The Perils of Pauline (1947 film)

The Perils of Pauline
1947 theatrical poster
Directed by George Marshall
Produced by Sol C. Siegel (producer)
Written by P.J. Wolfson (story & screenplay) and
Frank Butler (screenplay)
Starring Betty Hutton
John Lund
Music by Robert Emmett Dolan
Cinematography Ray Rennahan
Edited by Arthur P. Schmidt
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • July 4, 1947 (1947-07-04)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $3.8 million (US rentals)[1]

The Perils of Pauline is a 1947 American Technicolor film directed by George Marshall and released by Paramount Pictures. The film is a fictionalized Hollywood account of silent film star Pearl White's rise to fame, starring Betty Hutton as White.

A broad satire of silent-film production, the film is a musical-comedy vehicle for Hutton. The original songs by Frank Loesser include the standard "I Wish I Didn't Love You So", which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Paul Panzer, who played the villain in the 1914 film The Perils of Pauline, has a very small part in this film, as do silent-comedy veterans Chester Conklin, Hank Mann, Snub Pollard, and James Finlayson.

The film is in the public domain today; all public-domain video releases are sourced from 16 mm television prints that have faded over the years. Universal Studios (through NBC Universal Television, successor-in-interest to EMKA, Ltd.) owns the original film elements.

Plot

Pearl White (Betty Hutton) is a frustrated factory worker who aspires to become a dramatic actress. She joins a touring theatrical troupe managed by handsome but pompous Mike (John Lund), but fame and fortune elude her because she's unable to suppress her natural rambunctiousness. In desperation, White takes a job at a movie studio, where she promptly finds herself in the middle of a slapstick pie fight. With the help of bombastic director Mac (William Demarest), top-hatted villain portrayer Timmy (Billy De Wolfe), and imperious dramatics coach Julia (Constance Collier), Pearl soon becomes world-famous as the star of such cliffhanging, tied-to-the-railroad-tracks serials as The Perils of Pauline.[2]

Cast

Soundtrack

Introduced by Betty Hutton in The Perils of Pauline and released on Capitol Records, "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song
  • "Poor Pauline" (Written by Charles McCarron and Raymond Walker)
  • Betty Hutton - "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" (Written by Frank Loesser)
  • Betty Hutton - "The Sewing Machine" (Written by Frank Loesser)
  • Betty Hutton - "Rumble, Rumble, Rumble" (Written by Frank Loesser)
  • Betty Hutton - "Poppa, Don't Preach To Me" (Written by Frank Loesser)

Awards

Billboard for the film during its initial run in Sydney, Australia

Frank Loesser was nominated for an Oscar in the category "Best Music, Original Song" for "I Wish I Didn't Love You So".[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Top Grossers of 1947", Variety, 7 January 1948 p 63
  2. ↑ "The Perils of Pauline (1947) - George Marshall - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  3. ↑ "The 20th Academy Awards (1948) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
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