Porgy and Bess (1959) | |
Director(s) | Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian (uncredited) |
Producer(s) | Samuel Goldwyn |
Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation, Musical, Romance |
Top Topics | Book-Based |
Featured Cast:
Porgy and Bess Overview:
Porgy and Bess (1959) was a Musical - Drama Film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and Otto Preminger and produced by Samuel Goldwyn.
Porgy and Bess was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2011.
Academy Awards 1959 --- Ceremony Number 32 (source: AMPAS)
Award | Recipient | Result |
Best Cinematography | Leon Shamroy | Nominated |
Best Costume Design | Irene Sharaff | Nominated |
Best Music - Scoring | Andre Previn, Ken Darby | Won |
BlogHub Articles:
Musical Monday: Porgy and Bess (1959)
on Feb 25, 2019 From Comet Over HollywoodIt?s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week?s musical: Porgy and Bess (1959) ? Musi... Read full article
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Quotes from
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Facts about
The Gershwin family strongly disapproved of this version; they felt that producer Samuel Goldwyn had glamorized and "Hollywoodized" it too much, and that he had made a mistake in firing the film's original director, Rouben Mamoulian (director of the original stage version in 1935). The film was withdrawn from release in 1974. The only place it can be seen now is in film archives.
Although passed by the British Board of Film Censors on 10 February 1960, the London premiere did not take place until 2 October 1962. The reason for the delay was attributed to Samuel Goldwyn's insistence that it be presented in Todd-AO, fearing that optical reduction to 35mm might spoil the effect. The only London cinema with the right equipment was the Dominion who were running South Pacific for a record-breaking four years. When Porgy and Bess was finally allowed to take over it ran for 23 weeks at the Dominion, then transferred to the Columbia, Shaftesbury Avenue, for a further five weeks.
Producer Samuel Goldwyn was notorious for "playing with film" during the editing stages. Director Otto Preminger resented Goldwyn's meddling in the film editing, so he shot nearly all of it in long takes, with the camera panning in and out and the camera angles seldom changing during takes. There were also few closeups, and none of the kinds of closeups found in non-widescreen films. This effectively prevented Goldwyn from incorporating his own photography ideas into the film. Preminger's approach was precisely the opposite of Trevor Nunn, who shot his 1993 videotape television version of "Porgy and Bess" in the style of a non-widescreen film.
read more facts about Porgy and Bess...
Although passed by the British Board of Film Censors on 10 February 1960, the London premiere did not take place until 2 October 1962. The reason for the delay was attributed to Samuel Goldwyn's insistence that it be presented in Todd-AO, fearing that optical reduction to 35mm might spoil the effect. The only London cinema with the right equipment was the Dominion who were running South Pacific for a record-breaking four years. When Porgy and Bess was finally allowed to take over it ran for 23 weeks at the Dominion, then transferred to the Columbia, Shaftesbury Avenue, for a further five weeks.
Producer Samuel Goldwyn was notorious for "playing with film" during the editing stages. Director Otto Preminger resented Goldwyn's meddling in the film editing, so he shot nearly all of it in long takes, with the camera panning in and out and the camera angles seldom changing during takes. There were also few closeups, and none of the kinds of closeups found in non-widescreen films. This effectively prevented Goldwyn from incorporating his own photography ideas into the film. Preminger's approach was precisely the opposite of Trevor Nunn, who shot his 1993 videotape television version of "Porgy and Bess" in the style of a non-widescreen film.
read more facts about Porgy and Bess...