The French Line - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

The French Line is a 1954 musical film starring Jane Russell made by RKO Pictures, directed by Lloyd Bacon and produced by Edmund Grainger, with Howard Hughes as executive producer. The screenplay was by Mary Loos and Richard Sale, based on a story by Matty Kemp and Isabel Dawn. It was filmed in three strip technicolor and Dual strip polarized 3D during what many consider 3-D film's "golden era" of 1952-1954.

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Plot

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Millionairess Mame Carson's (Jane Russell) oil empire spells trouble for her love life. Men are either after her fortune or afraid of it. Her money-shy fiancé Phil Barton (Craig Stevens) has just given her the brush off.

A disappointed Mame heads for Paris on the French Line's Liberté with friend and fashion designer Annie Farrell (Mary McCarty). She swaps identities with Myrtle Brown (Joyce MacKenzie), one of Annie's models, hoping to find true love incognito.

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Aboard ship, she falls in love with French playboy Pierre DuQuesne (Gilbert Roland) who, unbeknownst to Mame, has been hired by her zealous guardian Waco Mosby (Arthur Hunnicutt) to keep the fortune hunters at bay. Pierre professes his love for Mame. Is he sincere or is this just a ploy to gain access to her millions? Silliness ensues interspersed with several musical numbers until Pierre's real intentions are revealed.

Cast

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Jane Russell as Mary 'Mame' Carson

Gilbert Roland as Pierre DuQuesne

Arthur Hunnicutt as 'Waco' Mosby

Mary McCarty as Annie Farrell

Joyce MacKenzie as Myrtle Brown

Rita Corday as Celeste (as Paula Corday)

Scott Elliott as Bill Harris

Craig Stevens as Phil Barton

Kasey Rogers as Katherine 'Katy' Hodges (as Laura Elliott)

Steven Geray as François, Ship Steward

John Wengraf as Commodore Renard

Michael St. Angel as George Hodges

Barbara Darrow as Donna Adams

Barbara Dobbins as Kitty Lee

Sue Casey as Model

Sandy Descher as Janie, Young girl on Liberte

Bess Flowers as Farellie Saleslady

Anne Ford as Model

Joyce Johnson as Model

Joi Lansing as Model

Ellye Marshall as Model

Dolores Michaels as Model

Jean Moorhead as Model

Kim Novak as Model

Gloria Pall as Model

Shirley Patterson as Model

Pat Sheehan as Model

Production

The French Line captures Russell at the height of her career, the year after Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, in a splashy musical comedy specializing in costumes so purposely skimpy that it received a "condemned" rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency. The outrageous outfits were designed by Howard Hughes and the craftsmen at RKO to display Russell's physique to best advantage. Russell's singing, dancing, and comedic skills are also much in evidence. The film was considered scandalous at the time.

Controversy

Producer Howard Hughes was no stranger to controversy, especially when it came to Jane Russell. His focus on Jane's cleavage in The Outlaw ran afoul of The Production Code in 1941. The film was held up until 1943 before it was finally given a limited release. The French Line had its own set of controversies. Jane's ample bosom literally popped out of the screen in 3-D. To stress the point Howard used the tagline "J.R. in 3D. It'll knock both your eyes out!" as part of the advertising campaign. He also added the raunchy song and dance number "Lookin for Trouble" performed by Jane in a revealing one-piece outfit with three strategically placed cutouts.

The Catholic National Legion of Decency condemned the film and called for a boycott. The Breen Office refused to give it a Production Code seal of approval. Howard defied both by releasing the film without the seal. After the initial run he made substantial cuts to the offending scene, then re-released the film flat (without the 3D process). Advertising changed the tagline to "THAT Picture! THAT Dance! -- you've heard so much about!" The publicity surrounding the film guaranteed a success for both versions.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times had no kind words to say about the film. He found it full of "Smoking room humor" and felt "To say any more about the cheapness and obviousness of this R. K. O. film would be but to give it more attention. And that it most certainly does not deserve."

TimeOut London said "some song-and-dance routines that look like outtakes from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire.

Variety called it "a rather mild, gabby, fashion parade in 3-D".

Craig Butler of Allmovie called the film "Loud, garish and trashy".

3-D Films

The French Line was filmed in RKO's own 3-D process which they titled "Future Dimension".

Bwana Devil - 1952 is often credited as the first 3-D film.

Recent advances in 3-D films including IMAX 3-D and Digital 3D are opening a new era of 3-D filmmaking.

For an extensive index of 3D films see List of 3D films.

Availability

The only known surviving 3-D print of "The French Line" was screened at The World 3-D Expo 2006 September 15, 2006 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, Ca. The print included the very rare uncensored version of the "Lookin for Trouble" number.

Turner Home Entertainment released "The French Line" on VHS in 1989. Although the box claimed the print to be "The Original Studio Edition" it was the re-edited version with the censored "Lookin for Trouble" number. The VHS has been out of print for several years. It periodically surfaces on various auction web sites

The Turner Classic Movie (TCM) cable channel occasionally shows the censored version on TV.

ABC Television in Australia also occasionally airs the censored version.

References

The French Line Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

The French Line IMDb The French Line themoviedb.org

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