Cynthia (film)
| Cynthia | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
| Produced by | Edwin H. Knopf |
| Written by |
Harold Buchman Charles Kaufman Buster Keaton |
| Based on |
The Rich, Full Life by Viña Delmar |
| Starring |
Elizabeth Taylor Mary Astor George Murphy |
| Music by | Bronislau Kaper |
| Cinematography | Charles Edgar Schoenbaum |
| Edited by | Irvine "Cotton" Warburton |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 98 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,318,000[1] |
| Box office | $1,648,000[1] |
Cynthia is a 1947 film starring Mary Astor, Elizabeth Taylor and George Murphy. The screenplay, by Harold Buchman and Charles Kaufman, was based on the play The Rich, Full Life by Viña Delmar.[2]
Plot summary
In school, baseball hero Larry Bishop impresses a girl, Louise, and they fall in love. Both coincidentally have dreams of traveling to Vienna, Austria someday to continue their education, Larry in medicine, Louise in music.
When she becomes pregnant, Louise and Larry marry and move to his hometown in Illinois, a small town called Napoleon. He takes a job in Dingle's hardware store and they raise a daughter, Cynthia, who has chronic health problems and is quite frail. Fifteen years later, the Bishops are having trouble making ends meet, can't afford to buy a home and no longer have any illusions about the adventurous lives they intended to lead.
Dr. Fred Jannings has been the family's physician since Cynthia's birth, and strongly recommends against her doing any strenuous activities. Louise ignores this advice and lets Cynthia take a role in the school musical, but her health fails, causing Larry to be angry with his wife.
Cynthia falls for a classmate, Ricky Latham, in the meantime. But as the bills and worries mount, Larry loses his patience and his job one day after his boss, Dingle, objects to his coming late to work. In the end, though, the family unites to embrace the future, satisfied when Larry's boss comes back, hat in hand, asking him to return to his job.
Cast
- Elizabeth Taylor as Cynthia Bishop
- Mary Astor as Louise Bishop
- George Murphy as Larry Bishop
- S. Z. Sakall as Professor Rosenkrantz
- Gene Lockhart as Dr. Fred Jannings
- Spring Byington as Carrie Jannings
- James Lydon as Ricky Latham
- Scotty Beckett as Will Parker
- Anna Q. Nilsson as Miss Brady
- Minerva Urecal as Maid
- Morris Ankrum as Mr. Phillips
- Kathleen Howard as McQuillan
- Shirley Johns as Stella Regan
- Harlan Briggs as J.M. Dingle
- Will Wright as Gus Wood
Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $1,206,000 in the US and Canada and $442,00 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $280,000.[1]
References
- 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ↑ Article on film at Turner Classic Movies accessed 8 Jan 2014
External links
- Cynthia at the Internet Movie Database
- Cynthia at TCMDB
- Cynthia at AllMovie
- Cynthia at the American Film Institute Catalog