Seven Sweethearts

Seven Sweethearts
Seven Sweethearts
	Van Heflin and Kathryn Grayson
Directed by	Frank Borzage
Screenplay by	Walter Reisch; Leo Townsend
Based on	Seven Sisters; 1903 play; by Ferenc Herczeg
Produced by	Frank Borzage; Joe Pasternak
Starring	Kathryn Grayson; Marsha Hunt; Cecilia Parker; Van Heflin
Cinematography	George J. Folsey; Leonard Smith (uncredited)
Edited by	Blanche Sewell
Music by	Franz Waxman
Production; company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's Inc.
Release date	November 13, 1942;
Running time	98 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$752,000
Box office	$1,686,000

Seven Sweethearts is a 1942 musical film directed by Frank Borzage and starring Kathryn Grayson, Marsha Hunt and Van Heflin.

In 1949, Hungarian playwright Ferenc Herczeg sued MGM, producer Joe Pasternak and screenwriters Walter Reisch and Leo Townsend for $200,000,^{[clarification needed]} alleging that they had plagiarized Herczeg's 1903 play Seven Sisters, which Paramount Pictures had adapted into the 1915 film The Seven Sisters, starring Madge Evans.^[2]

Kathryn Grayson's real-life sister Frances Raeburn plays Cornelius.

Plot

Mr. Van Maaster is a hotelier in Little Delft, Michigan. By family tradition, the oldest of his seven daughters must marry first, but Regina wants to move to New York to become an actress. The youngest, Billie, has the sweetest singing voice. All seven sisters are married in the same ceremony.^[3]

Cast

Kathryn Grayson as Billie Van Maaster
Marsha Hunt as Regina 'Reggie' Van Maaster
Cecilia Parker as Victor Van Maaster
Peggy Moran as Albert 'Al' Van Maaster
Dorothy Morris as Peter Van Maaster
Frances Rafferty as George Van Maaster
Frances Raeburn as Cornelius Van Maaster
Van Heflin as Henry Taggart
Carl Esmond as Carl Randall
Michael Butler as Bernard Groton, Peter's Beau
Cliff Danielson as Martin Leyden, Victor's Beau
William Roberts as Anthony Vreeland, Cornelius's Beau
James Warren as Theodore Vaney, Albert's Beau
Dick Simmons as Paul Brandt, George's Beau
S. Z. Sakall as Mr. Van Maaster, the Father
Diana Lewis as Mrs. Nugent
Lewis Howard as Mr. Nugent
Isobel Elsom as Miss Abagail Robbins
Donald Meek as Reverend Howgan
Louise Beavers as Petunia

Music

Although sometimes tagged as a musical, all the songs in the film are diegetic, with no unheard accompaniment to the songs, and all with Billie as soloist. They include an English version ("There Is a Dreamboat on High") of a berceuse (Wiegenlied/lullaby), long attributed (and in the film) to Mozart, but it was in fact composed by Friedrich Fleischmann (Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein, 1799).^[4]

A scene in which a pianist lodger plays a melody to lull the hotelier to sleep features "Rock-a-bye Baby", derived from English ballad "Lillibullero", itself derived from the quickstep section of a march by Henry Purcell. At a climactic moment in the tulip festival the aria "Je suis Titania" (from the French opera Mignon) is heard. Other songs written by the team of Walter Jurmann (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) featuring Kathryn Grayson as soloist include "You and the Waltz and I", "Little Tingle Tangle Toes" and "Tulip Time".

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $638,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,048,000 elsewhere (a rarity for MGM, as most films earned more money domestically until after World War II),^[5] returning a profit of $364,000.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ "Seven Sweethearts articles & reviews". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved September 1, 2024.
^ "Seven Sweethearts (1942) - Frank Borzage | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
^ or Bernhard Flies. Goretzki, Elfriede; Krickenberg, Dieter (1988). "Das Wiegenlied 'von Mozart'". Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum. 36 (1–4). Salzburg: 114–118.
^ Kyle W. J. Tabbernor, "'Subbed-Titles': Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars" (Ph.D. diss., University of Western Ontario, 2013), 16-17. See also Richard Shale, The Academy Awards Index: The Complete Categorical and Chronological Record (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 277.

External links

Seven Sweethearts at IMDb
Seven Sweethearts at AllMovie
Seven Sweethearts at the TCM Movie Database
Seven Sweethearts at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

[Mannix-1] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[2] "Seven Sweethearts articles & reviews". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved September 1, 2024.

[3] "Seven Sweethearts (1942) - Frank Borzage | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".

[4] r Bernhard Flies. Goretzki, Elfriede; Krickenberg, Dieter (1988). "Das Wiegenlied 'von Mozart'". Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum. 36 (1–4). Salzburg: 114–118.

[5] Kyle W. J. Tabbernor, "'Subbed-Titles': Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars" (Ph.D. diss., University of Western Ontario, 2013), 16-17. See also Richard Shale, The Academy Awards Index: The Complete Categorical and Chronological Record (Westport CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), 277.

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