Porgy and Bess (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Porgy and Bess


imdb_id = 0053182
writer = DuBose Heyward,
Dorothy Heyward,
N. Richard Nash
starring = Sidney Poitier,
Dorothy Dandridge,
Sammy Davis, Jr.,
Pearl Bailey
Clarence Muse
director = Otto Preminger
producer = Samuel Goldwyn
cinematography = Leon Shamroy
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = June 24, 1959
runtime = 139 min.
language = English
music =
awards =
budget = ?

"Porgy and Bess" is a 1959 movie based on George Gershwin's opera of the same name. It is set in the fictional Catfish Row in 1930s Charleston, South Carolina. It was produced by Samuel Goldwyn in Todd AO. Rouben Mamoulian, who staged the original 1935 production on Broadway, was supposed to have directed, but because of a disagreement over whether or not to film on location, was fired. (Goldwyn never liked location filming; he felt that it took away control of the film from the producer.) Otto Preminger replaced Mamoulian, though some of Mamoulian's work can still be seen and heard in the "Good Morning, Sistuh" number at the beginning of the final scene.

Although the film won one Oscar and one Golden Globe, and its soundtrack album won a Grammy, it was critically and commercially unsuccessful. It was broadcast on network television only once - Sunday night, March 5, 1967, on ABC-TV (during a week that also saw a rebroadcast of a TV adaptation of "Brigadoon", as well as a telecast of Hal Holbrook's one-man show "Mark Twain Tonight!"). [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843424,00.html TIME ] ] The 1959 "Porgy and Bess" has not been seen in its entirety on network TV since, although clips have been shown on some of the American Film Institute specials. Ira Gershwin and the Gershwin estate were unhappy with the film, and rescinded the rights to it in the 1970s. As a result, the film has never been on video or DVD, and few public screenings have been permitted, albeit begrudgingly. It is believed that the original negative is in dire need of a restoration.

(The film had at least one presentation on Los Angeles local television, KTLA-TV, Channel 5, an independent TV station, most probably using the special print which was made for the ABC-TV network presentation. There exists one 35mm theatrical print, with 4-track magnetic sound, but it is in the UCLA archive library and is not available for public presentations. This print has had at least two presentations at university-sponsored festivals, and which presentations required special permission from the Gershwin Estate. It is believed that there are no surviving 70mm prints, and that the 65mm negative is "unprintable". Likely, any restoration would have to be effected from the silver separation protection masters, assuming those could be found).

Though Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge starred in the movie, their voices were dubbed in songs. Robert McFerrin sang for Poitier and Adele Addison for Dandridge. Ironically, singer Diahann Carroll had her voice dubbed for the role of Clara by Loulie Jean Norman, because Carroll is not an operatic soprano, though she is a talented Broadway singer and actress. The voice of Inez Matthews was heard singing Serena's arias, although the movie audience saw Ruth Attaway playing the role onscreen. (Filmgoers may rememember Ms. Attaway as Peter Sellers's housekeeper in the 1979 film "Being There").

The film cut much of the music, turning the musical recitatives into spoken dialogue, as was done in the 1942 Broadway revival of the show. It was consequently much shorter than the complete work - 138 minutes instead of 180 minutes. Not only was this done, but screenwriter N. Richard Nash added new additional dialogue [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tElL6kWwmv4Summertime] which, in some cases, served as new song cues for the musical numbers. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS9leq2btOY] The entire film was made somewhat more naturalistic than the opera, in the sense that ambient noises not usually heard in stage productions of the work were heard in the movie. Gershwin's original underscoring, which is heard constantly in the opera during the recitatives as well as in the two fight scenes, was not used, having been replaced by Andre Previn's own. (Previn adapted and conducted the music for the film.)

Awards

*1960 Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture
*1960 Golden Globe for Best Musical
*1960 Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album, Original Cast - Motion Picture or Television

References

Time Magazine Television Schedule [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843424,00.html]

Dorothy Dandridge nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actress In A Leading Role - Musical or Comedy,Porgy and Bess (1960)

External links

*imdb title|id=0053182|title=Porgy and Bess

ources

Arthur Marx: "Goldwyn: A Biography" (Published 1974)