Arizona (1940 film)
- Jean Arthur: Phoebe Titus
- William Holden: Peter Muncie
- Warren William Jefferson Carteret
- Porter Hall: Lazarus Ward
- Edgar Buchanan: Judge Bogardus
Arizona is a western from 1940 with Jean Arthur in the lead role. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles, who already in 1931, which won the Oscar for Best Film Western Cimarron turned.
Action
By 1860, Phoebe Titus has to operate the dream, the largest ranch in Arizona. Her ambition collides with the plans of the corrupt Lazarus Ward, who reigns over the city Tucson and the only freight company operates in the area. In their struggle for equal rights and a place in society Phoebe is supported by Peter Muncie, a young adventurer. After several setbacks, create the two, not only to marry, but also Phoebe's dream of a huge herd of cattle to meet.
Background
Since the middle of the decade westerns were becoming increasingly popular again in the cinema spectators become and ever since the success of Stagecoach 1939 almost all studios produced back stories from the Wild West with lavish budgets and top names in the lead roles. Within a short time Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific went for Paramount Pictures with the stars Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck, Jesse James with Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda for 20th Century Fox and Dodge City with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland for Warner Brothers at the start.
Columbia Pictures did not want to stand apart in the trend and studio boss Harry Cohn was the middle of 1939 with a budget of 1.6 million U.S. dollars for the dramatic portrayal during the early days of Arizona in order. The film should be rotated as the first Columbia - production in Technicolor and exclusively on site. The government took over Wesley Ruggles, the well- versed in the genre after 1931, he had already turned the awarded the Oscar for Best Film Western Cimarron. For the female lead Jean Arthur was provided, which had immediately previously declined the offer to play in Union Pacific. Ruggles was about to ask her Gary Cooper to the side, with the 1936 Arthur had already made two successful films. But the outbreak of war in Europe led to discontinuation in the fall of shooting. The studio calculated the cost of new and found that the fee for Cooper was too high. Also Joel McCrea was rejected because it requires too much money. At the end of the studio to re- start the shooting in mid-1940 and to occupy the male lead with his own contract actor William Holden decided. Holden had become until shortly before known for his role in Golden Boy. To keep the costs under control, the plans were dropped to turn Arizona in color.
Filming countless breakdowns and technical problems hit that made escalate the cost of production. Sandstorms laid the whole rotation for 18 days completely lame and Wesley Ruggles, sick yet. At the end of the studio invested just over $ 2,000,000 that were not recorded at the box office again.
Awards
At the Academy Awards in 1941, the film received nominations in the categories:
- Best Art Direction ( Black - and-white film ) - Lionel Banks, Robert Peterson
- Best Original Soundtrack - Victor Young