No Minor Vices

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No Minor Vices
1948 US Theatrical Poster
Directed byLewis Milestone
Screenplay byArnold Manoff
Story byArnold Manoff
Produced byLewis Milestone
StarringDana Andrews
Lilli Palmer
Louis Jourdan
Jane Wyatt
Norman Lloyd
CinematographyGeorge Barnes
Edited byRobert Parrish
Music byFranz Waxman
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • November 12, 1948 (1948-11-12) (
    US
    Theatrical)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$643,000[1]

No Minor Vices is a 1948 American

David Loew's Enterprise Productions, it was the first of three films distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer after parting ways with United Artists,[2] and was the last of four films made by Dana Andrews for director Milestone.[4]

Plot

Successful

pediatrician Perry Ashwell (Dana Andrews) takes his attractive wife April (Lilli Palmer) and their conservative lifestyle for granted. When he allows artist Octavio Quaglini (Louis Jourdan) into their lives to sketch their "inner selves", Octavio becomes enamoured with April and tries to steal her away from Perry.[4]

Cast

Background

After the expensive flop of Arch of Triumph bankrupted Enterprise Productions, a film which United Artists called "probably the greatest commercial failure in the history of motion pictures", No Minor Vices was conceived as a means to keep Enterprise going until all possible revenues could be gotten from Arch of Triumph.[4] Enterprise co-founder Charles Einfeld gave Lewis Milestone the title No Minor Vices and suggested he create film to go with it.[5]

Milestone called in friends to make the film, with Dana Andrews even investing some of his own money in the project, but losing his investment when the film bombed. Andrews felt that part of No Minor Vices poor box office showings were due to the film being released by

MGM rather than by United Artists, and with MGM not doing a decent a job in promoting as might have UA. Milestone chose to "play it safe" with the film. In order to keep audiences interested in the simple plot line, Milestone would sometimes cut to a scene that had a little man in a window making cigars and reacting to things that had nothing to do with the scene just intercut. Film editor Robert Parrish reported that if a scene was lousy, Milestone could cut to this little guy, but the running gag was not enough upon which to build a film.[4] No Minor Vices kept Enterprise alive as a company, but money was tight.[5]

Box office

The film was a box office flop.[6] According to MGM records it earned $479,000 in the US and Canada and $164,000 overseas.[1]

Critical response

The Rotarian wrote that with "Prolonged attempt to symbolic, whimsical turns out to be faintly boring long before the end is reached."[8]

Awards and nominations

Release

The film had international film and television release: In Germany as Eine Frau zuviel, in Finland as Katselen ihmisiä, in Poland as Kobieta bez skazy, in Sweden as Kyss mej långsamt, in Spain as Ningún vicio menor, and in Italy as Tra moglie e marito. For its 1959 Danish television debut, it was titled Tre er én for mange.

References

  1. ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ a b c Bosley Crowther (February 26, 1949). "review: No Minor Vices (1948)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  3. ISBN 1-57806-603-4
    . No Minor Vices.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-4614-8
    .
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-87910-166-0
    . Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  6. ^ No Minor Vices at Monsier.louisjourdan.net accessed 21 Jan 2014
  7. Allmovie
    . Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  8. ISSN 0035-838X
    .
  9. ^ "No Minor Vices". Writers Guild of America. Writers Guild Foundation. Retrieved 2 May 2011.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=No_Minor_Vices&oldid=1215462356"