Only Yesterday | |
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Directed by | John M. Stahl |
Written by | William Hurlbut George O'Neil Arthur Richman |
Produced by | Carl Laemmle Jr. |
Starring | Margaret Sullavan John Boles |
Cinematography | Merritt B. Gerstad |
Edited by | Milton Carruth |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Only Yesterday is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film about a young woman who becomes pregnant by her boyfriend before he rushes off to fight in World War I. It stars Margaret Sullavan (in her film debut) and John Boles.
According to the on-screen credit, the film's story line was "suggested" by the 1931 nonfiction bestseller Only Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen, [1] who had sold Universal the rights to his book. [2] The film is set in a time frame close to that of Allen's book but otherwise bears no resemblance to it, and the film's title may simply have been an attempt to capitalize on the book's fame at the time of the film's release. The plot of the film appears to be based closely on Letter from an Unknown Woman (Briefe einer Unbekannten) by Stefan Zweig, [3] published first in 1922 and in English translation a decade later. [4]
According to the New York Times , some moviegoers contacted Zweig's publisher, Viking Press, noting similarities between the film and his book. The Times reported that "These similarities were bought and paid for by Universal Pictures", which moved the story to the United States, "altered the story greatly, and made no mention of Zweig's name in the film". The studio also paid "a large sum" for the right to use the title of Allen's book. [5]
Billie Dove and Gloria Stuart were considered for the lead before Margaret Sullavan was cast. [6]
Unlike in the Zweig story, in the end Emerson acknowledges his son. [7]
The film was Universal's only outstanding success released that year according to a poll of movie theater managers. [8]
The film and trailer are preserved in the Library of Congress collection. [9]
Letter from an Unknown Woman is a novella by Stefan Zweig. Published in 1922, it tells the story of an author who, while reading a letter written by a woman he does not remember, gets glimpses into her life story.
Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular writers in the world.
Margaret Brooke Sullavan was an American stage and film actress.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six.
The Royal Game is a novella by the Austrian author Stefan Zweig written in 1941, the year before the author's death by suicide. In some editions, the title is used for a collection that also includes "Amok", "Burning Secret", "Fear", and "Letter From an Unknown Woman".
The Mortal Storm is a 1940 American drama film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Frank Borzage and stars Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. The film shows the impact on Germans after Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany and gains unlimited power. The supporting cast features Robert Young, Robert Stack, Frank Morgan, Dan Dailey, Ward Bond and Maria Ouspenskaya.
Frederick Lewis Allen was the editor of Harper's Magazine and also notable as an American historian of the first half of the twentieth century. His specialty was writing about recent and popular history.
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Back Street is a romance novel written by Fannie Hurst in 1931, with underlying themes of death and adultery. The book's copyright was renewed in 1958 for an original 1930 registration and a subsequent 1931 registration, meaning that different editions of the book were published. Each will become public domain in 2026 and 2027 for 1930 and 1931, respectively.
Only Yesterday may refer to:
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The Good Fairy is a 1935 romantic comedy film written by Preston Sturges, based on the 1930 play A jó tündér by Ferenc Molnár as translated and adapted by Jane Hinton, which was produced on Broadway in 1931. The film was directed by William Wyler and stars Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen.
Letter from an Unknown Woman is a 1948 American drama romance film released by Universal-International and directed by Max Ophüls. It was based on the novella of the same name by Stefan Zweig. The film stars Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, Mady Christians, and Marcel Journet (actor).
Letter from an Unknown Woman is a 2004 Chinese film written and directed by Xu Jinglei and is her second feature film as director after 2002's My Father and I. The film is an adaptation of Stefan Zweig's 1922 novella of the same name which was also adapted in 1948 by screenwriter Howard Koch. The film stars Xu and Jiang Wen as lovers during the 1930s and 1940s in Beijing. The film was produced by Asian Union Film & Media.
Muriel King (1900–1977) was an American fashion designer based in New York City. She was one of the first American fashion designers along with Elizabeth Hawes and Clare Potter to achieve name recognition. She also designed costumes for several major films in the 1930s and 1940s.
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Stage Door is a 1936 stage play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman about a group of struggling actresses who room at the Footlights Club, a fictitious theatrical boardinghouse in New York City modeled after the real-life Rehearsal Club. The three-act comedy opened on Broadway on October 22, 1936, at the Music Box Theatre and ran for 169 performances. The play was adapted into the 1937 film of the same name, and was also adapted for television.
...the melodrama Only Yesterday (1933)–plagiarized from Stefan Zweig's Letter from an Unknown Woman.