Cyrano de Bergerac **** (1950, José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince) – Classic Movie Review 7229

Long before there was Gérard Depardieu in the 1990 French classic movie Cyrano de Bergerac, there was José Ferrer, who won the Best Actor award at the Oscars and Golden Globes as Edmond Rostand’s 17th-century big-nosed French poet, swordsman and romantic hero.

In Edmond Rostand’s celebrated 1897 French Alexandrin verse drama Cyrano de Bergerac, set in 17th-century Paris, Cyrano falls for his pretty cousin Roxane (Mala Powers). Before he can tell her how he feels, she tells him she has fallen in love with a handsome guardsman, Christian de Neuvillette (William Prince), although she has never spoken to him. Cyrano hides his devastation, agrees to help her, and chivalrously writes love letters to be read out by the other, hunkier but tongue-tied would-be lover.

Director Michael Gordon’s 1950 Cyrano de Bergerac is a very welcome slice of culture from producer Stanley Kramer and United Artists, but the film needs more colour, character and sweep. The sets are disappointingly minimalist, despite a decent sized budget of $1.1 million. They were worried about the box office, but in the event it did well to earn $1.9 million in US rentals, though it still recorded a loss of $300,000.

In a literal sense, too, it needs colour, as Franz Planer shoots in black and white. However, Planer’s moody, even gloomy cinematography is distinguished, and he won the Golden Globe for Best Cinematography – Black and White. Ingenious camera angles and lighting help conceal the sparse sets.

Despite a long list of worthy actors in support, Ferrer may be pretty well the whole show but he is utterly stupendous, scoring the film’s only Oscar nomination (and win). However, Powers and Prince are decent in support, and so is Ralph Clanton as the arrogant Comte de Guiche, a nobleman Cyrano mocked with his verses and who is also wooing Roxane. Ferrer and Clanton had appeared in the 1946 Broadway revival of the play in the same roles.

Carl Foreman writes the screenplay from poet Brian Hooker’s 1923 English translation blank verse play translation. Despite a reasonably long running time of 113 minutes, much is cut from Hooker’s play, as Cyrano plays for more than two and a half hours on stage. But Foreman has not rewritten the dialogue, apart from two or three additional scenes for better continuity between the five acts of the original play, not in verse.

The play characters of Le Bret and Carbon de Castel-Jaloux, and of Ragueneau and Ligniere, are combined. The role of the unnamed cardinal (apparently Richelieu) was written for the film.

Cyrano de Bergerac also features Morris Carnovsky, Ralph Clanton, Virginia Farmer, Elena Verdugo, Lloyd Corrigan, Edgar Barrier, Arthur Blake, Don Beddoe, Percy Helton, Virginia Christine, Gil Warren, Philip Van Zandt, Eric Sinclair, Richard Avonde, Paul Dubov, John Crawford, Jerry Paris, Robin Hughes, Francis Pierlot and John Harmon.

José Ferrer and Mala Powers in Cyrano.

Cyrano de Bergerac is directed by Michael Gordon, runs 113 minutes, is made by Stanley Kramer Productions, released by United Artists, is written by Carl Foreman (screenplay) and Brian Hooker (play), based on the play by Edmond Rostand, is shot in black and white by Franz Planer, is produced by Stanley Kramer and George Glass, is scored by Dimitri Tiomkin and designed by Rudolph Sternad.

There were two other Golden Globe nominations – for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Most Promising Newcomer (Mala Powers).

It is one of the first films to use the new Western Electric magnetic sound recording system, needed for stereo sound.

It is the first movie in English of Rostand’s play, after several adaptations in different languages.

The film fell into the public domain in the mid-1980s.

It is followed by the 1990 French classic movie Cyrano de Bergerac and Steve Martin’s reworking of the play in 1987’s Roxanne.

The cast are José Ferrer as Cyrano de Bergerac, Mala Powers as Roxane, William Prince as Christian de Neuvillette, Morris Carnovsky as Le Bret, Ralph Clanton as Antoine Comte de Guiche, Lloyd Corrigan as Ragueneau, Virginia Farmer as Roxane’s duenna, Edgar Barrier as Cardinal Richelieu, Elena Verdugo as the Orange Girl, Albert Cavens as the Viscount de Valvert, Arthur Blake as Montfleury, Don Beddoe as The Meddler, Percy Helton as Bellerose, and Francis Pierlot as Monk, Virginia Christine, Gil Warren, Philip Van Zandt, Eric Sinclair, Richard Avonde, Paul Dubov, John Crawford, Jerry Paris, Robin Hughes, and John Harmon.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7229

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com