Golden Earrings


1h 35m 1947

Brief Synopsis

An English POW tries to hide from the Nazis by posing as a gypsy.

Film Details

Genre
Drama
Comedy
Release Date
Oct 31, 1947
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Golden Earrings by Yolanda Foldes (New York, 1946).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Synopsis

In London, in the autumn of 1946, British Major General Ralph Deniston is sitting at his club when he receives a pair of gold earrings in the mail. Later, on an airplane en route to Paris, Ralph is seated next to news correspondent Quentin Reynolds who, like other members of Ralph's club, has been curious about his pierced ears and changed personality since the war. Sensing Reynold's curiosity, Ralph relates how his ears came to be pierced: In 1939, before the war, stuffy British colonel Ralph and his young partner, Byrd, are sent to Germany to procure the secret formula for a poisonous gas from its inventor, German scientist Professor Otto Krosigk, who is friendly with the British. Ralph and Byrd are caught by Nazi soldiers and held captive in a farmhouse. During a radio address by Adolf Hitler, Ralph and Byrd escape and separate, with plans to meet in Freiburg, where Krosigk lives. While making his way through the Black Forest, Ralph is befriended by a gypsy named Lydia, who transforms him into a gypsy for his protection. Ralph resists her attempts to make a true gypsy of him, but cooperates out of self-preservation. Eventually, they arrive at the camp of Lydia's clan, near Freiburg. There, Ralph fights Zoltan, the gypsy king and Lydia's ex-lover, in order to win her. After defeating Zoltan, Ralph is welcomed into the clan, and befriended by Zoltan. Still disquised as a gypsy, Ralph meets up with Byrd, and, trying to avert suspicion, pretends to read his fortune, but is stunned when he foresees Byrd's death. When Byrd is gunned down by Nazi soldiers, Ralph shoots his killers, and the gypsies bury Byrd in the forest. To ensure his safety, Lydia and Zoltan insist on accompanying Ralph to a Nazi party gathering at Krosigk's house, where they read fortunes to amuse the guests. By the time they arrive and Ralph convinces Krosigk of his identity, however, the Nazis have forbidden anyone to leave, except the gypsies, whom they throw out. As they leave, Krosigk surreptitiously hands Ralph the formula on a note that is meant as payment for having had his fortune told. Ralph and Lydia arrive safely at the French border and swear their love. After returning Lydia's earrings, Ralph promises to meet her at the same spot after the war, which she waits out in Switzerland. After Ralph finishes his story, the plane lands, and Ralph returns to the wooded spot where he and Lydia said goodbye and dons the earrings before embracing her.

Cast

Ray Milland

Colonel Ralph Deniston

Marlene Dietrich

Lydia

Murvyn Vye

Zoltan

Bruce Lester

Byrd

Dennis Hoey

Hoff

Quentin Reynolds

Himself

Reinhold Schunzel

Professor Otto Krosigk

Ivan Triesault

Major Reimann

Hermine Sterler

Greta Krosigk

Eric Feldary

Zweig

Fred Nurney

Agent

Otto Reichow

Agent

Gisela Werbiseck

Dowager

Larry Simms

Page boy

Haldor De Becker

Telegraph boy

Gordon Richards

Club member

Vernon Downing

Club member

Leslie Denison

Miggs

Tony Ellis

Dispatch rider

Gwen Davies

Stewardess

Robert Cory

Doorman

Hans Von Morhart

S.S. trooper

Henry Rowland

Peiffer

William Yetter Sr.

Peasant

Henry Guttman

Peasant

Roberta Jonay

Peasant girl

William Yetter Jr.

Soldier

Leo Schlesinger

Soldier

Jon Gilbreath

Soldier

James W. Horne

Soldier

Carmen Beretta

Tourist

Frank Johnson

Waiter

Mme. Louise Colombet

Flower woman

Maynard Holmes

Private

Fred Giermann

Sergeant

Harry Anderson

German farmer

Caryl Lincoln

Farmer's wife

Robert Val

Gypsy

Gordon Arnold

Gypsy

Pepito Perez

Gypsy

George Sorel

Policeman

Hans Schumm

Policeman

Martha Bamattre

Wise old woman

Antonia Morales

Gypsy dancer

Jack Wilson

Hitler Youth leader

Charles Bates

Small boy

John Dehner

S.S. man

Howard Mitchell

Naval officer

Arno Frey

Major

John Good

S.S. lieutenant

Jack Worth

Nazi party official

Walter Rode

Nazi party official

Peter Seal

Chief of police

John Peters

Lt. Colonel

Al Winters

Elite guard colonel

Greta Ullman

German wife

Catherine Savitsky

German wife

Bob Stephenson

S.S. guard

Henry Vroom

S.S. guard

Ellen Baer

Girl

Margaret Farrell

Film Details

Genre
Drama
Comedy
Release Date
Oct 31, 1947
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
Paramount Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel Golden Earrings by Yolanda Foldes (New York, 1946).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 35m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Articles

Golden Earrings


After a three-year absence Marlene Dietrich returned to Hollywood in 1947 to star in Golden Earrings. It also marked her return to Paramount Studios, where she had earlier achieved stardom before her career went into decline after a string of box-office disasters. But even though she had to take second billing to leading man Ray Milland, Dietrich made sure the picture was all hers.

When director Mitchell Leisen first took on Yolanda Foldes' best seller about a gypsy woman who helps a downed British flyer hide from Nazi soldiers by disguising him as her gypsy lover, he knew he had to have Dietrich as his leading lady. He and his agent, Charles Feldman - who also represented Dietrich - had their work cut out for them convincing Paramount's executives to welcome back their one-time star. They finally argued that she was the only actress who could maintain her glamour while dressed in the gypsy's rags. They also suggested that audiences would welcome her back to the screen after her years of work with the USO during World War II.

Filming started while Dietrich was still in France, where she was engaged in a torrid affair with a French Army general. So the studio started with long shots of an escape sequence in which a stunt woman ran over hills and fallen logs clad in the Hollywood version of gypsy garb - complete with decidedly inauthentic spike heels. Meanwhile, Dietrich was researching gypsy life in the camps along the Seine. When she got to the set, she brought an authentic costume with her and insisted on playing the role barefoot. Paramount didn't want to pay to re-shoot the escape scene, so the close-ups of Dietrich show her in a different costume than in the long shots.

In addition to letting her dictate the character's wardrobe, Leisen also let her do her own makeup (Dietrich was the only Hollywood star who also belonged to the makeup artists' union) and light her own scenes. This did not go over well with Milland, who feared she would use her control to steal the picture from him.

Milland had not wanted to do the film, claiming the story was ridiculously lightweight for an actor who had just won an Oscar for playing the alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945). He also said that Dietrich, only two years his senior, was too old to be his love interest. For her part, she complained that he had body odor and was a lousy actor. In private, she even suggested that he'd gotten the part because Leisen, whose homosexuality was well-known throughout Hollywood, was attracted to him. This was a particularly nasty joke on Milland, who was one of the screen's most notorious homophobes and eventually refused to work with Leisen for fear that he might, indeed, make a pass at him.

On the set, Dietrich delighted in shocking Milland. For one scene by the campfire, she pulled a fish head out of her cauldron, popped it in her mouth, sucked out the eyes, then pulled the fish head back out. When Leisen called cut, she then stuck her finger down her throat so she could throw up the fish eyes. She did this in repeated takes, as Milland grew paler and paler under his gypsy makeup. In another scene she reached under her skirt to scratch for lice, then offered Milland some bread with the same hand.

Yet she was also the complete trouper. Her cauldron was actually only lukewarm, but bubbled and steamed thanks to some dry ice in the bottom. One day when they went to lunch, the props people forgot to put out the fire under the kettle. When they returned, the water really was boiling, which Dietrich found out when she reached into it. But even though she had second degree burns, she insisted on finishing the scene, even reaching into the cooled off cauldron with her injured hand.

Although the critics were not kind to Golden Earrings, it fared well at the box office, returning almost seven times its cost to the studio. The film's popularity was helped tremendously by its hit title song, which spent 14 weeks on the Hit Parade, and some free publicity by the Catholic Church's Legion of Decency, which condemned the film for showing Dietrich and Milland living together without benefit of wedlock. But the biggest draw was Dietrich herself. Milland and Leisen had both been right: she had used her witty turn as the gypsy to steal the film, and audience's were indeed eager to see the woman they thought had helped win the war. Top-billed Milland was none too happy to see the film's ad campaign focus almost entirely on his leading lady, with posters announcing "Dietrich's Back!" But after Golden Earrings became a hit, nobody could deny that the screen's most glamorous German was back and back to stay.

Producer: Harry Tugend Director: Mitchell Leisen
Screenplay: Frank Butler, Helen Deutsch, Abraham Polonsky
Based on the novel by Yolanda Foldes
Cinematography: Daniel L. Fapp
Art Direction: Hans Dreier, John Meehan
Music: Victor Young
Cast: Ray Milland (Colonel Ralph Denistoun), Marlene Dietrich (Lydia), Murvyn Vye (Zoltan), Bruce Lester (Richard Byrd), Dennis Hoey (Hoff), Reinhold Schunzel (Professor Otto Krosigk), Ivan Triesault (Major Reimann).
BW-95m.

By Frank Miller

Golden Earrings

Golden Earrings

After a three-year absence Marlene Dietrich returned to Hollywood in 1947 to star in Golden Earrings. It also marked her return to Paramount Studios, where she had earlier achieved stardom before her career went into decline after a string of box-office disasters. But even though she had to take second billing to leading man Ray Milland, Dietrich made sure the picture was all hers. When director Mitchell Leisen first took on Yolanda Foldes' best seller about a gypsy woman who helps a downed British flyer hide from Nazi soldiers by disguising him as her gypsy lover, he knew he had to have Dietrich as his leading lady. He and his agent, Charles Feldman - who also represented Dietrich - had their work cut out for them convincing Paramount's executives to welcome back their one-time star. They finally argued that she was the only actress who could maintain her glamour while dressed in the gypsy's rags. They also suggested that audiences would welcome her back to the screen after her years of work with the USO during World War II. Filming started while Dietrich was still in France, where she was engaged in a torrid affair with a French Army general. So the studio started with long shots of an escape sequence in which a stunt woman ran over hills and fallen logs clad in the Hollywood version of gypsy garb - complete with decidedly inauthentic spike heels. Meanwhile, Dietrich was researching gypsy life in the camps along the Seine. When she got to the set, she brought an authentic costume with her and insisted on playing the role barefoot. Paramount didn't want to pay to re-shoot the escape scene, so the close-ups of Dietrich show her in a different costume than in the long shots. In addition to letting her dictate the character's wardrobe, Leisen also let her do her own makeup (Dietrich was the only Hollywood star who also belonged to the makeup artists' union) and light her own scenes. This did not go over well with Milland, who feared she would use her control to steal the picture from him. Milland had not wanted to do the film, claiming the story was ridiculously lightweight for an actor who had just won an Oscar for playing the alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend (1945). He also said that Dietrich, only two years his senior, was too old to be his love interest. For her part, she complained that he had body odor and was a lousy actor. In private, she even suggested that he'd gotten the part because Leisen, whose homosexuality was well-known throughout Hollywood, was attracted to him. This was a particularly nasty joke on Milland, who was one of the screen's most notorious homophobes and eventually refused to work with Leisen for fear that he might, indeed, make a pass at him. On the set, Dietrich delighted in shocking Milland. For one scene by the campfire, she pulled a fish head out of her cauldron, popped it in her mouth, sucked out the eyes, then pulled the fish head back out. When Leisen called cut, she then stuck her finger down her throat so she could throw up the fish eyes. She did this in repeated takes, as Milland grew paler and paler under his gypsy makeup. In another scene she reached under her skirt to scratch for lice, then offered Milland some bread with the same hand. Yet she was also the complete trouper. Her cauldron was actually only lukewarm, but bubbled and steamed thanks to some dry ice in the bottom. One day when they went to lunch, the props people forgot to put out the fire under the kettle. When they returned, the water really was boiling, which Dietrich found out when she reached into it. But even though she had second degree burns, she insisted on finishing the scene, even reaching into the cooled off cauldron with her injured hand. Although the critics were not kind to Golden Earrings, it fared well at the box office, returning almost seven times its cost to the studio. The film's popularity was helped tremendously by its hit title song, which spent 14 weeks on the Hit Parade, and some free publicity by the Catholic Church's Legion of Decency, which condemned the film for showing Dietrich and Milland living together without benefit of wedlock. But the biggest draw was Dietrich herself. Milland and Leisen had both been right: she had used her witty turn as the gypsy to steal the film, and audience's were indeed eager to see the woman they thought had helped win the war. Top-billed Milland was none too happy to see the film's ad campaign focus almost entirely on his leading lady, with posters announcing "Dietrich's Back!" But after Golden Earrings became a hit, nobody could deny that the screen's most glamorous German was back and back to stay. Producer: Harry Tugend Director: Mitchell Leisen Screenplay: Frank Butler, Helen Deutsch, Abraham Polonsky Based on the novel by Yolanda Foldes Cinematography: Daniel L. Fapp Art Direction: Hans Dreier, John Meehan Music: Victor Young Cast: Ray Milland (Colonel Ralph Denistoun), Marlene Dietrich (Lydia), Murvyn Vye (Zoltan), Bruce Lester (Richard Byrd), Dennis Hoey (Hoff), Reinhold Schunzel (Professor Otto Krosigk), Ivan Triesault (Major Reimann). BW-95m. By Frank Miller

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

This film marked Marlene Dietrich's return to the American screen after three years spent entertaining American soldiers overseas. In 1946, she appeared in a French film with Jean Gabin called Martin Roumagnac. According to Paramount press releases, Dietrich learned the cymbalom, or Hungarian zither, in order to accompany her singing in the film. In addition, her hair was dyed black and her skin made to appear darker for the film. As noted in Hollywood Reporter, costumer Mary Kay Dodson collected three-hundred old European coins from Hollywood antique shops for one of Dietrich's costumes. According to modern sources, although Abraham Polonsky received a co-writer credit, none of his screenplay was used in the final film. The Black Forest scenes were shot around Portland and Bend, OR in July 1946. The film marked the motion picture debut of actor Mervyn Vye. Quentin Reynolds, who appears as himself in the film, was a prominent news correspondent.