movie17.htm

The Story of Three Loves,
USA 1953, technicolor

Click on pictures to see full size

German title: War es die große Liebe?

Distributed by: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Picture

Produced by: Sidney Franklin

Genre / keyword: Drama / trilogy

Runtime: 122

Photographed by: Charles Rosher and Harold Rosson

Music by: Miklós Rózsa

Film Editing by: Ralph E. Winters

The Story of Three Loves is the trilogy of romances covers a wide assortment of sensations-tragic, whimsical and suspenseful.
Each of the three stories is told in flashback - always an effective in relating romance.

The Jealous Lover

Directed by: Gottfried Reinhardt

Written by: John Collier

Cast (in credits order): James Mason ... as Charles Countray

Moira Shearer ... as Paula Woodward

Agnes Moorehead ... as Aunt Lydia

Summary:

James Mason appears as a ballet composer-impresario who falls in love with a lovely but frail dancer, beautifully played and danced by Moira Shearer. Because of her love for him she ignores medical advice and dances his ballet, bringing on the heart attack that ends her young life.

Madmemoiselle

Directed by: Vincente Minnelli

Written by: Jan Lustig and George Froeschel (b. on a story by Arnold Philips)

Cast (in credits order): Ethel Barrymore ... as Mrs. Pennicott

Leslie Caron ... as Mademoiselle

Farley Granger ... as Tommy

Ricky Nelson ... as Tommy (age 12)

Zsa Zsa Gabor ... as Girl at Bar

Summary:

Ethel Barrymore is a genial witch who grants the wish of a twelve-year-old boy that he suddenly become a grown man in order that he can escape the strict supervision of his governess. Since the governess is Leslie Caron and the boy turns into Farley Granger, romance is inevitable. The whimsy turns poignant when the wish runs its course after four hours and Leslie is left wondering where her lover has gone. But Barrymore promises a real love if the pretty governess will wait a year.

Equilibrium

Directed by: Gottfried Reinhardt

Written by: John Collier (from a story by Ladislas Vajda)

Cast (in credits order): Pier Angeli ... as Nina

Kirk Douglas ... as Pierre Narval

Richard Anderson ... as Marcel

Summary:

The most impressive episode is the last one, Equilibrium, with Kirk Douglas as a virile trapeze artist and Pier Angeli as a wistful girl he rescues from suicide and trains as his partner. The role required Douglas to perform trapeze stunts, and, as he had before with other roles requiring specific skills, he trained until he could actually per-
form the needed tricks. This part-film might well have been a full feature, it tells a good story and it is well paced with excitement and suspense.
Douglas plays a famous circus performer who retires when his ambition to be the greatest practitioner of his art brings about the death of his partner. Known to be ruthlessly daring, he finds no trapeze girl willing to become his partner. But he comes across a sad little girl about to take her life because she believes herself guilty of unwittingly sending her husband to his death in a Nazi concentration camp. Douglas decides to make her his partner; the scenes showing him training her for the trapeze are tense and interesting, thanks to the director. Assumin that her indifference to death will make her the perfect partner, Douglas coaches her to become a thrilling performer. What he does not reckon with is love. Angeli becomes so precious to him that after only one performance Douglas retires the act and gives up his ambition.

German title:	War es die große Liebe?
Distributed by:	MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Picture
Produced by:	Sidney Franklin
Genre / keyword:	Drama / trilogy
Runtime:	122
Photographed by:	Charles Rosher and Harold Rosson
Music by:	Miklós Rózsa
Film Editing by:	Ralph E. Winters
	The Story of Three Loves is the trilogy of romances covers a wide assortment of sensations-tragic, whimsical and suspenseful. Each of the three stories is told in flashback - always an effective in relating romance.
The Jealous Lover
Directed by:	Gottfried Reinhardt
Written by:	John Collier
Cast (in credits order):	James Mason ... as Charles Countray
	Moira Shearer ... as Paula Woodward
	Agnes Moorehead ... as Aunt Lydia
Summary:	James Mason appears as a ballet composer-impresario who falls in love with a lovely but frail dancer, beautifully played and danced by Moira Shearer. Because of her love for him she ignores medical advice and dances his ballet, bringing on the heart attack that ends her young life.
Madmemoiselle
Directed by:	Vincente Minnelli
Written by:	Jan Lustig and George Froeschel (b. on a story by Arnold Philips)
Cast (in credits order):	Ethel Barrymore ... as Mrs. Pennicott
	Leslie Caron ... as Mademoiselle
	Farley Granger ... as Tommy
	Ricky Nelson ... as Tommy (age 12)
	Zsa Zsa Gabor ... as Girl at Bar
Summary:	Ethel Barrymore is a genial witch who grants the wish of a twelve-year-old boy that he suddenly become a grown man in order that he can escape the strict supervision of his governess. Since the governess is Leslie Caron and the boy turns into Farley Granger, romance is inevitable. The whimsy turns poignant when the wish runs its course after four hours and Leslie is left wondering where her lover has gone. But Barrymore promises a real love if the pretty governess will wait a year.
Equilibrium
Directed by:	Gottfried Reinhardt
Written by:	John Collier (from a story by Ladislas Vajda)
Cast (in credits order):	Pier Angeli ... as Nina
	Kirk Douglas ... as Pierre Narval
	Richard Anderson ... as Marcel
Summary:	The most impressive episode is the last one, Equilibrium, with Kirk Douglas as a virile trapeze artist and Pier Angeli as a wistful girl he rescues from suicide and trains as his partner. The role required Douglas to perform trapeze stunts, and, as he had before with other roles requiring specific skills, he trained until he could actually per- form the needed tricks. This part-film might well have been a full feature, it tells a good story and it is well paced with excitement and suspense. Douglas plays a famous circus performer who retires when his ambition to be the greatest practitioner of his art brings about the death of his partner. Known to be ruthlessly daring, he finds no trapeze girl willing to become his partner. But he comes across a sad little girl about to take her life because she believes herself guilty of unwittingly sending her husband to his death in a Nazi concentration camp. Douglas decides to make her his partner; the scenes showing him training her for the trapeze are tense and interesting, thanks to the director. Assumin that her indifference to death will make her the perfect partner, Douglas coaches her to become a thrilling performer. What he does not reckon with is love. Angeli becomes so precious to him that after only one performance Douglas retires the act and gives up his ambition.