Yolanda and the Thief

Yolanda and the Thief

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Directed by Vincente Minnelli
Produced by Arthur Freed
Written by Irving Brecher
Story by Ludwig Bemelmans
Jacques Théry
Starring Fred Astaire
Lucille Bremer
Frank Morgan
Music by Harry Warren
Arthur Freed (lyrics)
Cinematography Charles Rosher
Edited by George White
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
 November 20, 1945 (1945-11-20)
Running time
 108 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $2,443,322.31[1][2]
Box office $1,791,000[2]

Yolanda and the Thief (Technicolor) is a 1945 MGM musical-comedy film set in a fictional Latin American country, and stars Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan, and Mildred Natwick, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Arthur Freed. The film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed.

The film—a long-time pet project of Freed's to promote his lover Bremer's career—fared disastrously at the box office. An attempt to create a whimsical fantasy, it ended up—in the words of critic John Mueller—as "egg-nog instead of the usual champagne",[3] despite admirable production values. The music is merely competent, the orchestration syrupy, Bremer's acting is poor, whereas the already fragile plot and some good comedy elements were scuppered by last-minute injudicious cutting by Minnelli.[3] It ruined Bremer's career and discouraged Astaire, who decided to retire after his next film Blue Skies.

Perhaps it also vindicated Astaire's own horror of "inventing up to the arty"[4]—his phrase for the approach of those who would set out a priori to create art, whereas he believed artistic value could only emerge as an accidental and unpremeditated by-product of a tireless search for perfection. In his autobiography, Astaire approvingly quotes Los Angeles Times critic Edwin Schallert:" 'Not for realists' is a label that may be appropriately affixed to Yolanda and the Thief. It is a question, too, whether this picture has the basic material to satisfy the general audience, although in texture and trimmings it might be termed an event."[4] Astaire himself concluded: "This verified my feeling that doing fantasy on the screen is an extra risk."

Cast

Production

Filming began on January 15, 1945 and the film was first previewed on July 11, 1945 in Glendale, California. It cost $2,443,322.31 to make and suffered a net loss of $1,644,000.[1]

Key songs/dance routines

Eugene Loring was responsible for most of the choreography, with Astaire for once taking a back seat and only contributing in parts. Tactfully, Astaire claimed he wanted to see what it would be like dancing to other choreographers' ideas, a move some critics have attributed to a putative temporary decline in Astaire's creative powers around this time,[3] but it is equally possible that he found the artistic pretensions of the project somewhat off-putting.

In any event, the dancing saves the day in what is also Astaire's most visually arresting color film, featuring possibly the first example on film of the deliberate integration of color and visual pattern with dance—a theme which Minnelli explored on a larger scale and to such celebrated effect six years later with Gene Kelly in the dream ballet finale of An American in Paris. Astaire had already created an early dream dance on film with "I Used To Be Color Blind" in Carefree (1938), and had worked with Minelli on a dream ballet insert for the "Limehouse Blues" number from Ziegfeld Follies (1946). The dream ballet genre achieved popularity when Agnes de Mille choreographed a celebrated number for the 1943 stage hit Oklahoma!.

Contemporary reviews

Box Office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,221,000 in the US and Canada and $570,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $1,644,000.[2]

Radio adaptation

Yolanda and the Thief was presented on Musical Comedy Theater November 26, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Boris Karloff, Lisa Kirk, and John Conte.[5]

External links

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 115–118. ISBN 0-313-29010-5.
  2. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mueller, John (1986). Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films. London: Hamish Hamilton. pp. 252–261. ISBN 0-241-11749-6.
  4. 1 2 Astaire, Fred (1959). Steps in Time. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0-241-11749-6.
  5. ↑ Kirby, Walter (November 23, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 48. Retrieved June 16, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
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