SFP
Not part of a collection.
Fedora
Youth had been a habit of hers for so long that she could not part with it.
Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.
- Original title
- Fedora
- Language
- EN
- Country
- FR,DE
- Budget
- $6,700,000
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jun 4, 2023 · via TMDB
Perhaps not one of Billy Wilder's most famous of films, but this penultimate effort is certainly one of his more intriguing. The story is told starting from the moment of the death of the actress "Fedora" (Marthe Keller) and so it is basically about the circumstances that led to her being hit by a train (suicide/accident?). William Holden ("Dutch Detweiler") has seen better days as an Hollywood producer, and so determines to try and lure the legendary star from her reclusive existence in her Greek villa; surrounded by a rather acolytic coterie as obsessed with their own interests as with those of the actress; and at points we are not quite sure of the extent to which her housebound existence is entirely voluntary. Hildegard Knef ("The Countess") and José Ferrer ("Dr. Vando") add further to this mystery that seems as much of a swipe at the excesses, and vacuousness (splendidly epitomised by the good looking but shallow Michael York) of Hollywood as it is about the sadly maladjusted woman. Aside from Knef - who is on great form, the acting is a little uninspiring - there are some resemblances to "Sunset Boulevard" but I felt only marginally; this has neither the intense drama, nor the intimacy of that story - and Holden couldn't come anywhere near the performance he had delivered back in 1950. I did enjoy it; despite the print I saw being poor and rather shockingly edited (hacked?) but the denouement is pretty much telegraphed after about half an hour and so it loses out on any great degree of depth. Perhaps the very shallowness and fickleness Tom Tryon was identifying in his book?
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
William Holden
Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler
Marthe Keller
Fedora
Hildegard Knef
Countess Sobryanski
José Ferrer
Doctor Vando
Frances Sternhagen
Miss Balfour
Mario Adorf
Corfu Hotel Manager
Stephen Collins
Young Barry
Henry Fonda
President of the Academy
Michael York
Self
Hans Járay
Count Sobryanski
Gottfried John
Kritos
Arlene Francis
Newscaster
Elma Karlowa
Maid
Ellen Schwiers
Nurse
Ferdy Mayne
First Director
Peter Capell
Second Director
Alexandre Trauner
Production Design
Gerry Fisher
Director of Photography
Billy Wilder
Director
Billy Wilder
Producer
I. A. L. Diamond
Producer
Miklós Rózsa
Original Music Composer
Tom Tryon
Story
Billy Wilder
Writer
I. A. L. Diamond
Writer
Sunset Boulevard
All About Eve
Children of Paradise
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Mulholland Drive
In a Lonely Place
Mahanati
Ed Wood
Winter Sleep
Chaplin
Lost in Translation
Shadows of Memories
Withnail & I
The Player
DAKAICHI - I'm being harassed by the sexiest man of the year - the Movie: Spain Arc
The Country Girl
Take Your Best Shot
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
Frances
Helter Skelter
Swingers
James Dean
The Majestic
Body Double
The Other Side of the Wind
Postcards from the Edge
The Last Movie Star
Glamour Dolls
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
The Day of the Locust
Billu
Mommie Dearest
$pent
Bugsy
De-Lovely
Nancy Drew
Where the Day Takes You
Someone Somewhere
Scream 3
Hail, Caesar!
Heat
The Blackout
Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders
Hollywood
Hurlyburly
The Star Maker
The Hottest State
Dancing at the Blue Iguana
True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet
Man About Town
Hollywood 90028
Hollywood, je t'aime
Ellie Parker
The Informers
Lena's Holiday
Jacked
Walk of Fame
Hollywood Lucifer
Buddhanum Chaplinum Chirikkunnu
The Chemists
Sunset Boulevard
Meeting Marsha
WWE WrestleMania 21
WWE WrestleMania 31
WWE WrestleMania XXVIII
WWE WrestleMania XXX
Tatami
Remember
Murder on the Orient Express
Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors
Eleanor the Great
An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars
Normal
Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place to Die
Mank
Brand Upon the Brain!
Kept Woman
Mr. Turner
Starving in Suburbia
Resurrecting the Champ
My Dinner with Hervé
Mr. K
TalhotBlond
The Organization
Killer's Kiss
Agatha and the Midnight Murders
Home Run
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears
Overdrive
Inseparable
Blue Chips
Kid Galahad
The Audrey Hepburn Story
The Eternal Daughter
How Sarah Got Her Wings
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Come Sunday
The Girl in the Book
Oct 3, 1978
Chicago International Film Festival
Apr 15, 1979
New York City, New York
