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Yolanda and the Thief

Runtime:
108' min.
Year of Production:
1945
Country:
USA
Director:
Cast:
Fred Astaire
Lucille Bremer
Frank Morgan
Production Company:
Berlinale Section:
Retrospective
Berlinale Category:
Feature Film

A con man eavesdrops on young, beautiful, and wealthy heiress Yolanda as she prays for a guardian
angel to help her manage her financial affairs. The following morning, he introduces himself to her
“Mr. Brown”, guardian angel at your service. He manages to swindle Yolanda out of millions in bonds,
but when he tries to pass the money to his accomplice, a certain Mr. Candle gets in the way … Set
in a fictional South American country, this MGM musical uses a literal wealth of gold and baroque
murals to consciously announce its “celestial” artifice. A 15-minute long nightmarish dance sequence
in front of a “hellishly” illuminated stage backdrop, and the colourful carnival atmosphere of the
final scene feature lively choreography in which the love story of Yolanda and the Thief is revealed
and more than just colours are unleashed. While in Sweethearts (1938) the floor was covered in a
severe checkerboard pattern, here it’s a riot of wavy, black-and-white lines, which gives it depth and,
combined with the whirligig dancers, lends to the whole a positively psychedelic effect.

BIOGRAFIE Vincente Minnelli

Vincente Minnelli was an Italian-American stage director and film director, famous for directing such classic movie musicals as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Gigi (1958), The Band Wagon (1953), and An American in Paris (1951). An American in Paris and Gigi both won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Minnelli winning Best Director for Gigi. In addition to having directed some of the most famous and well-remembered musicals of his time, Minnelli made many comedies and melodramas. He was married to Judy Garland from 1945 until 1951; they were the parents of Liza Minnelli.
source: wikipedia.org

FILMOGRAFIE Vincente Minnelli (selection)

1958 Gigi  1956 Tea And Sympathy  1952 The Bad and the Beautiful  1951 An American in Paris  1945 Ziegfeld Follies  1945 Yolanda and the Thief 

Vincente Minelli IMDb
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