Valerie (film)

Last updated

Valerie
Valerie (film) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Screenplay by
  • Leonard Heideman
  • Emmett Murphy
Produced byHal R. Makelim
Starring
Cinematography Ernest Laszlo
Edited by David Bretherton
Music by Albert Glasser
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Hal R. Makelim Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • August 1, 1957 (1957-08-01)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Valerie is a 1957 American Western film directed by Gerd Oswald and starring Sterling Hayden, Anita Ekberg and Anthony Steel. [1] [2] The film was apparently inspired by Akira Kurosawa's 1950 classic Rashomon . [1]

Contents

Plot

Rancher John Garth is arrested for critically wounding his wife Valerie and killing her parents. During Garth's trial, contradictory flashback sequences are depicted. [1]

Cast

Production

Filming for Valerie started in December 1956. [3] It was the only film that Anthony Steel and Anita Ekberg made together during their marriage. [4]

Reception

Variety called the film "a challenging experiment." [5]

In a contemporary review in Baltimore's The Evening Sun , reviewer Hope Pantell wrote: "This opus opens with an assortment of bodies, then proceeds to show, sometimes in painfully long-winded fashion, how they got to be so stiff." [6]

Writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer , reviewer Samuel L. Singer assessed the lead actors' performances: "Lovely Anita Ekberg, Swedish beauty, displays her charms and engages in a limited amount of histrionics. Sterling Hayden is grimly nonsmiling as her husband, and Anthony Steel, her real-life husband, is convincing as the minister." [7]

Home media

Valerie was released on DVD by MGM Home Video on September 26, 2011 via MGM's MOD (manufacture-on-demand) program through Amazon.com.

See also

Related Research Articles

The year 1957 in film involved some significant events. The Bridge on the River Kwai topped the year's box office in North America, France, and Germany, and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The following is an overview of 1956 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.

The year 1953 in film involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Keyes</span> American actress

Evelyn Louise Keyes was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anita Ekberg</span> Swedish actress (1931–2015)

Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and curvy figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita (1960). Ekberg worked primarily in Italy, where she became a permanent resident in 1964.

<i>Call Me Bwana</i> 1963 film by Gordon Douglas

Call Me Bwana is a 1963 British Technicolor farce film starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg and directed by Gordon Douglas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhonda Fleming</span> American actress and singer (1923–2020)

Rhonda Fleming was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and became renowned as one of the most glamorous actresses of her day, nicknamed the "Queen of Technicolor" because she photographed so well in that medium.

<i>Zero Hour!</i> 1957 American drama film directed by Hall Bartlett

Zero Hour! is a 1957 American drama film directed by Hall Bartlett from a screenplay by Bartlett, Arthur Hailey, and John Champion. It stars Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, and Sterling Hayden and features Peggy King, Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, Geoffrey Toone, and Jerry Paris in supporting roles. It was released by Paramount Pictures.

Euan Lloyd was a British film producer.

<i>The Opposite Sex</i> 1956 film by David Miller

The Opposite Sex is a 1956 American musical romantic comedy film shot in Metrocolor and CinemaScope. The film was directed by David Miller and stars June Allyson, Joan Collins, Dolores Gray, Ann Sheridan, and Ann Miller, with Leslie Nielsen, Jeff Richards, Agnes Moorehead, Charlotte Greenwood, Joan Blondell, and Sam Levene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Steel (actor)</span> British actor and singer (1920–2001)

Anthony Maitland Steel was a British actor and singer who appeared in British war films of the 1950s such as The Wooden Horse (1950) and Where No Vultures Fly (1951). He was also known for his tumultuous marriage to Anita Ekberg.

<i>War and Peace</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by King Vidor

War and Peace is a 1956 epic historical drama film based on Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel of the same name. It is directed and co-written by King Vidor and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti for Paramount Pictures. The film stars Audrey Hepburn as Natasha, Henry Fonda as Pierre, and Mel Ferrer as Andrei, along with Oskar Homolka, Vittorio Gassman, Herbert Lom, Jeremy Brett, John Mills and Anita Ekberg in one of her first breakthrough roles. The musical score was composed by Nino Rota and conducted by Franco Ferrara.

Gerd Oswald was a German director of American films and television.

<i>The Badlanders</i> 1958 film by Delmer Daves

The Badlanders is a 1958 American western caper film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Alan Ladd and Ernest Borgnine. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story was given an 1898 setting by screenwriter Richard Collins. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's The Asphalt Jungle.

<i>Crime of Passion</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Gerd Oswald

Crime of Passion is a 1957 American film noir crime drama directed by Gerd Oswald and written by Jo Eisinger. The cast features Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden and Raymond Burr.

Warwick Films was a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in New York where Broccoli and his wife were staying at the time of the final negotiations for the company's creation. Their films were released by Columbia Pictures.

<i>The Man Inside</i> (1958 film) 1958 British film by John Gilling

The Man Inside is a 1958 British crime adventure film directed by John Gilling and starring Jack Palance, Anita Ekberg, Nigel Patrick, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano. It was produced by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli for Warwick Film Productions. The screenplay by David Shaw was based on the 1954 novel of the same name by M. E. Chaber. It was Bonar Colleano's final film role.

<i>Paris Holiday</i> (1958 film) 1958 film by Gerd Oswald

Paris Holiday is a 1958 American comedy film starring Bob Hope, which was directed by Gerd Oswald, and written by Edmund Beloin and Dean Riesner from a story by Hope. The film also features French comedian Fernandel, Anita Ekberg and Martha Hyer, and a rare appearance by writer/director Preston Sturges. The film was shot in Technirama and Technicolor in Paris and in the French village of Gambais.

Gerrianne Raphael is an American stage, screen, and voice-over actress. Though much of her career has been spent in the theatre, she is perhaps best known for her major role as the voice of Pumyra in ThunderCats.

<i>Dragstrip Girl</i> (1957 film) 1957 film

Dragstrip Girl is a 1957 film starring John Ashley in his first lead role. American International Pictures released the film as a double feature with Rock All Night and it proved an early success for the studio.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Valerie (1957) - Gerd Oswald | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  2. VALERIE Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 24, Iss. 276, (Jan 1, 1957): 91.
  3. Paris Night-Club Singer Signed; Wengraff Acts Anita Ekberg's Father Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 4 Dec 1956: A11.
  4. Vagg, Stephen (September 23, 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink.
  5. Review of film at Variety
  6. Pantell, Hope (October 25, 1957). "On the Screen". The Evening Sun. p. 22.
  7. Singer, Samuel L. (October 3, 1957). "'Valerie' Stars Anita Ekberg". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 8.