The Good Fairy (film)
| The Good Fairy | |
|---|---|
video cover
|
|
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Produced by | Carl Laemmle Jr. |
| Written by |
Ferenc Molnár (play) Jane Hinton (translation) Preston Sturges (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Margaret Sullavan Herbert Marshall Frank Morgan Reginald Owen |
| Music by | David Klatzkin Heinz Roemheld |
| Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
| Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Good Fairy is a 1935 romantic comedy film written by Preston Sturges, based on the 1930 play A jó tündér by Ferenc Molnár as translated and adapted by Jane Hinton, which was produced on Broadway in 1931. The film was directed by William Wyler and stars Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan and Reginald Owen.
Sturges' screenplay diverges significantly from the Molnár play, and later became the basis for the book of the 1951 Broadway musical Make a Wish. In particular, Sturges added a movie-within-the-movie in which the actors communicate in one-syllable sentences.
Luisa Ginglebusher (Margaret Sullavan) is a young, naive orphan who is given a job as an usherette in a Budapest movie palace. Detlaff (Reginald Owen), a waiter she meets in the theatre, takes her to an exclusive party where, to hold off the advances of Konrad (Frank Morgan), a meat-packing millionaire a little too fond of drink, she picks a name from the phone book to be her "husband", hoping to do a good deed and divert some of Konrad's wealth to someone else.
When the lucky man, stuffy but poor Dr. Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall), gets a 5-year employment contract and a big bonus from Konrad, he thinks the millionaire is interested in him because of his ethical behavior, diligent hard work and integrity, but actually Konrad plans to send the "husband" to South America so that he will be free to seduce the girl. Many complications ensue when Lu gets curious about Sporum, and pays him a visit.
Cast notes:
The Good Fairy was in production from September 13 to December 17, 1934. During filming, director William Wyler and star Margaret Sullavan, for whom writer Preston Sturges had tailored the lead role, clashed frequently, with Sullavan walking off the set several times. When it was brought to Wyler's attention that Sullavan's work was better on the days when they didn't fight, he started to go out of his way to avoid clashing with her. Then, on November 25, Wyler and Sullavan eloped to Yuma, Arizona and got married. Their marriage would last two years.
...
Wikipedia