Strictly Dishonorable (1951 film)

Strictly Dishonorable
title card
Directed byMelvin Frank
Norman Panama
Written byMelvin Frank
Norman Panama
Based onStrictly Dishonorable
1929 play
by Preston Sturges
Produced byMelvin Frank
Norman Panama
StarringEzio Pinza
Janet Leigh
CinematographyRay June
Edited byCotton Warburton
Music byMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Lennie Hayton
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • June 26, 1951 (1951-06-26)[1]
  • July 11, 1951 (1951-07-11) (New York)[2]
  • August 22, 1951 (1951-08-22) (Los Angeles)[3]
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,182,000[4]
Box office$881,000[4]

Strictly Dishonorable is a 1951 romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama and starring Ezio Pinza and Janet Leigh. It is the second film adaptation of Preston Sturges' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name, following a pre-Code version released by Universal Pictures in 1931 under the same title.

Plot

In 1920s New York, amorous opera star Augustino "Gus" Caraffa encounters Isabelle Perry, a naive music student from Mississippi and one of his most devoted admirers. When a newspaper photographer captures them in a compromising kiss, a marriage of convenience is proposed to avoid scandal. Isabelle, secretly in love with Gus, agrees to the arrangement, hoping that he will eventually return her feelings.[5][6]

Cast

Production

Preston Sturges approached Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with the idea remaking Strictly Dishonorable (1931) with Ezio Pinza and received $60,000 for the rights. However, Sturges was disappointed when he was not hired to write the screenplay.[7]

Strictly Dishonorable was in production from mid-January through mid-March 1951[8] and was released on June 26 in several American markets.[1]

Screen stars such as Greta Garbo, John Gilbert and Lewis Stone appear in archival footage from the MGM film A Woman of Affairs (1928). Stone played the part ofJudge Dempsey in the 1931 version of Strictly Dishonorable.[9]

The film's operatic scenes were staged by Vladimir Rosing.

Songs

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Directors Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, who also produced and wrote the script, work so close to the actors through this picture that you can see the caps on their teeth—and the wrinkles around their dewlaps, which are more than somewhat in this case. Further, the script which the writers have freely and forcibly contrived from the old Preston Sturges comedy, virtually a classic of the stage, is not what you'd call exactly a masterpiece of wit and comic art. ... [W]e cannot regard this milky nonsense as a match for Mr. Sturges' bright play."[2]

According to MGM records, the film earned $660,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $221,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $664,000.[4]

Adaptations

Lux Radio Theatre broadcast a radio adaptation of the film on December 8, 1952, with Janet Leigh reprising her role and Fernando Lamas replacing Pinza.[7][11]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Christian, George (June 27, 1951). "Ezio Pinza Makes Movie Bow in 'Slightly Dishonorable'". Houston Post. p. 16.
  2. ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (July 12, 1951). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times. p. 21.
  3. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (August 23, 1951). "Pinza's Debut Satisfies; 'Target' Train Thriller". Los Angeles Times. p. 9, Part III.
  4. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  5. ^ TCM Full synopsis
  6. ^ Erickson, Hal Plot synopsis (AllMovie)
  7. ^ a b TCM Notes
  8. ^ TCM Overview
  9. ^ Strictly Dishonorable (1951) at IMDb
  10. ^ TCM Music
  11. ^ Kirby, Walter (December 7, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". Decatur, Illinois. Decatur Daily Review. p. 52. Retrieved June 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
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