Roberta (1935 film)
- Fred Astaire: Huckleberry Huck Haines
- Ginger Rogers: Comtesse Scharwenka / Lizzie
- Randolph Scott: John Kent
- Helen Westley: Roberta / Aunt Minnie
- Claire Dodd: Sophie Teale
- Victor Varconi: Prince Ladislaw
Roberta is the screen adaptation of the Broadway musical by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach. In addition to Irene Dunne Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers play the lead roles.
Action
Voyda Alexander, owner of the famous Cafe Russe in Paris, refuses the jazz band The Wabash Indianians to let occur because he had real Indians expected as a musician. In fact, the chapel of Huck Haines is headed. His friend John Kent, a former football star who uses the forced break to imagine with his aunt Minnie, who runs the renowned fashion house Roberta's. There John encounters Stephanie, Minnie's devoted assistant and was born a Russian princess in exile. Also on-site is Lizzie Gatz, the former lover of Huck, now known as - alleged - Polish countess " Tanka " Scharwenka for a rich husband out for. To prevent Huck it to divulge their secret, Lizzie arranges for Indianians still an audition at Cafe Russe. Meanwhile, Stephanie and Minnie take care of John, who was jilted by his imaginary fiancée Sophie. Stephanie and John fall in love, but the budding romance is overshadowed by the sudden death of Aunt Minnie. John, who inherits everything, and Stephanie operate Roberta's together. Hardly has Sophie learn of John's inheritance, she goes to Paris and tries to regain her former fiance. Stephanie does not want to tarnish the young couple and dispensed with a heavy heart on her love for John. Many confusions later marry John and Stephanie, while from Huck and Lizzie finally a pair.
Background
Irene Dunne ended in 1935 with the appearance in Roberta their contract with RKO, in the course of which they had risen gradually since 1930 's hottest star for the studio. First, Dunne was made famous by her appearances in tearful melodrama, in which she cried a lot and often and a never-ending succession of blows of fate with stoic composure endured as Backstreet or No Other Woman. Only gradually their image of a martyr of love transformed to the representation of confident women as in The Silver Cord. After appearances in Stingaree and Sweet Adeline Dunne had established itself also as renowned interpreter of Jerome Kern songs. The composer appreciated reportedly particularly the always somewhat restrained and subdued acting manner of performance of the singer. For the film rights of the Broadway success Roberta by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach, who had brought it in 1933 to a total of 295 performances, RKO paid 65,000 U.S. dollars and transferred the main role Irene Dunne. At the same time the producer Pandro S. Berman saw in the fabric an ideal opportunity for the two new RKO Stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The two actors had 1933 attracts attention with her appearance in the Dolores del Rio Flying Down To Rio Musical by their innovative dance routines. 1934 there were already announced in The Gay Divorcee as the two main characters. But only the superior financial and artistic success of Roberta established the duo Astaire - Rogers durable as canvas pair. In Roberta the name of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are indeed also called above the title, but only about half as large as the name of Irene Dunne, the nominal star of the production.
In order to create appropriate roles for Astaire and the two actresses, major adjustments in the script had to be made. Thus, the role of Huck Haines were summarized from originally two different roles in the stage show, which were played as a dancer by Bob Hope as a bandleader and George Murphy. Also two stage roles were summarized for Ginger Rogers character. Rogers took the opportunity to give a false Polish Princess a clever parody of Lyda Roberti, who had appeared in the Broadway show as Scharwenka. The basic idea - unemployed American actress acts as alleged Eastern European nobles - appeared a few months later in the Mitchell Leisen comedy The Princess Comes Along with Carole Lombard again on the canvas.
The studio sold the movie rights 1952 Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, who brought a remake under the title Lovely to Look At Kathryn Grayson as Stephanie and Red Skelton and Ann Miller in the Astaire and Rogers characters in the rental. Copyright issues prevented the performance of the original well into the 1970s. Bob Hope played in 1953 and 1958 in two television adaptation of Roberta the lead role.
Theatrical Release
RKO invested around 610,000 U.S. dollars in the production of Roberta. The film at the box office proved to be very popular. In the U.S. alone, he played a 1,467,000 U.S. dollars, to which additional 868,000 U.S. dollars were added to foreign markets. With a total box office earnings of U.S. $ 2,235,000 has been one of the most successful films of the decade for RKO from Roberta. The studio realized at the end of an enormous profit in the amount of 770,000 U.S. dollars.
Songs
Details taken from the stage show following songs by Jerome Kern:
- Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
- Yesterdays
- I'll Be Hard To Handle
- Let's Begin
The song was also from Indiana stage show, however, was not composed of core, but by Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley.
Only as background music were used in the film:
- You're Devastating
- The Touch of Your Hand
- Do not Ask Me Not to Sing
Jerome Kern composed for the movie plus two new songs:
The song I Will not Dance also did not come from the original stage show, but was written by core along with Oscar Hammerstein II for the revue The Three Sisters of 1934, which fell in London to a failure. Dorothy Fields wrote a new text for the film.
Awards
The film went with a nomination in the Oscars 1936:
Reviews
The New York Times was completely thrilled and saw the main credit for the success of Fred Astaire:
"The film is a pattern for world agility in a Musical and Mr. Astaire, the elegant master of light comedy and dance, is the main ingredient. Him watching it as it is sliding with the nimbleness of a cat on the dance floor of one of the current main pleasure in the cinema. [ ... ] The Eternal Witch Miss Claire Dodd as usual successfully to disrupt the romance. [ ... ] Mr. Astaire and " Roberta " are exemplary for the abundance, the elegance and humor in a musical film. If the strip has something like a mistake at all, then the unfortunate circumstance that Mr. Astaire and Miss Rogers 's excellent partner can not dance during the whole term. "