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Strictly Dishonorable (1951 film)
Encyclopedia
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 to be based on Preston Sturges
' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name
after a pre-Code
film released by Universal Pictures
in 1931 with the same title
.
) crosses paths with Isabelle Perry (Janet Leigh
), a naive music student from Mississippi who is his biggest fan. When a news photographer catches them in a kiss, it is proposed that they get married in name only to avoid a scandal. Isabelle, who is in love with Gus, agrees to the charade, hoping that he will eventually fall in love with her.
Cast notes:
Song notes:
approached MGM with the idea of doing a remake of Strictly Dishonorable with Ezio Pinza, and received $60,000 for the rights, but was disappointed when he wasn't hired to write the screenplay for the film.
Strictly Dishonorable was in production from mid-January to mid-March 1951, and was released on 3 July of that year.
replacing Pinza.
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
film written, produced and directed by Melvin Frank
Melvin Frank
Melvin Frank was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. He collaborated with a former schoolfriend, Norman Panama to form a writing partnership which endured for 3 decades...
and Norman Panama
Norman Panama
Norman Panama was an American screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois. He collaborated with a former schoolfriend, Melvin Frank to form a writing partnership which endured for three decades...
, and starring Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
and Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
. It is the second film to be based on Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name
Strictly Dishonorable (play)
Strictly Dishonorable is a romantic comedy play written by Preston Sturges and first produced on Broadway in 1929. It has been adapted for the screen twice, first in 1931, then again in 1951...
after a pre-Code
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. Although the Code was adopted in 1930, oversight was poor and it did not become rigorously...
film released by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
in 1931 with the same title
Strictly Dishonorable (1931 film)
Strictly Dishonorable is a 1931 romantic comedy film directed by John M. Stahl, starring Paul Lukas, Sidney Fox and Lewis Stone, and featuring George Meeker and Sidney Toler. It was written by Gladys Lehman and based on Preston Sturges' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name...
.
Plot
In New York in the 1920s, amorous opera star Augustino "Gus" Caraffa (Ezio PinzaEzio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
) crosses paths with Isabelle Perry (Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
), a naive music student from Mississippi who is his biggest fan. When a news photographer catches them in a kiss, it is proposed that they get married in name only to avoid a scandal. Isabelle, who is in love with Gus, agrees to the charade, hoping that he will eventually fall in love with her.
Cast
- Ezio PinzaEzio PinzaEzio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
as Count Augustino "Gus" Caraffa - Janet LeighJanet LeighJanet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
as Isabelle Perry - Millard MitchellMillard MitchellMillard Mitchell was an American character actor whose credits include roughly thirty feature films and two television appearances....
as Bill Dempsey - Gale RobbinsGale RobbinsGale Robbins was an American actress and singer.Born in Indiana, Robbins graduated from high school in June 1939 and began her career with the Phil Levant band in 1940...
as Marie Donnelly - Maria Palmer as Countess Lili Szadvany
- Esther Minciotti as Mme. Maria Caraffa
- Silvio Minciotti as Uncle Nito
- Arthur FranzArthur FranzArthur Franz was a B-movie actor whose most notable role was as Lieutenant, Junior Grade H. Paynter, Jr. in The Caine Mutiny. He also appeared in Roseanna McCoy , Invaders from Mars , Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man and The Unholy Wife , among others...
as Henry Greene - Sandro Giglio as Tomasso
- Hugh Sanders as Harry Donnelly
- Mario Siletti as Luigi
Cast notes:
- Opera star Ezio Pinza had previously shot the film Mr. ImperiumMr. ImperiumMr. Imperium is a 1951 romantic drama film made by MGM. It was directed by Don Hartman who co-wrote the screenplay with Edwin H. Knopf, based on a play by Edwin H. Knopf. The music score is by Bronisław Kaper....
before working on Strictly Dishonorable, but the current film was released first, so it marks his dramatic acting debut. Pinza went on to make only one more film, Tonight We SingTonight We SingTonight We Sing is a 1953 musical biopic film, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the life and career of the celebrated impresario Sol Hurok. It stars David Wayne and Ezio Pinza.-Cast:*David Wayne as Sol Hurok*Ezio Pinza as Feodor Chaliapin...
(1953), with Roberta PetersRoberta PetersRoberta Peters is an American coloratura soprano.One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York...
and Isaac SternIsaac SternIsaac Stern was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.-Biography:Isaac Stern was born into a Jewish family in Kremenets, Ukraine. He was fourteen months old when his family moved to San Francisco...
. - Greta GarboGreta GarboGreta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, John GilbertJohn Gilbert (actor)John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
and Lewis StoneLewis StoneLewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...
among others, appear in archival footage from the silent film A Woman of AffairsA Woman of AffairsA Woman of Affairs is a 1928 drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Lewis Stone...
(1928). Stone played the part of "Judge Dempsey" in the 1931 version of Strictly DishonorableStrictly Dishonorable (1931 film)Strictly Dishonorable is a 1931 romantic comedy film directed by John M. Stahl, starring Paul Lukas, Sidney Fox and Lewis Stone, and featuring George Meeker and Sidney Toler. It was written by Gladys Lehman and based on Preston Sturges' 1929 hit Broadway play of the same name...
. - "Dempsey" was the maiden name of Preston Sturges' mother.
- The prolific comic character actress Kathleen FreemanKathleen FreemanKathleen Freeman was an American film, television, and stage actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed tart maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors, almost invariably to comic effect.-Early life:Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois...
appears uncredited as a movie theatre organist. - Scott R. Beal, who appears uncredited in the bit part of a vendor, was primarily an assistant director. He received an Academy Award as "Best Assistant Director" in 1934 and was nominated again in 1935.
Songs
- "I'll See You in My Dreams" - by Isham JonesIsham JonesIsham Jones was a United States bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.-Career:Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where he started his first band...
(music) and Gus KahnGus KahnGustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist.-Biography:Kahn was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1886. The family emigrated from there to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890...
(lyrics) - "Everything I Have Is Yours" - by Burton LaneBurton LaneBurton Lane was an American composer and lyricist. His most popular and successful work is the musical Finian's Rainbow, "the score for which Lane will always be most remembered."-Biography:...
(music) and Harold AdamsonHarold AdamsonFor the Toronto Police Chief see Harold Adamson Harold Adamson was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s.- Biography :...
(lyrics) - "La veau d'or" from the opera FaustFaust (opera)Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
- by Charles GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
(music) and Jules BarbierJules BarbierPaul Jules Barbier was a French poet, writer and opera librettist who often wrote in collaboration with Michel Carré...
and Michel CarréMichel CarréMichel Carré was a prolific French librettist.He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti. His libretto for Mirette was never performed in France but was later performed in English adaptation in...
(libretto) - "Se a caso madama" from the opera Le nozze di FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
- by Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
(music) and Lorenzo da PonteLorenzo Da PonteLorenzo Da Ponte was a Venetian opera librettist and poet. He wrote the librettos for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's greatest operas, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Così fan tutte....
(libretto) - Unnamed aria from the opera Il ritorno di Césare - by Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italian composer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he migrated to the United States and became a film composer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next...
(music and lyrics)
Song notes:
- Il ritorno di Césare is a fictitious opera, created by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for the film, and staged by Vladimir RosingVladimir RosingVladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...
.
Production
Preston SturgesPreston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
approached MGM with the idea of doing a remake of Strictly Dishonorable with Ezio Pinza, and received $60,000 for the rights, but was disappointed when he wasn't hired to write the screenplay for the film.
Strictly Dishonorable was in production from mid-January to mid-March 1951, and was released on 3 July of that year.
Adaptations
Lux Radio Theatre broadcast a radio adaptation of the film on December 8, 1952, with Janet Leigh reprising her role and Fernando LamasFernando Lamas
Fernando Álvaro Lamas was an Argentine-born actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.-Early life and career:...
replacing Pinza.