The Constant Nymph (1943 film)

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The Constant Nymph
Theconstantnymphfilm.jpg
1943 film
Directed by Edmund Goulding
Screenplay by Kathryn Scola
Based on The Constant Nymph (novel) (1924 novel)
by Margaret Kennedy
1926 play (Basil Dean)
Produced by Henry Blanke
Hal B. Wallis
Starring Joan Fontaine
Charles Boyer
Alexis Smith
Cinematography Tony Gaudio
Edited by David Weisbart
Music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • June 23, 1943 (1943-06-23)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.9 million (US rentals) [1] or $1,123,000 [2]
Box office$3,452,000 [2]

The Constant Nymph is a 1943 romantic drama film starring Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, Alexis Smith, Brenda Marshall, Charles Coburn, May Whitty, and Peter Lorre with a famous score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. [3] It was adapted by Kathryn Scola from the 1924 novel of the same name by Margaret Kennedy and the 1926 play by Kennedy and Basil Dean and directed by Edmund Goulding.

Contents

Plot

Belgian composer Lewis Dodd's latest symphony has flopped. Seeking new inspiration, he travels to a Swiss chalet to visit his mentor, Albert Sanger, and his family. Sanger's four young daughters Kate, Toni, Tessa and Paula have a crush on Dodd. Tessa, particularly, believes that someday, when she is old enough, he will recognize the depth of her affection for him. Lewis brings out his newest work, a symphonic poem called “Tomorrow,” which he has composed for the Sanger girls to play. Albert himself is far more pleased with this “trifle” than with Lewis’s noisy modernist symphony. However, shortly afterwards, the elderly, hard-drinking Sanger dies while orchestrating Lewis’s “little tune", a task which Dodd now vows to complete himself.

While remaining with the Sangers to help the family cope with their loss, Lewis renews an acquaintance with the beautiful, sophisticated Florence Creighton. Later, Lewis asks her to marry him. Tessa collapses at the news. Only her closest sister, Paula, understands why. Six months later, Florence and Lewis are in London, living in her father‘s large townhouse. They are taking care of Tessa and Paula, who now attend a boarding school. Both girls find the experience unbearable. After they run away, a worried Lewis notifies Scotland Yard. But the elusive Tessa and Paula arrive at the townhouse, just in time to witness Lewis's private performance of "Tomorrow." Much to everyone's disappointment, Lewis has taken the beautiful melody and buried it under a modernist “bangety bang” racket. As a result, even Lewis himself is convinced that more changes are needed before the scheduled concert of the piece is to take place. He thus asks Tessa to stay and help him remember the more Romanticist conception of "Tomorrow" as originally envisioned by Sanger.

A few weeks later, it is the day of the concert. While dressing for the occasion, Tessa, who has a history of cardiac problems, suffers a fainting spell. Florence, who has become jealous of Tessa's close collaborative relationship with Lewis, convinces her she cannot attend. She might have palpitations and cause a scene. So Tessa remains in the townhouse's study, where she listens to a radio broadcast of the new version of "Tomorrow" as it is performed before an audience. Before the composition's end, however, she collapses to the floor and dies. At the concert hall, the presentation is met with a long ovation. Lewis rushes home to tell Tessa of their success but instead witnesses the sight of Tessa's body lying on the study floor. Lewis calls her name and embraces her, his face wet with tears. The film's score climaxes as the log in the fireplace seems to spark, then flame, and then dissolve into a brilliant sky.

Cast

Music

Erich Wolfgang Korngold composed the music for The Constant Nymph. The symphonic poem Tomorrow, which was given a complete performance in the film, became Opus 33 in the roster of his works. It first was performed in concert in 1944.

Reception

Fontaine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. [4]

Box-office

According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $1,833,000 in the U.S. and $1,619,000 in other markets. [2]

Availability

The will of Margaret Kennedy stated that the film could be shown only at universities and museums after its original theatrical run ended. As a result, the film was unavailable for exhibition for nearly 70 years. The film received its first authorized public screening in decades as part of the 2011 Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival. [5] [6]

Edmund Goulding's biographer Matthew Kennedy wrote that Joan Fontaine spoke "rapturously" of The Constant Nymph: "She was nominated for a best actress Oscar for it, and it remains a personal favorite of hers." [7]

The film was released on DVD under the Warner Archive Collection label on 22 November 2011. [8]

Radio adaptation

The Constant Nymph was presented on Hollywood Players December 17, 1946. Fontaine reprised her role from the film. [9]

See also

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The Constant Nymph may refer to:

The Constant Nymph is a 1933 British drama film directed by Basil Dean and starring Victoria Hopper, Brian Aherne and Leonora Corbett. It is an adaptation of the 1924 novel The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy and the 1926 stage play adaptation written by Kennedy and Dean. Dean tried to persuade Novello to reprise his appearance from the 1928 silent version The Constant Nymph but was turned down and cast Aherne in the part instead.

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<i>Escape Me Never</i> (1935 film) 1935 British film

Escape Me Never is a 1935 British drama film directed by Paul Czinner, produced by Herbert Wilcox, and starring Elisabeth Bergner, Hugh Sinclair and Griffith Jones. The score is by William Walton with orchestration by Hyam Greenbaum. Bergner was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance, but lost to Bette Davis. British readers of Film Weekly magazine voted the 1935 Best Performance in a British Movie to her. The film is an adaptation of the play Escape Me Never by Margaret Kennedy, which was based upon her 1930 novel The Fool of the Family. That book was a sequel to The Constant Nymph, which was also about the Sanger family of musical geniuses, but there is a disjunct among the books and the films: the Sanger brothers are never mentioned in the 1943 movie version of The Constant Nymph. Another film adaptation of Escape Me Never was made in 1947 by Warner Bros.

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<i>The Constant Nymph</i> (play) 1926 play

The Constant Nymph is a play based on the 1924 novel of the same name by Margaret Kennedy. The stage version, adapted by Kennedy and the director Basil Dean, was first performed in London in 1926, starring Noël Coward, Edna Best and Cathleen Nesbitt. It portrays the love of two women for a young composer, and the conflicts that arise. The tragic ending has the younger of the two – a teenager – die of heart failure.

References

  1. "Top Grossers of the Season", Variety, 5 January 1944 p 54
  2. 1 2 3 Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 23 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
  3. "Movie of the Week: The Constant Nymph" - August 2, 1943 - Page 38.
  4. "The Constant Nymph". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . Retrieved 2014-02-10.
  5. "TCM Fest: 'The Constant Nymph' (1943), a rediscovered gem". Archived from the original on 2011-05-05. Retrieved 2012-10-17.
  6. TCM Classic Film Festival: 'Night Flight,' 'The Constant Nymph,' 'Hoop-La'
  7. Kennedy, Matthew (2004). Edmund Goulding’s Dark Victory: Hollywood’s Genius Bad Boy. University of Wisconsin Press.
  8. DVD Savant Review: The Constant Nymph
  9. "'Nymph'". Harrisburg Telegraph. December 14, 1946. p. 17. Retrieved September 11, 2015 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg