The Shrike (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = The Shrike

| image = The Shrike (film poster).jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = José Ferrer

| producer = Aaron Rosenberg

| based_on = {{Based on|The Shrike|Joseph Kramm}}

| screenplay = Ketti Frings

| starring = José Ferrer
June Allyson

| music = Frank Skinner

| cinematography = William Daniels, A.S.C.

| editing = Frank Gross, A.C.E.

| studio = Universal International Pictures

| distributor = Universal Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1955|6|16|}}

| runtime = 88 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

The Shrike is a 1955 American film noir drama film based on Joseph Kramm's play of the same name.{{sfn|Kramm|1998|page=3}} José Ferrer directed and starred in Ketti Frings' screenplay adaptation.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/90059/the-shrike#credits|title=The Shrike|work=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=September 5, 2016}}

Plot

Successful stage director Jim Downs (Ferrer) is driven to a mental breakdown by his domineering wife Ann (June Allyson). Institutionalized, he confides in Dr. Bellman (Kendall Clark) and Dr. Barrow (Isabel Bonner), and he finds a kindred spirit in Charlotte Moore (Joy Page).

Cast

José Ferrer as Jim Downs
June Allyson as Ann Downs
Joy Page as Charlotte Moore
Kendall Clark as Dr. Bellman
Isabel Bonner as Dr. Barrow
Will Kuluva as Ankoritis
Joe Comadore as Major
Billy M. Greene as Schloss
Leigh Whipper as Mr. Carlisle
Richard Benedict as Gregory
Mary Bell as Miss Wingate
Martin Newman as Carlos O'Brien
Herbie Faye as Tager
Somer Alberg as Dr. Schlesinger
Jay Barney as Dr. Kramer
Edward C. Platt as Harry Downs
Fay Morley as Jennifer Logan
Jacqueline de Wit as Katharine Meade

;Uncredited (in order of appearance)

Adrienne Marden as Miss Raymond
Douglas Henderson as Burt Fielding
Helen Beverly as Miss Thatcher
Shawn Smith as Celia Johns
Joanne Jordan as Miss Cardell
Stafford Repp as Fleming
Nancy Kulp as Mrs. Colman
Dennis Moore as Spectator
Tom Wilson as Actor in play
Pauline Moore as Author's wife
Kenneth Drake as Author
Nicky Blair as Patient
Sara Seegar as Mrs. Cory
John Farrow as Englishman
Jean Fenwick as Mrs. Ellison

Production

In 1952 Ferrer announced Hal Wallis and Bill Pearlberg were both interested in filming the play.{{Cite news|title=BY WAY OF REPORT: ' Shrike' Strikes Fancy Of Studios -- Addenda|author=A. H. WEILER.|date=Feb 3, 1952|work=New York Times|page=X5}}

Ferrer spent two years developing the script with Ketti Frings.{{Cite news|title=HOLLYWOOD REPORT: Douglas Fairbanks to Film Biography of Kemal Atatürk -- Other Matters|author=THOMAS M. PRYOR|date=Sep 26, 1954|work=New York Times|page=X5}} For a time it seemed he might make it at RKO.{{Cite news|title=BY WAY OF REPORT: Warner Theatre May Serve as Fox Movie Outlet -- 'The Shrike' Up for Filming|author=A. H. WEILER.|date=Nov 2, 1952|work=New York Times|page=X5}} In March 1953 Ferrer announced he had purchased the film rights himself.{{Cite news|title=FERRER TO APPEAR IN FILM OF 'SHRIKE': Actor Acquires Rights to Play, Will Produce and Direct -- Ketti Frings to Adapt|author=THOMAS M. PRYOR |date=Mar 13, 1953|work=New York Times|page=24}}

He had discussions with Columbia. Then in February 1954 Ferrer signed a deal with Universal to finance.{{Cite news|title=MISS CRAIN SIGNS CONTRACT AT U.-I.: Five-Year Pact Calls for One Film a Year Starting as Lead in 'Tacey Cromwell'|author=THOMAS M. PRYOR|work=THE NEW YORK TIMES|date=15 Feb 1954|page=20}}{{Cite news|title=FERRER WILL STAR IN 'SHRIKE' MOVIE: Universal and Actor, Who Also Will Direct His First Film, Complete Negotiations|author=THOMAS M. PRYOR |date=Feb 23, 1954|work=New York Times|page=25}}

"I'm terribly grateful to have been given the opportunity to star and direct", said Ferrer.{{Cite news|title=OF PICTURES AND PEOPLE: 'What Makes Sammy Run?' Pursued by Independent Producers -- Addenda|author=A. H. WEILER.|date=Oct 1, 1954|work=New York Times|page=X5}}

In April 1954 it was announced June Allyson would star alongside Ferrer.{{Cite news|title=June Allyson to Play Opposite José Ferrer|author=Louella O. Parsons.|date=Apr 2, 1954|work=The Washington Post and Times-Herald|page=C13}} Allyson had never played this type of role before.{{Cite news|title=THE TENDER TRAP' TO BECOME MOVIE: Shulman-Smith Comedy, Set for Fall Stage Bow Here, Is Bought by Metro|date=July 27, 1954|work=New York Times|page=17}} "I was fed to the teeth being sweet", she said.{{Cite news|title=Dog Will Get Star Treatment in Film|author=Hopper, Hedda|date=May 26, 1955|work=Los Angeles Times|page=a6}}

Filming started in September 1954.{{Cite news|title=Kazan Likely to Direct 'Pal Joey' and 'Picnic'; Dramatist's Wife Signs|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=Sep 20, 1954|work=Los Angeles Times|page=B9}} Much of the film was shot on location at Bellevue Hospital and around Times Square in New York City.

Ferrer had the film scheduled so the cast would rehearse, then shoot, then filming would stop while the cast would rehearse again, then shoot again. Frings was on set the whole time to assist Ferrer's direction.

The music score was by Frank Skinner. Ferrer composed "Conversation (The Shrike)", recorded by Pete Rugolo on his 1955 album New Sounds (Harmony HL7003).[http://www.utstat.utoronto.ca/mikevans/hroberts/sounds/side50s.html Howard Roberts as Sideman: 1950–1959] The opening title sequence was created by Saul Bass.

Reception

Reviewing for The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote:

:José Ferrer, the director and star of the play, again is portraying the Broadway director who struggles to be released from the confines of the psychiatric ward even though it means a return to a hateful marriage. And, in making his debut as a film director, Mr. Ferrer proves that he is as expert behind the camera as he is across the footlights. Since he obviously is no stranger to his source material, his performance is at once polished, powerful and moving. And many of his principals, who are re-enacting the roles they created on stage, forcefully enhance the stark vista of life in a mental ward... As our sorely beset hero relates in flashback to probing psychiatrists, it was a happy union at first, full of love and companionship. It deteriorated slowly but inexorably, as did his career, when her insatiable yearning for the life of an actress and her meddling in his affairs reached a point of no return... Backstage and hospital sequences have a documentary authenticity heightened in effect by Mr. Ferrer's portrayal. His scenes in the nightmarish world of the mental ward and his climactic session with the psychiatrists as he tearfully and desperately agrees to return to his wife, is acting of a rare order... Although The Shrike has changed its tune it still is an unusual and immensely interesting film drama.[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D00E0DD103AE53BBC4053DFB166838E649EDE "The Shrike (1955)] Tamed 'Shrike'; Film Wife Less Deadly Than One in Play". The New York Times, July 8, 1955

Allyson later said her husband Dick Powell and all her advisers opposed her making the movie:

But it was a challenge I could not resist. For years I had been the Perfect... And now..., I would be far from the perfect wife. I would indeed be a monster of a wife, one of the least attractive in the history of the theater. As it turned out, the picture was a wonderful flop, but I do not regret deciding to play the vixen, Ann Downs. Other than my personal satisfaction in making my own decision, The Shrike was fun, and I even dreamed vaguely of an Academy Award.{{cite book|title=Hollywood Talks Turkey – The Screen's Greatest Flops|first= Doug |last=McClelland|publisher=Starbrite|year=1989|url=https://archive.org/stream/HollywoodTalksTurkeyTheScreensGreatestFlopsByDougMcClellandStarbrite/Hollywood_Talks_Turkey_The_Screens_Greatest_Flops_by_Doug_McClelland_%28Starbrite%29_djvu.txt}}

References

Sources

{{cite book|title=The Shrike|publisher=Dramatists Play Service|authorlink=Joseph Kramm|first=Joseph|last=Kramm|location=New York City|year=1998|edition=1st|isbn=978-0822210269|page=3}}