Alice Adams (Film)
- Katharine Hepburn: Alice Adams
- Fred MacMurray: Arthur Russell
- Fred Stone: Mr. Adams
- Evelyn Venable: Mildred Palmer
- Frank Albertson: Walter
- Hattie McDaniel: Housemaid
Alice Adams is an American melodrama from 1935 with Katharine Hepburn directed by George Stevens. The film is primarily based on the eponymous play by Booth Tarkington.
Action
Alice Adams lives in very humble circumstances in the small town of South Renford. Because she has not strayed admirer, Alice has to go, accompanied her brother on an elegant party at the haughty Mildred Palmer. To make things even more uncomfortable for Alice, she is compelled to wear a dress from the previous season and instead of fresh violets she can only afford a bouquet of nearly wilted flowers. The other guests make Alice feel their inferior social position and cut them. Only Arthur Russell, the cousin of Mildred, she finally asks for a dance. The party ends in disaster for Alice when her brother drunk with the servants playing cards and they have to ask Arthur to get her brother out of the house. Deeply hurt Alice cries later to sleep. However, things take a positive turn. A few days later she meets again to Arthur, who is enraptured by Alice charm. Out of shame because of the tight financial situation, however, does not ask Alice into her admirer. Between the two is a romance develops. When Alice, however, a splendid meal plans to introduce Arthur her family, is the thing horribly wrong. The domestic worker is hopelessly overwhelmed with the situation, the family members nuisance of himself and Arthur feels extremely uncomfortable. After the disaster a deeply shamed Alice actually expected that Arthur wants to see her ever again. But the young man shows character and decides the romance in spite of the class differences continue. At the end of the financial situation for the Adams family no longer looks quite so bleak.
Background
The career of Katharine Hepburn began in 1932 with A Bill of Divorcement spectacular as the daughter of John Barrymore. For her second role in Morning Glory 1933 she received the Academy Award for Best Actress and four sisters from the same year Hepburn had a great financial success. However, the subsequent films flopped at the box office and all of the beginning of 1935 was her future as a star of RKO in serious danger. The studio placed great hope in an adaptation of Booth Tarkington's Alice Adams piece of social criticism, had received the Pulitzer Prize for the author, 1921. A first film came from the year 1923, when King Vidor directed and his wife Florence Vidor played the role of Alice. The writers have now received the order to maintain the basic structure of the piece, but be careful not to change the social comments and especially the tragic ending of the play in favor of a happy ending. During the play Alice in the end is left alone and her brother also turns out to be a thief, the story goes now good, including a new opportunity for Mr. Adams. The film was the breakthrough for director George Stevens, but only got the job after it failed Hepburn, the favorite of her William Wyler enforce.
Theatrical Release
The cost amounted to 342,000 at the end of the U.S. dollar. The film proved at the box office as fairly popular and played a total of 770,000 U.S. dollars. For the studio a profit of 164,000 U.S. dollars resulted.
Reviews
The critics unanimously praised the lead actress. The New York World -Telegram called Hepburn superb ( "Miss Hepburn gives a performance did is superb " ), while the New York Times the presentation was sensitive and compelling ( " Alice is as striking and sensitive a performance as any she has given. " ).
Awards
At the Academy Awards in 1936, the film received nominations in the categories:
- Best Picture
- Best Actress ( Katharine Hepburn )