Actor's and Sin
Encyclopedia
Actor's and Sin is a 1952
American
black-and-white
comedy
drama film
directed by Lee Garmes
and Ben Hecht
for Sid Kuller Productions
. The film marks Edward G. Robinson
's second film with actress Marsha Hunt
. Also known by its section names of Actor's Blood and Woman of Sin, the film debuted in New York City
on May 29, 1952.
about legitimate theater. The second section is Woman of Sin, a send-up of Hollywood greed.
Actor's Blood takes place in New York City. Broadway star Marcia Tillayou (Marsha Hunt
) has been found shot dead in her apartment. Her father Maurice (Edward G. Robinson
) is himself an actor, and had watched her theater career rise as his own declined. She had let success overcome her, and had thus alienated critics, fans, producers, and her playwright husband (Dan O'Herlihy
). She had a few recent stage flops before being murdered.
Woman of Sin takes place in Hollywood. Dishonest agent writer's agent Orlando Higgens (Eddie Albert
) has been receiving frantic calls from Daisy Marcher (Jenny Hecht) about a screenplay she had written called Woman of Sin. Thinking they are crank calls, Higgens tells her to never call his office again. He then learns that through a mixup of the mails, her screenplay had been received by film mogul J.B. Cobb (Alan Reed
), a man who once passed on Gone With the Wind based on Higgins' advice. Cobb thinks that Higgins sent the script and offers Higgins a lucrative sum for the rights. The problem is that Higgins has no idea where Daisy is, or that she is actually a nine-year-old child.
Woman of Sin sequence:
writes "Both are light, breezy, and inconsequential, though admittedly written with an expert's ear for dialogue and a knack for clever story twists." They write that both sections "move at an efficient pace", and praise Ben Hecht for the dialog and rhythm of his scripts. They also note that the actors were well chosen, finding flaw only in the child actors used in the Woman of Sin segment. They did have critique about the material itself, noting that while Hecht knew his way around both Hollywood and Broadway, the subject matter comes off as a little "too inside". They were also disappointed in the two stories, finding the plotlines "fairly hokey and predictable". However, and despite the "hackneyed narrative", they found the film overall to be "very watchable", in that Hecht's sense of timing kept the project from being boring.
DVD Verdict
wrote that "the most intriguing element" of the film, and not properly promoted by the film's trailer, is that "it is actually two brief films combined in one package." In analyzing Actor's Blood, they wrote that there was "an opportunity for insight and depth in this story, but it would seem that Mr. Hecht wrote the screenplay while in a blind rage." They offered that the material might even have been comedic but for it being "preposterously heavy-handed". They felt that the actors generally spoke each line over-dramatically and floundered, with only Edward G. Robinson "able to make this work within the context of his character". In their analysis of Woman of Sin, they found it to be "reasonably engaging early on as a breezy satire", despite the concept of a story written by a nine-year-old "earning words of praise and adoration from the likes of Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer". They noted that the cameos by the studio heads were amusing, but that the story was derailed by the use of Ben Hecht's daughter Jenny in the role of child screenwriter Daisy Marcher. They felt that she was "fingernails-on-a-blackboard grating" in this role, in that she "dials up every aspect of precociousness that can afflict a child actor as high as it can possibly go, and her presence effectively destroys any sense of comic momentum that the film had built up to that point," making her use a clear example of the problems inherent in nepotism. They concluded that the film would stand as "an interesting curiosity for Hollywood history buffs, but fails as a cinematic experience."
1952 in film
The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
comedy
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes
Lee Garmes, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer. During his career, he worked with directors Howard Hawks, Max Ophuls, Josef von Sternberg, Alfred Hitchcock, King Vidor, Nicholas Ray and Henry Hathaway, whom he had met as a young man when the two first came to Hollywood in the silent era...
and Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
for Sid Kuller Productions
Sid Kuller
Sid Kuller was an American comedy writer, producer and lyricist/composer, who concentrated on special musical material, gags and sketches for leading comics...
. The film marks Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
's second film with actress Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (actress)
Marsha Hunt is an American film, theater, and television actress who was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studio executives in the 1950s.-Career:...
. Also known by its section names of Actor's Blood and Woman of Sin, the film debuted in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on May 29, 1952.
Plot
The film lampoons the Hollywood motion picture industry and is separated into two sections: The first section of the film is Actor's Blood, a morality playMorality play
The morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...
about legitimate theater. The second section is Woman of Sin, a send-up of Hollywood greed.
Actor's Blood takes place in New York City. Broadway star Marcia Tillayou (Marsha Hunt
Marsha Hunt (actress)
Marsha Hunt is an American film, theater, and television actress who was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studio executives in the 1950s.-Career:...
) has been found shot dead in her apartment. Her father Maurice (Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
) is himself an actor, and had watched her theater career rise as his own declined. She had let success overcome her, and had thus alienated critics, fans, producers, and her playwright husband (Dan O'Herlihy
Dan O'Herlihy
Daniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...
). She had a few recent stage flops before being murdered.
Woman of Sin takes place in Hollywood. Dishonest agent writer's agent Orlando Higgens (Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
) has been receiving frantic calls from Daisy Marcher (Jenny Hecht) about a screenplay she had written called Woman of Sin. Thinking they are crank calls, Higgens tells her to never call his office again. He then learns that through a mixup of the mails, her screenplay had been received by film mogul J.B. Cobb (Alan Reed
Alan Reed
Alan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...
), a man who once passed on Gone With the Wind based on Higgins' advice. Cobb thinks that Higgins sent the script and offers Higgins a lucrative sum for the rights. The problem is that Higgins has no idea where Daisy is, or that she is actually a nine-year-old child.
Cast
Actor's Blood sequence:- Dan O'HerlihyDan O'HerlihyDaniel O'Herlihy was an Oscar nominated Irish film actor.-Early life:O'Herlihy was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age...
as Alfred O'Shea, Narrator - Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
as Maurice Tillayou - Marsha HuntMarsha Hunt (actress)Marsha Hunt is an American film, theater, and television actress who was blacklisted by Hollywood movie studio executives in the 1950s.-Career:...
as Marcia Tillayou - Rudolph AndersRudolph AndersRudolph Anders was a German character actor who came to the United States after the rise of Hitler, and appeared in numerous American films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. During the 1940s, he used the stage name of Robert O. Davis...
as Otto Lachsley - Peter BroccoPeter BroccoPeter Brocco was an American film and TV character actor for nearly 60 years.He appeared as a criminal type in several episodes of Adventures of Superman. He holds the distinction of having been killed off in two of them, a relative rarity for villains in the series...
as Frederick Herbert - Robert CarsonRobert CarsonRobert Carson was a British numismatist. He was a leading expert on Roman coins, and was employed as Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum from 1978 to 1983.-External links:**...
as Thomas Hayne - Herb Bernard as Emile
- Alice Key as Miss Thompson, Tommy
- Irene Martin as Mrs. Murray
- Joseph Mell as George Murray
- Ric Roman as Clyde Veering
- Elizabeth Root as Mrs. Herbert
Woman of Sin sequence:
- Ben HechtBen HechtBen Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
as Narrator - Eddie AlbertEddie AlbertEdward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
as Orlando Higgens - Alan ReedAlan ReedAlan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...
as Jerome (J.B.) Cobb - Jenny Hecht as Millicent Egelhofer, Daisy Marcher
- George Baxter as Vincent Brown
- John CrawfordJohn Crawford (actor)John Crawford was an American actor.Crawford was born Cleve Allen Richardson in Colfax, Washington. In films from the 1940s, Crawford appeared in bit parts for many years before playing leads in several films in the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
as Gilbert, Movie Actor - Douglas Evans as Mr. Devlin
- Paul GuilfoylePaul Guilfoyle (actor born in 1902)Paul Guilfoyle was an American stage, film, and television actor...
as Mr. Blue - Sam Rosen as Danello
- Tracey Roberts as Miss Flanagan
- Toni Carroll as Millicent, Movie Star
- Jody Gilbert as Mrs. Egelhofer
- George Keymas as Bill Sweitzer, Producer
- Alan Mendez as Captain Moriarity
- Kathleen Mulqueen as Miss Wright
- Cameo appearanceCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s by: - Betty FieldBetty FieldBetty Field was an American film and stage actress. Through her father, she was a direct descendant of the Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullins....
, Louis B. MayerLouis B. MayerLouis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
, and Jack L. Warner
Reception
In speaking toward the film's two sections, DVD TalkDVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
writes "Both are light, breezy, and inconsequential, though admittedly written with an expert's ear for dialogue and a knack for clever story twists." They write that both sections "move at an efficient pace", and praise Ben Hecht for the dialog and rhythm of his scripts. They also note that the actors were well chosen, finding flaw only in the child actors used in the Woman of Sin segment. They did have critique about the material itself, noting that while Hecht knew his way around both Hollywood and Broadway, the subject matter comes off as a little "too inside". They were also disappointed in the two stories, finding the plotlines "fairly hokey and predictable". However, and despite the "hackneyed narrative", they found the film overall to be "very watchable", in that Hecht's sense of timing kept the project from being boring.
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict
DVD Verdict is a judicial themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. Current editor in chief is Michael Stailey, who also reviews for Rotten Tomatoes...
wrote that "the most intriguing element" of the film, and not properly promoted by the film's trailer, is that "it is actually two brief films combined in one package." In analyzing Actor's Blood, they wrote that there was "an opportunity for insight and depth in this story, but it would seem that Mr. Hecht wrote the screenplay while in a blind rage." They offered that the material might even have been comedic but for it being "preposterously heavy-handed". They felt that the actors generally spoke each line over-dramatically and floundered, with only Edward G. Robinson "able to make this work within the context of his character". In their analysis of Woman of Sin, they found it to be "reasonably engaging early on as a breezy satire", despite the concept of a story written by a nine-year-old "earning words of praise and adoration from the likes of Jack Warner and Louis B. Mayer". They noted that the cameos by the studio heads were amusing, but that the story was derailed by the use of Ben Hecht's daughter Jenny in the role of child screenwriter Daisy Marcher. They felt that she was "fingernails-on-a-blackboard grating" in this role, in that she "dials up every aspect of precociousness that can afflict a child actor as high as it can possibly go, and her presence effectively destroys any sense of comic momentum that the film had built up to that point," making her use a clear example of the problems inherent in nepotism. They concluded that the film would stand as "an interesting curiosity for Hollywood history buffs, but fails as a cinematic experience."
Controversy
Upon original release, several theater chains refused to screen the film due to its lampooning of stage and screen. This resulted in a lawsuit by United Artists and Sid Kuller Productions against the A. B. C. Theatres Company.External links
- Actors and Sin at Allmovie