Portrait in Black

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Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox film/short descriptionScript error: No such module "Infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". Portrait in Black is a 1960 American neo-noir melodrama film[1][2] directed by Michael Gordon, and starring Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn. Produced by Ross Hunter, the film was based on the play of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was distributed by Universal-International. This was the final film appearance by actress Anna May Wong.[1][3]

Plot

San Francisco socialite Sheila Cabot (Lana Turner) becomes increasingly disturbed as she cares for her ailing, disagreeable husband (Lloyd Nolan). Along the way, she falls in love with Dr. David Rivera (Anthony Quinn), who is tending her husband. This leads to a series of unfortunate events, resulting in the death of the husband and an ensuing murder investigation that reveals a surprise culprit.

Cast

The play

The film was based on a play that had premiered in London at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1946 and had a short run on Broadway the following year. The writers, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, had worked on it for 13 months.[4][5]

Film rights were sold almost immediately, to Universal, for a reported $100,000 against a sliding percentage of the gross to reach a maximum of 15% at $2.5 million.[6] A clause was added that if a film was not released by June 30, 1950, the rights would revert to the authors and they would keep the $100,000. Diana Wynyard appeared in the London production and her husband Carol Reed was going to direct the film version.[7] However, he disagreed with Universal about how best to adapt it. Another director, Michael Gordon, encountered similar difficulties. In 1948, Goff approached Universal to buy the project back but balked at the studio's demand for $316,000. When the June 30, 1950 deadline passed, the project reverted to the authors. They tried finance the film with Michael Gordon and Joan Crawford.[8]

Production notes

Michael Gordon felt the original play was "well-contrived, well-made... I thought it was dramatic literature, but not what I would call a monument in dramatic literature. It was interesting but not something that made my heart leap with joy and ecstasy. I didn't enjoy doing the picture at all."[9]

Portrait in Black was filmed in and around San Francisco, including a sequence at Devil's Slide on the Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1).[10]

It was the last of three screen teamings between Sandra Dee and John Saxon.[11]

Gordon said Lana Turner gave a "serviceable performance" adding "Lana was not a dummy, and she would give me wonderful rationalizations why she should wear pendant earrings. They had nothing to do with the role, but they had to do with her particular self-image. I felt we might have done better to concentrate on areas of her ability. If we had, hers might have been a more gripping kind of performance."[9]

Reception

The film was not well received critically but did well at the box office,[12] earning $3,600,000 in theatrical rentals in the United States and Canada in 1960.[13]

Radio adaptation

Portrait in Black was presented on Theatre Guild on the Air on March 2, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Widmark.[14]

Home media

Portrait in Black was released on DVD in Region 1 as a Lana Turner double feature with Madame X by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on February 5, 2008. It was released on Blu-ray disc by Kino Lorber on May 28, 2019.[15]

See also

References

Notes

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  1. ↑ a b Template:AFI film.
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Anna May Wong at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..
  4. ↑ Obituary, Ivan Goff. The Independent, September 28, 1999. Accessed: July 29, 2013.
  5. ↑ Portrait In Black at the IBDb. Accessed: July 29, 2013.
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ "British Launch Hollywood Invasion: Major Production Companies Involved". Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times. September 8, 1946: C1.
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Portrait in Black at "San Francisco Movie Locations from Classic Films". Accessed: July 29, 2013.
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". Template:Open access
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Bibliography

Schwartz, Ronald. Neo-Noir: The New Film Noir Style from Psycho to Collateral, 2005 (Portrait In Black listed on p. 127). Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland. Template:ISBN.

External links

Template:Michael Gordon Template:Ross Hunter

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