Summer Holiday (1948)

Réalisateur:

Rouben Mamoulian

Scénaristes:

Eugene O'Neill (play)
Frances Goodrich (screenplay) ...

Date de sortie:

16 avril 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Intrigue:

Danville, Connecticut at the turn of the century. Young Richard Miller lives in a middle-class neighbourhood with his family...

Plot Keywords:

Puppy Love | Remake | Small Town | Beautiful Woman | Valedictorian

Avis des utilisateurs:

Musical Remake of Ah Wilderness Doesn't Get Out Of The Woods

Ensemble

Mickey Rooney	...	Richard Miller
Gloria DeHaven	...	Muriel (as Gloria De Haven)
Walter Huston	...	Mr. Nat Miller
Frank Morgan	...	Uncle Sid
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins	...	Tommy (as Butch Jenkins)
Marilyn Maxwell	...	Belle
Agnes Moorehead	...	Cousin Lily
Selena Royle	...	Mrs. Miller
Michael Kirby	...	Arthur Miller
Shirley Johns	...	Mildred
Hal Hackett	...	Wint
Anne Francis	...	Elsie Rand (as Ann Francis)
John Alexander	...	Mr. McComber
Virginia Brissac	...	Miss Hawley
Howard Freeman	...	Mr. Peabody

Autre(s) titre(s):

Ah, Wilderness! (USA) (working title)

Durée:

93 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,37 : 1

Son:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Classification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Société:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Anecdotes:

Filmed between June 17 and mid-October 1946, the movie's wide release was held back until April 16, 1948. The Manhattan opening at Lowe's State Theatre followed on June 11, 1948.

Guillemet:

Richard Miller: Mankind was better off when lived in the Dark Ages. When everybody went around naked!
Uncle Sid: Well, maybe so. But today it might interfere with your social life.

Connexions De Film:

version de "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Ah, Wilderness! (#8.6)" (1959)

Bande son:

The Sweetest Kid I Ever Met

Musical Remake of Ah Wilderness Doesn't Get Out Of The Woods

Summer Holiday is the forgotten musical version of Eugene O'Neill's Ah Wilderness and deservedly so with the Broadway musical adaptation of Take Me Along. With the exception of the Stanley Steamer song, none of the other Harry Warren-Ralph Blane songs are worth remembering and even that one is questionable.

It was right after the release of this film that MGM let Mickey Rooney go and I don't think it was a coincidence. The film was made in 1946 and released in 1948, so Mickey was 26 playing an Andy Hardy like teenager. He was just way too old for the part of the 17 year old who was affecting radical ideas in a spirit of youthful rebellion.

Rooney made four films for MGM from 1946 to 1948, this one, Killer McCoy a remake of Robert Taylor's A Crowd Roars, Love Laughs at Andy Hardy and Words and Music. In all of them Rooney was playing an adult part. Even in the Andy Hardy film, Mickey played an adult Andy Hardy returned from World War II. Why he was in this Louis B. Mayer only knows.

Rooney's bad casting makes Summer Holiday all the worse because in the original Ah Wilderness the emphasis is on the father's character played here by Walter Huston. And in the Broadway show Take Me Along which won a Tony Award for Jackie Gleason, the Great One played the inebriated brother-in-law Uncle Sid here played by Frank Morgan and that's the central character.

Gloria DeHaven steps in for Judy Garland as Rooney's sweet and adorable girl friend and Marilyn Maxwell plays the show girl who gives Rooney an adult education. In the original play O'Neill has her as a prostitute, but this was the Hollywood of the Code so all Marilyn does is get young Rooney soused.

A lot of really talented people had a hand in this one and they do their best, but Summer Holiday fades rather quickly into a chilly autumn.