Interrupted Melody

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Infobox film Interrupted Melody is a 1955 American musical biopic film about the opera singer Marjorie Lawrence starring Eleanor Parker, Glenn Ford, Roger Moore, and Cecil Kellaway. Directed by Curtis Bernhardt, it was filmed in CinemaScope and Eastman Color, and produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer by Jack Cummings. With an Oscar-winning screenplay by Lawrence, Sonya Levien, and William Ludwig, the operatic sequences were staged by Vladimir Rosing, and Eileen Farrell provided the singing voice for Parker. It tells the story of Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence's rise to fame as an opera singer and her subsequent triumph over polio with her husband's help.

Plot

Template:More plot The story traces Marjorie's long, hard road to the top, her success on two continents, and her turbulent marriage to American doctor Thomas King. While touring South America in 1941, Lawrence is stricken with polio, which not only abruptly stops her career but briefly robs her of the will to live. With her husband's help, she makes a triumphant return to opera and the concert stage, beginning by singing for hospitalized soldiers and troops overseas. She returns to the Metropolitan Opera, appearing in a full production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

Cast

• Glenn Ford as Dr. Thomas King
• Eleanor Parker as Marjorie Lawrence
• Roger Moore as Cyril Lawrence
• Cecil Kellaway as Bill Lawrence
• Peter Leeds as Dr. Ed Ryson
• Evelyn Ellis as Clara
• Walter Baldwin as Jim Owens
• Ann Codee as Mme. Cécile Gilly
• Leopold Sachse as himself
• Stephen Bekassy as Comte Claude des Vignaux

Production

Development

In 1947, it was reported that Marjorie Lawrence was writing her memoirs, titled Interrupted Melody, and that she wanted Greer Garson to play her in a film.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The book was published in 1950. The Chicago Tribune called it "engrossing".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 1951, MGM, which had just had a huge success with The Great Caruso, another biopic of an opera star, announced that it had bought the screen rights to the book. Jack Cummings was going to produce, and Kathryn Grayson was a possible star.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other possible leads were Greer Garson and Deborah Kerr, who would use Lawrence's voice.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lawrence flew to Hollywood in July to have discussions with Cummings and Sonya Levien, who was to do the script.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In December, MGM announced Lana Turner would play the lead with filming to begin in February.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, filming did not proceed. In July 1952, MGM said Garson would be playing the lead and William Ludwig was working on the script.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By February 1953, the studio had postponed production again.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In December 1953, the film was put back on MGM's schedule with Garson still attached.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On April 7, 1954, The New York Times announced that Eleanor Parker would play the part because all the other candidates, with the exception of Lana Turner, had left MGM. The article reported that Lawrence had recorded the songs for the film.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Filming started in September 1954. According to Parker, the filmmakers could not use Marjorie Lawrence's voice, because she had lost her upper register. Parker could read music and had a firm soprano voice with perfect pitch. She prepared for the singing aspect of her role by listening to the numbers for weeks, and she sang them during the filming in full voice instead of lip-synching.<ref>"Eleanor Parker: More Than Just the Sound of Music Baroness" by Richard Corliss, Time, December 20, 2013</ref> The singing was dubbed by Eileen Farrell, who appears on screen early in the film, as a student struggling to hit a high note in a scene with the singing teacher Mme. Gilly (Ann Codee) .<ref name="noir" />

Glenn Ford would only appear in the film if he got top billing. Parker says: "I wanted to do what was right for the picture, so I said: 'Let him have the top billing.' Glenn was a kind of a difficult man, but he was right for the picture and a very fine actor."<ref name="noir">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A key supporting role was given to Roger Moore, who had just made The Last Time I Saw Paris for MGM and had been put under contract to the studio.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filming had finished by November 1954.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The film was previewed in January 1955.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 1955, The New York Times published a photo spread showing scenes from the film.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Reception

According to MGM records, the film cost $2,367,000 to produce, and made $1,801,000 in the US and Canada and $2,227,000 overseas.<ref name="Mannix"/>

In a contemporary review of the film in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther described it as "tender and moving," "a stirring drama, plus a handsome and melodious one," and "a tale of personal triumph and recovery that is rendered the more eloquent and taut by the ample production of gorgeous music."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Film critic Derek Winnert wrote in 2013 that the film "is still an extremely enjoyable old-style heart-lifter and spirit-raiser. It is Parker’s show all the way but Glenn Ford is on top form too as the husband," and noted that "Eileen Farrell performs Parker’s vocals in eight beautiful arias – from Verdi, Puccini, Richard Wagner and Bizet’s Carmen. Amusingly, Farrell [also] plays a singing student of Mme Gilly (Ann Codee) who cannot seem to hit the right notes."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Awards and nominations

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
Academy Awards	Best Actress	Eleanor Parker	Template:Nom	<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
	Best Story and Screenplay	William Ludwig and Sonya Levien	Template:Won
	Best Costume Design – Color	Helen Rose	Template:Nom
Venice International Film Festival	Golden Lion	Curtis Bernhardt	Template:Nom

Musical tracks

Walter Ducloux conducted the MGM Studio Symphony Orchestra. MGM published a selection of eleven numbers on an original motion picture soundtrack album.

• "O don fatale" from Verdi's Don Carlos
• Act 1 finale from Verdi's Il trovatore
• "Un bel dì" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly
• "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen
• "Seguidilla" from Carmen
• "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah
• Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene from Wagner's Götterdämmerung
• Excerpts from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
• "Annie Laurie" by Alicia Scott
• "Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen
• "Voi che sapete" from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
• Medley: "Anchors Aweigh" by Charles A. Zimmermann; "Marines' Hymn", based on works by Jacques Offenbach; "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" by Sam H. Stept
• "Quando me'n vo'" (Musetta's Waltz) from Puccini's La bohème
• "Waltzing Matilda", traditional

See also

• List of American films of 1955

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0048210

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• Interrupted Melody at AllMovie
• Template:TCMDb title
• Template:AFI film
• Template:Rotten Tomatoes
• Intro/outro to Interrupted Melody with Robert Osborne and Renée Fleming, Turner Classic Movies
• Original trailer