Cyrano de Bergerac (1950 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other films with this name, see Cyrano de Bergerac (film).

Cyrano de Bergerac is a 1950 black-and-white film based on the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand. It was produced by Stanley Kramer, directed by Michael Gordon and starred José Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac, Mala Powers as Roxane, and William Prince as Christian de Neuvillette.

José Ferrer won an Academy Award for his portrayal of de Bergerac, and Mala Powers was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her portrayal of Roxane.

The film was made on a low budget, because its makers felt that a play in verse would not attract a large box office (they turned out to be right). The low budget is evident in the fact that the sets are not very elaborate, and whatever is missing is deliberately obscured by shadows, or even darkness. It also uses a cast of supporting actors who are not box office names, having had experience mostly either in theatre or in bit parts in films. Ralph Clanton, who plays the Count De Guiche, also played the role in the 1946 Broadway revival of the play, which also marked José Ferrer's first appearance in the role of Cyrano.

The screenplay for the film, written by Carl Foreman, is admirably faithful to poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English translation of the play in blank verse, though trimmed for movie length. However, Foreman does add his own dialogue for two or three additional scenes inserted into the film for better continuity between the five acts of the original play, and these are obviously not in verse at all.

The film makes one significant change from the play - the characters of Le Bret and Carbon de Castel-Jaloux are combined, as are the characters of Ragueneau and Ligniere (although Ragueneau is not a drunk in the film).

If the film is today decried for its low-budget, stagy look, as well as for some of its supporting actors, it is universally admired for José Ferrer's star performance, in what is acknowledged to be his greatest role.

[edit] Principal Members of Cast

Cyrano de Bergerac -José Ferrer
Roxane - Mala Powers
Christian de Neuvillette - William Prince
Le Bret - Morris Carnovsky
De Guiche - Ralph Clanton
Ragueneau - Lloyd Corrigan
Montfleury - Arthur Blake
Valvert - Albert Cavens
The Meddler - Don Beddoe
Bellerose - Percy Helton
Cardinal Richelieu - Edgar Barrier
The Orange Girl - Elena Verdugo

The role of the Cardinal was especially written for the film.

[edit] Trivia

Several of the people who worked on this film ended up on the Hollywood blacklist, among them screenwriter Carl Foreman, director Michael Gordon, and actor Morris Carnovsky. José Ferrer himself was questioned by the HUAC, but he proved that he was not a Communist, and continued his career. (Ferrer had appeared with Paul Robeson, who was blacklisted, in a 1943 Broadway production of Othello).