Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Irwin Shaw (novel)
Charles Schnee (writer)

Release Date:

21 December 1962 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Price Of Fame | Showbiz | Intimate | Hollywood California

Cast

Kirk Douglas	...	Jack Andrus
Edward G. Robinson	...	Maurice Kruger
Cyd Charisse	...	Carlotta
George Hamilton	...	Davie Drew
Daliah Lavi	...	Veronica
Claire Trevor	...	Clara Kruger
James Gregory	...	Brad Byrd
Rosanna Schiaffino	...	Barzelli
Joanna Roos	...	Janet Bark
George Macready	...	Lew Jordan
Mino Doro	...	Tucino
Stefan Schnabel	...	Zeno
Vito Scotti	...	Assistant Director
Tom Palmer	...	Dr. Cold Eyes
Erich von Stroheim Jr.	...	Ravinksi (as Erich Von Stroheim Jr.)

Also Known As:

2 Weeks in Another Town (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16

Company:

John Houseman Productions

Trivia:

Leslie Uggams' film debut.

Quotes:

Maurice Kruger: When you're dying, everybody is nice to you. It's nauseating!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kirk Douglas: Video Scrapbook (1994) (V)

The bad and the beautiful (continued)

A film of love and hate.Between the fallen actor and his aging director;between the director and his hysterical wife;between Carlotta and her former husband;between the young actor and the old one.In a nutshell, an intense melodrama in the vein of these Minnelli extravaganzas ("some came running" "home from the hill" and particularly "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse" -remember the famous scene where the whole family is gathered around the table while a storm is raging-).

Minnelli had already broached Hollywood before in "the bad and the beautiful" the ending of which was one of the most ferocious I know.Excerpts of this 1952 work are used here with stunning results.Douglas watching himself when he was supposed to be young and famous recalls Gloria Swanson watching her silent movies (with her former director Von Stroheim now her butler) in "Sunset Boulevard".

But it's Cinecitta now.A new Italian cinema is rising and Minnelli is aware of that.He had probably seen Fellini's and Antonioni's works and their influence emerge sometimes:Rosanna Schiaffino 's character reminds me of Anita Eksberg in "la dolce vita";the posh receptions have an Antonioni atmosphere("la notte").On the other hand,Douglas's mad drive might have influenced Fellini for his segment of "spirits of the dead" ,"Tobby Dammit" (1968).

But if the movie has a message ,it's this one:If you want somebody you can trust ,trust yourself.Stop hiding in the movie theaters (or in the films),as Douglas's character says to Schiaffino on the beach ,and get a life!