The Girl of the Golden West | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
Written by | Isabel Dawn Boyce DeGaw |
Based on | The Girl of the Golden West 1905 play by David Belasco |
Produced by | Robert Z. Leonard William Anthony McGuire |
Starring | Jeanette MacDonald Nelson Eddy Walter Pidgeon |
Cinematography | Oliver T. Marsh |
Edited by | W. Donn Hayes |
Music by | Herbert Stothart |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 121 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,680,000 [1] [2] |
Box office | $1,597,000 (Domestic earnings) [1] $1,285,000 (Foreign earnings) [1] |
The Girl of the Golden West is a 1938 American musical Western film adapted from the 1905 play of the same name by David Belasco, better known for providing the plot of the opera La fanciulla del West by Giacomo Puccini. A frontier woman falls in love with an outlaw. [3]
In a remote mining camp in California, a group of miners seeks their fortune during the Gold Rush. The miners frequent a saloon run by Mary, who is known as the "Girl of the Golden West." Mary is beloved by the miners.
Mary's life takes a turn when a notorious bandit and outlaw named Dick Johnson arrives in town under the alias "Ramirez." He is on the run from the law, and when he takes refuge in Mary's saloon, he and Mary quickly fall in love. Mary, unaware of his true identity, shelters and protects him.
Sheriff Jack Rance, who is infatuated with Mary, becomes suspicious of the newcomer and starts investigating Ramirez's background. Rance discovers Ramirez's true identity and plans to capture him. Mary is torn between her love for Ramirez and her loyalty to the miners and her sense of justice. Mary must make a difficult choice that will determine the fate of the man she loves. When Jack shoots him, Mary hides him in the loft of her cabin. Blood dripping through the ceiling alerts Jack to Dick's presence. While Dick lies unconscious on the floor. Mary and Jack play cards for Dick's life against her staying with Jack. She wins by cheating, but Jack discovers it. He lets Dick go and embraces a weeping Mary.
The boys throw a farewell party for Mary and Jack, who leave for Monterey to be married there by the padre. Planning to start a new life, Dick visits the padre. Mary and Jack arrive to be married. She hears Dick humming and tells him to flee. Jack overhears her confession of love and goes back to Cloudy. Dissolve to Dick and Mary in a covered wagon, singing “Señorita” and ending with a kiss.
According to MGM records the film earned $2,882,000 resulting in a profit of $243,000. [2]
San Francisco is a 1936 American musical-drama disaster film directed by W. S. Van Dyke, based on the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The film stars Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy. MacDonald's singing helped make this film a major hit, coming on the heels of her other 1936 blockbuster, Rose Marie.
Sigmund Romberg was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his musicals and operettas, particularly The Student Prince (1924), The Desert Song (1926) and The New Moon (1928).
Jeanette Anna MacDonald was an American soprano and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy. During the 1930s and 1940s she starred in 29 feature films, four nominated for Best Picture Oscars, and recorded extensively, earning three gold records. She later appeared in opera, concerts, radio, and television. MacDonald was one of the most influential sopranos of the 20th century, introducing opera to film-going audiences and inspiring a generation of singers.
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American actor and baritone singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. He was one of the first "crossover" stars, a superstar appealing both to shrieking bobby soxers and opera purists, and in his heyday, he was the highest paid singer in the world.
The New Moon is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. The show was the third in a string of Broadway hits for Romberg written in the style of Viennese operetta. Set around the time of the French Revolution, the story centers on a young French aristocrat in disguise, who has fled his country and falls in love with the daughter of a prominent New Orleans planter.
That's Entertainment! is a 1974 American compilation film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate the studio's 50th anniversary. The success of the retrospective prompted a 1976 sequel, the related 1985 film That's Dancing!, and a third installment in 1994.
Maytime is a 1937 American musical and romantic-drama film produced by MGM. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and stars Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The screenplay was rewritten from the book for Sigmund Romberg's 1917 operetta Maytime by Rida Johnson Young, Romberg's librettist; however, only one musical number by Romberg was retained.
New Moon is a 1940 American musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Robert Z. Leonard, with uncredited direction by W. S. Van Dyke.
Maytime is a musical with music by Sigmund Romberg and lyrics and book by Rida Johnson Young, and with additional lyrics by Cyrus Wood. The story is based on the 1913 German operetta Wie einst im Mai, composed by Walter Kollo, with words by Rudolf Bernauer and Rudolph Schanzer. The story, set in New York, is told in episodes covering a long period, from 1840 to the 20th century. Wealthy young Ottillie is in love with Dick, but they are kept apart by family and circumstance. Years later, their descendants marry. Maytime introduced songs such as "The Road to Paradise", "Will You Remember?" and "Jump Jim Crow".
Up in Central Park is a Broadway musical with a book by Herbert Fields and Dorothy Fields, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and music by Sigmund Romberg. The musical, originally called "Central Park" before Broadway, was Romberg's last stage work produced during his lifetime.
Rose Marie is a 1936 American musical Western film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy and Reginald Owen. It is the second of three Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptations of the 1924 Broadway musical of the same name. A silent version was released in 1928 and a color film in 1954. All three versions are set in the Canadian wilderness. Portions of Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart's original score for the Broadway musical are included in both the 1936 and 1954 films.
The Firefly is a 1937 American historical musical film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring Jeanette MacDonald, Allan Jones and Warren William. The film is an adaptation of the operetta of the same name by composer Rudolf Friml and librettist Otto A. Harbach that premiered on Broadway in 1912. The film used nearly all of the music from the operetta but jettisoned the plot in favor of a new storyline set in Spain during the time of the Emperor Napoleon I. It added a new song, "The Donkey Serenade", which became extremely popular, as was one of the Friml songs, "Giannina Mia". The original release prints of the film were elaborately tinted with Sepia-Blue, Sepia-Orange and Sepia-Blue-Pink.
Bitter Sweet is a 1940 American Technicolor musical film directed by W. S. Van Dyke, based on the operetta Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward. It was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Cinematography and the other for Best Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons and John S. Detlie.
"Indian Love Call" is a popular song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II. Originally written for Mary Ellis, the song achieved continued popularity under other artists and has been called Friml's best-remembered work.
New Moon is a 1930 black-and-white American, pre-Code romantic/drama/melodrama musical film version of the operetta The New Moon, with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and others. The original stage version premiered on Broadway in 1928. The 1930 film is also known as Komissa Strogoff in Greece, Nymånen in Denmark and Passione cosacca in Italy. A second adaptation, also titled New Moon, was released in 1940.
"Theme from San Francisco," also known as "San Francisco," is a song from the 1936 American film San Francisco. It was written by Bronislaw Kaper and Walter Jurmann, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It is sung by Jeanette MacDonald six times in the film, and becomes an anthem for the survivors of the 1906 earthquake.
Lover Come Back may refer to:
The Girl of the Golden West is a 1930 American Pre-Code Western film produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., directed by John Francis Dillon and starring actress Ann Harding and James Rennie. Harding's then-husband, Harry Bannister, plays the villain Jack Rance. David Belasco wrote, directed, and produced the original play in 1905 which starred Blanche Bates.
The Hit Parade is a 1937 American musical film directed by Gus Meins and written by Bradford Ropes, Samuel Ornitz and Harry Ruskin. The film stars Frances Langford, Phil Regan, Max Terhune, Edward Brophy, Louise Henry and Pert Kelton. The film was released on April 26, 1937, by Republic Pictures. Republic later reissued the film in 67 minute length as I'll Reach for a Star.
American actress/singer Jeanette MacDonald recorded over 50 songs during her film career for RCA Victor and its foreign counterparts. Due to the limited statistics released to the public, it is not certain how many songs and singles she has released or their exact popularity in music charts, although she has officially recorded eight studio albums and released seven compilation albums. Despite soundtracks for musical films not becoming a concept until the 1940s, many of her singles were re-recordings of songs she had performed in the movies ; her first "album" was the single "Dream Lover"/"March of the Grenadiers" (1930) on 78 rpm discs for The Love Parade. She also recorded a cover album of songs featured in Sigmund Romberg's Up in Central Park in 1945 with Robert Merrill, as well as non-English records during her 1931 European tour.