Temptation | |
---|---|
Directed by | Irving Pichel |
Screenplay by | Robert Thoeren |
Based on | Novel: Bella Donna by Robert Smythe Hichens Play: Bella Donna by James B. Fagan |
Produced by | Edward Small |
Starring | Merle Oberon George Brent Charles Korvin Paul Lukas |
Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
Edited by | Ernest J. Nims |
Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.6 million [1] |
Temptation is a 1946 American film noir thriller film directed by Irving Pichel and starring Merle Oberon, George Brent, Charles Korvin and Paul Lukas. The film was based on Robert Smythe Hichens's 1909 novel Bella Donna . Other film adaptations of the novel were produced in 1915, 1923 and 1934.
In the 1890s, a London courtesan snares a loving but naive Egyptologist, marries him and moves to Egypt. She quickly becomes bored and embarks on an affair with Mamhoud Baroudi. She falls in love with him, and they plot to kill her husband.
The film was the first that Edward Small produced after the termination of his long contract with United Artists, [2] and the first to be filmed at Universal under the merger with International Pictures that formed the short-lived United World Pictures. [1] Small bought the rights to the novel in 1941, intending it as a vehicle for Ilona Massey, who had just appeared in International Lady for him. [3] [4] He wished to produce the film for United Artists, but other projects took priority. Over a five-year period, there were several near-starts and postponements. Small almost managed to begin production in February 1946, but there was not enough studio space. [1]
Photographer Robert Capa made his sole acting appearance in Temptation. On a visit to the set to see his friend Charles Korvin, Capa claimed that he could perform the role of Hamza better than could the actor who had been hired to play the part. Capa auditioned for Irving Pichel, who was convinced by Capa's accent and offered him the part. [5]
In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther panned the film, writing: "True enough, Miss Oberon looks lovely, Mr. Korvin behaves with bold sang-froid and George Brent is sufficiently unimpressive to seem a husband that a dame would double-cross. Paul Lucas, Arnold Moss and Lenore Ulric also act as though they thought they had a script. But the whole thing is as claptrap in its nature as it was when Pola Negri played it back in 1923." [6]
Variety magazine criticized the screenplay, writing: "Production is well-stacked with solid values in every department except for the screenplay, which falls short in its attempt to stretch an unsubstantial story line over so long a running time." [7]
Merle Oberon was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). Oberon hid her mixed heritage out of fear of discrimination and the impact it would have had on her career.
The Great Lie is a 1941 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding, and starring Bette Davis, George Brent and Mary Astor. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee is based on the novel January Heights by Polan Banks.
Perfect Strangers, is a 1945 British drama film made by London Films. It stars Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr as a married couple whose relationship is shaken by their service in the Second World War. The supporting cast includes Glynis Johns, Ann Todd and Roland Culver. It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Clemence Dane and Anthony Pelissier based on a story by Clemence Dane. Dane won the Academy Award for Best Story. The music score was by Clifton Parker and the cinematography by Georges Périnal.
The Killer That Stalked New York is a 1950 American film noir directed by Earl McEvoy and starring Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin and William Bishop. The film, shot on location and in a semi-documentary style, is about diamond smugglers who unknowingly start a smallpox outbreak in the New York City of 1947. It is based on the real threat of a smallpox epidemic in the city, as described in a story taken from a 1948 Cosmopolitan magazine article.
Berlin Express is a 1948 American drama film starring Robert Ryan, Merle Oberon and Paul Lukas and directed by Jacques Tourneur.
Charles Korvin was a Hungarian-American film, television and stage actor. He was also a professional still and motion picture photographer and a master chef.
Lydia is a 1941 American romantic drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Merle Oberon as Lydia MacMillan, a woman whose life is seen from her spoiled, immature youth through bitter and resentful middle years, until at last she is old and accepting. The supporting cast features Joseph Cotten, Edna May Oliver and George Reeves. The picture is a remake of Duvivier's Un carnet de bal (1937), which starred Marie Bell as the leading character.
Lenore Ulric was a star of the Broadway theatre as well as Hollywood films of the silent-film and early sound era.
Irving Pichel was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career.
Tomorrow Is Forever is a 1946 American romantic drama film directed by Irving Pichel, adapted by Lenore Coffee from Gwen Bristow's 1943 serialized novel of the same name. Starring Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles, and George Brent, it was the film debut of both Richard Long and Natalie Wood. The film was produced by International Pictures, and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures.
The Oscar is a 1966 American drama film directed by Russell Rouse and starring Stephen Boyd, Elke Sommer, Milton Berle, Eleanor Parker, Joseph Cotten, Jill St. John, Tony Bennett, Edie Adams and Ernest Borgnine.
Forever and a Day is a 1943 American drama film, a collaborative effort employing seven directors/producers and 22 writers, with a large cast of well-known stars.
Footsteps in the Dark is a 1941 American comedy mystery film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall and Ralph Bellamy. It was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Flynn plays a novelist and amateur detective investigating a murder. It takes its title from the 1935 play Footsteps in the Dark by Ladislas Fodor and also used material from the 1937 play Blondie White by Jeffrey Dell.
Action in Arabia is a 1944 American spy thriller film directed by Leonide Moguy and starring George Sanders and Virginia Bruce. The film was based on the 1943 novel The Fanatic of Fez by M. V. Heberden. Action in Arabia was written by Philip MacDonald and Herbert J. Biberman. The supporting cast includes Gene Lockhart and Robert Armstrong. Despite the title, the plot involves trouble and intrigue with the Nazis in Damascus, who scheme to seize control of the Suez Canal.
Earthbound is a 1940 film directed by Irving Pichel. It stars Warner Baxter and Andrea Leeds. It is a remake of the 1920 silent film of the same name, Earthbound. Critical reception to the film was generally negative.
The Moon Is Down is a 1943 American war film starring Cedric Hardwicke, Lee J. Cobb and Henry Travers and directed by Irving Pichel. The Screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and is based on the 1942 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck. This was the Dorris Bowdon's last movie and Natalie Wood's first movie and features an uncredited John Banner who would go on to play Sgt. Shultz in the TV comedy series Hogan's Heroes.
Dance Hall is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Irving Pichel and written by Stanley Rauh and Ethel Hill. The film stars Carole Landis, Cesar Romero, William "Bill" Henry, June Storey, J. Edward Bromberg and Charles Halton. It is based on the novel The Giant Swing by W. R. Burnett. The film was released on July 18, 1941, by 20th Century Fox.
Bella Donna is a 1934 British drama film directed by Robert Milton and starring Conrad Veidt, Mary Ellis and Cedric Hardwicke. The film is based on the 1909 novel Bella Donna by Robert Hichens which had previously been made into a 1923 American silent film Bella Donna starring Pola Negri. A further American adaptation Temptation starring Merle Oberon was produced in 1946.
The Temptation of Saint Anthony is a 1945 painting by the German artist Max Ernst. It depicts the desert father Anthony the Great as he is tormented by demons in Egypt. The painting is located at the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, Germany.