Tender Is the Night (film)

Tender Is the Night is a 1961 American film directed by Henry King and starring Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards, Jr.. King's last film, it is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Tender Is the Night
Original lobby card
Directed byHenry King
Produced byHenry T. Weinstein
Screenplay byIvan Moffat
Based onThe 1934 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
StarringJennifer Jones
Jason Robards, Jr.
Joan Fontaine
Tom Ewell
Cesare Danova
Jill St. John
Paul Lukas
Music byBernard Herrmann
CinematographyLeon Shamroy, A.S.C.
Edited byWilliam Reynolds, A.C.E.
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • January 19, 1962 (1962-01-19)
Running time
142 minutes (132 minutes - FMC Library Print)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.9 million[1]
Box office$1.25 million (US/ Canada)[2]

The soundtrack featured a song, also called "Tender Is the Night", by Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics), which was nominated for the 1962 Academy Award for Best Song. Robards won the 1962 NBR Award for his performances in Tender Is the Night and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

King's previous film had been Beloved Infidel, a biographical drama about Fitzgerald, author of Tender Is the Night.

There are interesting backstage anecdotes about pre-production in Memo from David O. Selznick, an edited collection of the iconic producer's letters and notes. Selznick's then-wife was sought and cast as the film's lead, and his letters reflect insight into the casting process (Jane Fonda had wanted to play Rosemary; William Holden, Henry Fonda and Christopher Plummer were considered for Dick), the creative angst around the project, and Selznick's own clever insights into the source novel and its requirements to become a successful film property.

Plot summary

"The French Riviera _ _ in the Twenties": while at a party in the south of France, Nicole Diver, a woman with many emotional issues, sees her husband, Dr. Dick Diver, take an interest in an American movie starlet, Rosemary Hoyt. Jealousy gets the better of Nicole.

The story flashes back to how Dick and Nicole met. He was a distinguished psychiatrist who made the classic mistake of falling in love with a patient, Nicole Warren. He marries her despite warnings from his mentor, Dr. Dohmler, that it will ruin Dick's career.

Dick spends the next years of his life abandoning his work to indulge wife Nicole's many whims, leading a hedonistic life, paid for by Nicole's sophisticated sister, Baby. By the time he realizes the error of his ways and attempts to resume his career, it is Nicole who has found a new lover, and she wants a divorce.

Cast
Uncredited (in order of appearance)
Maurice DallimoreSir Charles Golding
Tom HernandezNobleman
Renee GodfreyNurse
Jean De BriacDr. Faurore
Orrin TuckerOrchestra leader
AladdinViolinist
John RichardsonYoung man being photographed
Carl PrinciAssistant manager

Soundtracks

The film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann. Soundtracks included the main theme "Tender Is the Night" composed by Sammy Fain with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster (above). This song was played in the film by pianist George Greeley (uncredited). Other songs were:

See also

References
  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p253
  2. Solomon p 229. Please note these figures are rentals.
  3. Tender is the Night, Soundtracks
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