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Delicious (1931 film)

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Delicious
original film poster
Directed byDavid Butler
Written byGuy Bolton
Sonya Levien
StarringJanet Gaynor
Charles Farrell
Virginia Cherrill
CinematographyErnest Palmer
Edited byIrene Morra
Music byGeorge Gershwin
Distributed byFox Film Corporation
Release date
  • December 27, 1931 (1931-12-27) (U.S.)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Delicious (1931) is an American pre-Code Gershwin musical romantic comedy film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, directed by David Butler, with color sequences in Multicolor (now lost).

Plot

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Cast

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Production background

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The film features music by George Gershwin, including the introduction of Rhapsody in Rivets, which was expanded by the composer even before the film soundtrack was recorded into the concert work for piano and orchestra Second Rhapsody, regarded today as one of Gershwin's neglected masterpieces.[1] Gershwin also contributed other sequences for the score, but only a five-minute dream sequence called The Melting Pot and the six-minute Rhapsody in Rivets made the final cut. Fox Film Corporation rejected the rest of the score.

Gaynor plays a Scottish girl emigrating by ship to America who runs afoul of the authorities and has to go on the run, falling in with a ragtag group of immigrant musicians in Manhattan. Gaynor and Farrell made almost a dozen films together, including Frank Borzage's classics Seventh Heaven (1927), Street Angel (1928), and Lucky Star (1929). Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for the first two and F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

Preservation status

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On December 14, 2011, Turner Classic Movies aired a print of the film restored by George Eastman House.

On September 22, 2013, it was announced that a musicological critical edition of the full orchestral score will be eventually released. The Gershwin family, working in conjunction with the Library of Congress and the University of Michigan, are working to make scores available to the public that represent Gershwin's true intent.[2] The entire Gershwin project may take 30 to 40 years to complete, and it is unclear when the score to Delicious will be released. It will be the first time this score has ever been published.[3][4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Gibbons, Jack. "Gershwin's Second Rhapsody". Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  2. ^ "New, critical edition of George and Ira Gershwin's works to be compiled | PBS NewsHour". Pbs.org. September 14, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  3. ^ "Musicology Now: George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition". Musicologynow.ams-net.org. September 17, 2013. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  4. ^ "The Editions » Gershwin". Music.umich.edu. September 8, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
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