| The Great Flamarion | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Anthony Mann |
| Screenplay by | Heinz Herald Richard Weil Anne Wigton |
| Based on | the short-story "Big Shot" byVicki Baum Anne Wigton |
| Produced by | W. Lee Wilder |
| Starring | Erich von Stroheim Mary Beth Hughes |
| Cinematography | James S. Brown Jr. |
| Edited by | John F. Link, Sr. |
| Music by | Alexander László |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | W. Lee Wilder Productions |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $150,000[1] |
The Great Flamarion is a 1945 Americanfilm noirmystery film directed byAnthony Mann starringErich von Stroheim andMary Beth Hughes. The film, like many films noirs, is shot inflashback narrative. The film was produced byRepublic Pictures.[2]
This film is now in thepublic domain.
The film opens following a murder at a cabaret inMexico City in 1936; a shot is heard, but the body of the female victim (Connie) has been strangled. The police take the woman's husband into custody, assuming he is the murderer. But Flamarion, who has been shot, is the murderer and he explains to a stagehand inflashback why he killed Connie. The Great Flamarion (Erich von Stroheim) is an arrogant, friendless, andmisogynousmarksman who displays his trick gunshot act in thevaudeville circuit. His show features a beautiful assistant, Connie (Mary Beth Hughes); her drunken husband Al (Dan Duryea) is Flamarion's other assistant. Flamarion falls in love with Connie, the movie'sfemme fatale, and is soon manipulated by her into killing her no good husband during one of their acts.
After Al's supposed accidental death, Connie convinces Flamarion to wait three months before the two can marry and flees back toHibbing, Minnesota. Meanwhile, Connie has already begun a relationship with another performer, Eddie (Stephen Barclay). After she fails to show up at an arranged meeting place three months later, Flamarion goes into a downward spiral of drinking and gambling. Flamarion eventually finds Connie who informs him that she never loved him and used him to get rid of her husband.
Mann said "Von Stroheim, to say the least, was difficult. He was a personality, not really an actor. He looked well on film. But he was a great director. I’ll never forget one thing. He said: ‘Tony, do you want to be a great director? Photograph the whole ofGreat Flamarion through my monocle!’ I said: ‘That’s a helluvan idea, but I only have $150,000 and fourteen days.’ I said: ‘It might be a fascinating idea, but I’ll let you do it'... He drove me mad. He was a genius. I’m not a genius: I’m a worker. Geniuses sometimes end up very unhappy, without a penny. That’s what happened to Erich and Preston Sturges, too."[1]
