Valerie (film)

Not to be confused with Valérie (film).

Valerie
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGerd Oswald
Screenplay by
  • Leonard Heideman
  • Emmett Murphy
Produced byHal R. Makelim
Starring
CinematographyErnest Laszlo
Edited byDavid Bretherton
Music byAlbert Glasser
Color processBlack and white
Production
company
Hal R. Makelim Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • August 1, 1957 (1957-08-01)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Valerie is a 1957 American Western film directed by Gerd Oswald and starring Sterling Hayden, Anita Ekberg and Anthony Steel.[1][2] The film was apparently inspired by Akira Kurosawa's 1950 classic Rashomon.[1]

Plot

Rancher John Garth is arrested for critically wounding his wife Valerie and killing her parents. During Garth's trial, contradictory flashback sequences are depicted.[1]

Cast

Production

Filming for Valerie started in December 1956.[3] It was the only film that Anthony Steel and Anita Ekberg made together during their marriage.[4]

Reception

Variety called the film "a challenging experiment."[5]

In a contemporary review in Baltimore's The Evening Sun, reviewer Hope Pantell wrote: "This opus opens with an assortment of bodies, then proceeds to show, sometimes in painfully long-winded fashion, how they got to be so stiff."[6]

Writing in The Philadelphia Inquirer, reviewer Samuel L. Singer assessed the lead actors' performances: "Lovely Anita Ekberg, Swedish beauty, displays her charms and engages in a limited amount of histrionics. Sterling Hayden is grimly nonsmiling as her husband, and Anthony Steel, her real-life husband, is convincing as the minister."[7]

Home media

Valerie was released on DVD by MGM Home Video on September 26, 2011 via MGM's MOD (manufacture-on-demand) program through Amazon.com.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Valerie (1957) - Gerd Oswald | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".
  2. ^ VALERIE Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 24, Iss. 276, (Jan 1, 1957): 91.
  3. ^ Paris Night-Club Singer Signed; Wengraff Acts Anita Ekberg's Father Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 4 Dec 1956: A11.
  4. ^ Vagg, Stephen (September 23, 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink.
  5. ^ Review of film at Variety
  6. ^ Pantell, Hope (October 25, 1957). "On the Screen". The Evening Sun. p. 22.
  7. ^ Singer, Samuel L. (October 3, 1957). "'Valerie' Stars Anita Ekberg". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 8.


Stub icon

This 1950s Western film–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article related to an American film of the 1950s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.