The Flame of New Orleans
| The Flame of New Orleans | |
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| Directed by | René Clair |
| Produced by | René Clair Joe Pasternak |
| Written by |
Norman Krasna Uncredited: René Clair |
| Starring |
Marlene Dietrich Bruce Cabot Roland Young Mischa Auer Andy Devine Eddie Quillan Anne Revere |
| Music by | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Edited by | Frank Gross |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,000,000 |
The Flame of New Orleans is a 1941 comedy film directed by René Clair and starring Marlene Dietrich and Bruce Cabot in his first comedy role. The supporting cast features Roland Young, Andy Devine and Franklin Pangborn.
The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction by Martin Obzina, Jack Otterson and Russell A. Gausman.
The legend of "Claire of New Orleans" is born after two fishermen find a wedding dress floating around on the Mississippi River one day. The legend tells that the Countess Claire Ledux disappeared on her wedding day in the year of 1840, and when the dress was found, the people of New Orleans assumed that the bride had committed suicide by throwing herself into the river. This is how the story begins, and then we find out what really happened, as the story of Claire Ledux is revealed.
When Claire arrives in New Orleans for the first time in her life she has a strong ambition to become Mrs Charles Giraud - a very rich and renowned banker. She gets her opening one night at the opera, when she manages to bet the seat next to the banker. Trying to catch the unsuspecting banker's attention she fakes fainting in her seat. The banker immediately rushes to her rescue and Claire's mission is accomplished. Desperate to the beautiful Claire again, Charles sends his valet over to Claire's maid Clementine after the opera. The maid forwards the message, asking Claire to meet with Charles in the park. Claire and the maid make a plan to let a man harass Claire in the park, so that Charles can come to her "rescue". But even the simplest plans go wrong, and on the way to the park Claire's carriage runs over a monkey by accident. The monkey belongs to river boat captain Robert Latour. he stops the carriage, but since Clementine believes this is the man they hired to make a fuzz with them, she tells the driver to go on and ignore the man. Robert Latour is aggravated by this behaviour and tips the carriage over.
After this incident, where Charles was not only stood up by Claire since the carriage never arrived, but also deprived of a chance to come to her aid, he swears to avenge Robert Latour's insolent behaviour. He also vows to properly take care of and guard Claire every night from now on.
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Wikipedia