Anthony Adverse is a 1936 American epic costume drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland. Based on the novel Anthony Adverse by Hervey Allen, with a screenplay by Sheridan Gibney, the film is about an orphan whose debt to the man who raised him threatens to separate him forever from the woman he loves. The film received four Academy Awards.
Among the four Academy Awards that Anthony Adverse won, Gale Sondergaard was awarded the inaugural Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Faith Paleologus.
Plot
In 1773, Maria Bonnyfeather (Anita Louise) is the new bride of the cruel and devious middle-aged nobleman Marquis Don Luis (Claude Rains). However, she is pregnant by Denis Moore (Louis Hayward), the man she loved before being forced to marry Don Luis. After the marquis learns of his wife's affair, Don Luis takes her away but Denis tracks them down at an inn, where Don Luis treacherously kills him in a sword fight.
Months later Maria dies giving birth to her son at a chalet in the Alps in northern Italy. Don Luis leaves the infant at a convent near Livorno, Italy, where the nuns christen him Anthony, it being June 13, St Anthony's feast day. Don Luis lies to Maria's father, wealthy merchant John Bonnyfeather (Edmund Gwenn), telling him that the infant is also dead. Ten years later, completely by coincidence, Anthony (Billy Mauch) is apprenticed to Bonnyfeather, his real grandfather, who discovers his relationship to the boy but keeps it a secret from him. He gives the boy the surname Adverse in acknowledgement of the difficult life he has led.
As an adult, Anthony (Fredric March) falls in love with Angela Giuseppe (Olivia de Havilland), the cook's daughter, and the couple wed. Soon after the ceremony, Anthony departs for Havana to save Bonnyfeather's fortune. The note Angela leaves Anthony is blown away and he is unaware that she has gone to another city. Instead, assuming he has abandoned her, she pursues a career as an opera singer. Anthony leaves Cuba for Africa, where he becomes corrupted by his involvement with the slave trade. He is redeemed by his friendship with Brother François (Pedro de Córdoba), and following the friar's crucifixion and death by the natives, he returns to Italy to find Bonnyfeather has died and his housekeeper, Faith Paleologus (Gale Sondergaard) (now married to Don Luis), will inherit the man's estate fortune unless Anthony goes to Paris to claim his inheritance.
In Paris, Anthony is reunited with his friend, prominent banker Vincent Nolte (Donald Woods), whom he saves from bankruptcy by giving him his fortune. Through the intercession of impresario Debrulle (Ralph Morgan), Anthony finds Angela and discovers she bore him a son. She fails to reveal she is Mlle. Georges, a famous opera star and the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Anthony learns her secret, he departs for America with his son (Scotty Beckett) in search of a better life.
Cast
Fredric March as Anthony Adverse
Olivia de Havilland as Angela Giuseppe
Donald Woods as Vincent Nolte
Anita Louise as Maria
Edmund Gwenn as John Bonnyfeather
Claude Rains as Marquis Don Luis
Gale Sondergaard as Faith Paleologus
Akim Tamiroff as Carlo Cibo
Pedro de Córdoba as Brother François
Louis Hayward as Denis Moore
Ralph Morgan as Debrulle
Henry O'Neill as Father Xavier
Billy Mauch as Anthony Adverse (age 10)
Joan Woodbury as Half-Caste Dancing Girl
Marilyn Knowlden as Florence Udney
Production
Original choices for the lead role include Robert Donat, Leslie Howard and George Brent.
Errol Flynn was meant to support Fredric March but proved so popular when Captain Blood was released he was instead given the lead in The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Reception
In his review in The New York Times, Frank S. Nugent described the film as "a bulky, rambling and indecisive photoplay which has not merely taken liberties with the letter of the original but with its spirit . . . For all its sprawling length, [the novel] was cohesive and well rounded. Most of its picaresque quality has been lost in the screen version; its philosophy is vague, its characterization blurred and its story so loosely knit and episodic that its telling seems interminable." Variety described it as "a bit choppy" and "a bit long-winded", but called Fredric March "an ace choice, playing the role to the hilt." Film Daily wrote that it "easily ranks among the leading pictures of the talking screen" and called the acting "flawless". "I don't think Mr. March has done any better piece of work than this", wrote John Mosher in a positive review for the The New Yorker. The film was named one of the National Board of Review's Top Ten pictures of the year and ranked eighth in the Film Daily annual critics' poll. Paul Mavis, reviewing for DVDTalk the 2015 Warner Bros. Archive Collection DVD release, wrote, "More like Anthony Apathetic. No expense was spared on costumes and sets, while the supporting cast is first rate, particularly a lovely young Olivia de Havilland, just raring to go. However, the leaden combination of passionless director Mervyn LeRoy and miscast, bored Fredric March--both further hampered by a busy but hollowed-out script--turns Anthony Adverse into a strangely detached epic melodrama."
Academy Awards
Wins
Actress in a Supporting Role: Gale Sondergaard
Best Cinematography: Gaetano Gaudio
Best Film Editing: Ralph Dawson
Best Music (Scoring): Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
Nominations
Outstanding Production: Warner Bros.
Best Assistant Director: William Cannon
Best Art Direction: Anton Grot
In culture
The initial theme of the second movement of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's violin concerto was drawn from the music he composed for this film. English singer Julia Gilbert adopted the name of the film's main character when recording for the London-based él record label in the late 1980s.
Screen legend Tony Curtis (1925–2010), who was born Bernard Schwartz, named himself for the titular character; the novel from which this film was adapted was the actor's favorite. Curtis, who soared to fame with his role in Houdini as the legendary illusionist, was buried with a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, an iPhone and a copy of his favorite novel, Anthony Adverse.
Jack Benny parodied Anthony Adverse on the October 11 and 18 episodes of his "Jell-o Show" in 1936.
In the 1934 short comedy What, No Men!, when their plane lands in "Indian Country" and Gus (El Brendel) is told to throw out the anchor, he tosses out a rope attached to a huge book titled Anthony Adverse.
The novel Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allan, was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924-1944.
Among the four Academy Awards that Anthony Adverse won, Gale Sondergaard was awarded the inaugural Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role as Faith Paleologus.
Plot
In 1773, Maria Bonnyfeather (Anita Louise) is the new bride of the cruel and devious middle-aged nobleman Marquis Don Luis (Claude Rains). However, she is pregnant by Denis Moore (Louis Hayward), the man she loved before being forced to marry Don Luis. After the marquis learns of his wife's affair, Don Luis takes her away but Denis tracks them down at an inn, where Don Luis treacherously kills him in a sword fight.
Months later Maria dies giving birth to her son at a chalet in the Alps in northern Italy. Don Luis leaves the infant at a convent near Livorno, Italy, where the nuns christen him Anthony, it being June 13, St Anthony's feast day. Don Luis lies to Maria's father, wealthy merchant John Bonnyfeather (Edmund Gwenn), telling him that the infant is also dead. Ten years later, completely by coincidence, Anthony (Billy Mauch) is apprenticed to Bonnyfeather, his real grandfather, who discovers his relationship to the boy but keeps it a secret from him. He gives the boy the surname Adverse in acknowledgement of the difficult life he has led.
As an adult, Anthony (Fredric March) falls in love with Angela Giuseppe (Olivia de Havilland), the cook's daughter, and the couple wed. Soon after the ceremony, Anthony departs for Havana to save Bonnyfeather's fortune. The note Angela leaves Anthony is blown away and he is unaware that she has gone to another city. Instead, assuming he has abandoned her, she pursues a career as an opera singer. Anthony leaves Cuba for Africa, where he becomes corrupted by his involvement with the slave trade. He is redeemed by his friendship with Brother François (Pedro de Córdoba), and following the friar's crucifixion and death by the natives, he returns to Italy to find Bonnyfeather has died and his housekeeper, Faith Paleologus (Gale Sondergaard) (now married to Don Luis), will inherit the man's estate fortune unless Anthony goes to Paris to claim his inheritance.
In Paris, Anthony is reunited with his friend, prominent banker Vincent Nolte (Donald Woods), whom he saves from bankruptcy by giving him his fortune. Through the intercession of impresario Debrulle (Ralph Morgan), Anthony finds Angela and discovers she bore him a son. She fails to reveal she is Mlle. Georges, a famous opera star and the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. When Anthony learns her secret, he departs for America with his son (Scotty Beckett) in search of a better life.
Cast
Fredric March as Anthony Adverse
Olivia de Havilland as Angela Giuseppe
Donald Woods as Vincent Nolte
Anita Louise as Maria
Edmund Gwenn as John Bonnyfeather
Claude Rains as Marquis Don Luis
Gale Sondergaard as Faith Paleologus
Akim Tamiroff as Carlo Cibo
Pedro de Córdoba as Brother François
Louis Hayward as Denis Moore
Ralph Morgan as Debrulle
Henry O'Neill as Father Xavier
Billy Mauch as Anthony Adverse (age 10)
Joan Woodbury as Half-Caste Dancing Girl
Marilyn Knowlden as Florence Udney
Production
Original choices for the lead role include Robert Donat, Leslie Howard and George Brent.
Errol Flynn was meant to support Fredric March but proved so popular when Captain Blood was released he was instead given the lead in The Charge of the Light Brigade.
Reception
In his review in The New York Times, Frank S. Nugent described the film as "a bulky, rambling and indecisive photoplay which has not merely taken liberties with the letter of the original but with its spirit . . . For all its sprawling length, [the novel] was cohesive and well rounded. Most of its picaresque quality has been lost in the screen version; its philosophy is vague, its characterization blurred and its story so loosely knit and episodic that its telling seems interminable." Variety described it as "a bit choppy" and "a bit long-winded", but called Fredric March "an ace choice, playing the role to the hilt." Film Daily wrote that it "easily ranks among the leading pictures of the talking screen" and called the acting "flawless". "I don't think Mr. March has done any better piece of work than this", wrote John Mosher in a positive review for the The New Yorker. The film was named one of the National Board of Review's Top Ten pictures of the year and ranked eighth in the Film Daily annual critics' poll. Paul Mavis, reviewing for DVDTalk the 2015 Warner Bros. Archive Collection DVD release, wrote, "More like Anthony Apathetic. No expense was spared on costumes and sets, while the supporting cast is first rate, particularly a lovely young Olivia de Havilland, just raring to go. However, the leaden combination of passionless director Mervyn LeRoy and miscast, bored Fredric March--both further hampered by a busy but hollowed-out script--turns Anthony Adverse into a strangely detached epic melodrama."
Academy Awards
Wins
Actress in a Supporting Role: Gale Sondergaard
Best Cinematography: Gaetano Gaudio
Best Film Editing: Ralph Dawson
Best Music (Scoring): Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold)
Nominations
Outstanding Production: Warner Bros.
Best Assistant Director: William Cannon
Best Art Direction: Anton Grot
In culture
The initial theme of the second movement of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's violin concerto was drawn from the music he composed for this film. English singer Julia Gilbert adopted the name of the film's main character when recording for the London-based él record label in the late 1980s.
Screen legend Tony Curtis (1925–2010), who was born Bernard Schwartz, named himself for the titular character; the novel from which this film was adapted was the actor's favorite. Curtis, who soared to fame with his role in Houdini as the legendary illusionist, was buried with a Stetson hat, an Armani scarf, driving gloves, an iPhone and a copy of his favorite novel, Anthony Adverse.
Jack Benny parodied Anthony Adverse on the October 11 and 18 episodes of his "Jell-o Show" in 1936.
In the 1934 short comedy What, No Men!, when their plane lands in "Indian Country" and Gus (El Brendel) is told to throw out the anchor, he tosses out a rope attached to a huge book titled Anthony Adverse.
The novel Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allan, was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924-1944.
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