambitious and interesting story of international intrigue which is better in intention than in actual achievement... (It) tells the strange tale of a stranded French girl who becomes the innocent central figure in a whirling confusion of sabotage and counter-espionage in the Panama Canal Zone. M. Deval's crimson heroine has become a virtuous and extraordinarily naïve girl in the film. Unintentionally shanghaied out of her French seacoast village by a drunken captain of a tramp steamer, Marie finds herself penniless and puzzled in a strange land. Fleeing the ship at Yucatan, she makes her way to the Canal Zone, hoping to find passage back to her native land. Her fantastic and pitiful story meets lifted eyebrows everywhere. To support herself she becomes a singer in a night club which is frequented by mysterious and sinister gentlemen of foreign tongue. Ingenuously she becomes involved with several international plotters, who promise to obtain homeward passage for her in return for certain information about the movements of the American fleet. An American agent (Tracy) who believes her story finally manages to expose a plot to blow up a power plant and disable the fleet. In conception and occasionally in execution this is an arresting melodrama, with a fresh and vivid approach to the materials of espionage. Unfortunately it suffers from several major flaws, which force the photoplay steadily into mediocrity after a fine beginning... Marie Galante asks its audiences to believe that a girl of presumably average intelligence can be the unwitting dupe of various rogues without once suspecting their intentions. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Weill</span> German composer (1900–1950)

Kurt Julian Weill was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work, The Threepenny Opera, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose, Gebrauchsmusik. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He became a United States citizen in 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand de Lesseps</span> French diplomat (1805–1894)

Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869 joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times between Europe and East Asia.

<i>Mr. Midshipman Hornblower</i> 1950 novel by C. S. Forester

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower is a 1950 Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. Although it may be considered as the first episode in the Hornblower saga, it was written as a prequel; the first Hornblower novel, The Happy Return, was published in 1937.

<i>Madame Du Barry</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by William Dieterle

Madame DuBarry is a 1934 American historical film directed by William Dieterle and starring Dolores del Río, Reginald Owen, Victor Jory and Osgood Perkins. The film portrays the life of Madame Du Barry, the last mistress of King Louis XV of France. While this film does not serve accuracy to Madame Du Barry, it does feature antiques and jewelry that came from the actual days when Madame Du Barry lived. This film was being edited just as the Hollywood Production Code was gaining real power, and faced many problems with censors of the time. A May 27, 1934, New York Times column, “Studio Activities on the Western Front”, focusing on the “cracking down” of censors noted that a reel and a half had already been cut from the film, including a bedroom scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie-Galante</span> An island of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France

Marie-Galante is one of the dependencies of Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. Marie-Galante has a land area of 158.1 km2. It had 11,528 inhabitants at the start of 2013, but by the start of 2018 the total was officially estimated to be 10,655, with a population density of 62.5/km2 (162/sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martyrs' Day (Panama)</span> Day commemorating the January 9, 1964 anti-American riots in Panama

Martyrs' Day is a Panamanian day of national mourning which commemorates the January 9, 1964 anti-American riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone. The riot started after a Panamanian flag was torn and students were killed during a conflict with Canal Zone Police officers and Canal Zone residents. It is also known as the Flag Incident or Flag Protests.

"The Partisan" is an anti-fascist anthem about the French Resistance in World War II. The song was composed in 1943 by Russian-born Anna Marly (1917–2006), with lyrics by French Resistance leader Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie (1900–1969), and originally titled "La Complainte du partisan". Marly performed it and other songs on the BBC's French service, through which she and her songs were an inspiration to the Resistance. A number of French artists have recorded and released versions of the song since, but it is better recognised globally in its significantly, both musically and in the meaning of its lyrics, different English adaptation by Hy Zaret (1907–2007), best known as the lyricist of "Unchained Melody".

<i>Les Indes galantes</i> Opera-ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau

Les Indes galantes is a ballet héroïque, a type of French Baroque opera-ballet, by Jean-Philippe Rameau with a libretto by Louis Fuzelier. In its final form it comprised an allegorical prologue and four entrées, or acts, each set in an exotic place, the whole being unified around the theme of love. The work dates from 1735 except for the last entrée, which was added the following year. In 1761, however, Rameau dropped the relatively short and mildly contrasted third entrée so as to leave what is now considered the work's definitive form: Prologue; Le turc généreux ; Les incas du Pérou ; and Les sauvages . The dropped entrée was Les fleurs . Famous pieces from Les Indes galantes include the Dance of the Peace Pipe and the Chaconne, both from The Savages of North America.

<i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i> (1934 film) 1934 British adventure film directed by Harold Young

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1934 British adventure film directed by Harold Young and starring Leslie Howard, Merle Oberon, and Raymond Massey. Based on the 1905 play by Baroness Orczy and Montagu Barstow and the classic 1905 adventure novel by Orczy, the film is about an eighteenth-century English aristocrat (Howard) who leads a double life, passing himself off as an effete aristocrat while engaged in a secret effort to rescue French nobles from Robespierre's Reign of Terror. The film was produced by Alexander Korda. Howard's portrayal of the title character is often considered the definitive portrayal of the role. In 1941, he played a similar role in "'Pimpernel' Smith" but this time set in pre-WWII Germany.

USS <i>Hill</i> United States Navy destroyer escort during World War II

USS Hill (DE-141) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1974.

SS <i>California</i> (1927) 1927 ocean liner

SS California was the World's first major ocean liner built with turbo-electric propulsion. When launched in 1927 she was also the largest merchant ship yet built in the US, although she was a modest size compared with the biggest European liners of her era.

<i>Colleen</i> (1936 film) 1936 American film directed by Alfred Edward Green

Colleen is a 1936 American romantic musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, and Joan Blondell. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and was the seventh and final picture starring both Keeler and Powell.

<i>Look Homeward, Angel</i> (play) 1957 play by Ketti Frings

Look Homeward, Angel is a 1957 stage play by the playwright Ketti Frings. The play is based on Thomas Wolfe's 1929 largely autobiographical novel of the same title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florelle</span> French actress and singer (1898–1974)

Florelle was a French soprano singer and actress. She gained fame as Polly Peachum in the French film The Threepenny Opera, after which she had numerous other film roles. In the 1940s, she retired from the stage, but continued to make film appearances during the war.

<i>Charlie Chan in Panama</i> 1940 film by Norman Foster

Charlie Chan in Panama is a 1940 mystery film starring Sidney Toler. It is an uncredited remake of Jacques Deval's novel Marie Galante, produced by 20th Century Fox in 1934, directed by Henry King.

<i>Under the Pampas Moon</i> 1935 film

Under the Pampas Moon, also known as The Gaucho, is a 1935 American Western film directed by James Tinling and starring Warner Baxter and Ketti Gallian. Baxter plays an Argentine gaucho. Rita Hayworth also had an early role in the film. The film has been cited as a "ludicrously dated essay into South American caricature".

<i>Fifty Roads to Town</i> 1937 film by Norman Taurog

Fifty Roads to Town is a 1937 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Don Ameche and Ann Sothern. The film is based on a book of the same name by author Frederick Nebel. This is the third novel Nebel wrote.

Jacques Deval was a French playwright, screenwriter and film director.

SS <i>Roosevelt</i> (1905) American steamship

SS Roosevelt was an American steamship of the early 20th century. She was designed and constructed specifically for Robert Peary′s polar exploration expeditions, and she supported the 1908 expedition in which he claimed to have discovered the North Pole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J'attends un navire</span> Song

"J'attends un navire", also known as "I Am Waiting for a Ship", is a song written in 1934 by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Jacques Deval. The song was written for the musical Marie Galante but later became an unofficial anthem of the French Resistance.

References

  1. ↑ "Marie Galante".
  2. ↑ Turner Classic Movies describes his role as "Bartender", but he is a waiter, and another character appears behind the bar.
  3. ↑ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  4. ↑ Sennwald, Andre (1934-11-21). "International Intrigue in the Canal Zone in M. Deval's "Marie Galante," at the Mayfair". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-03-20.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.