Fedora (film)
Encyclopedia
Fedora is a 1978
American
drama film
directed by Billy Wilder
. The screenplay
by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on a novella
by Tom Tryon
included in his collection Crowned Heads, published in 1976.
is aging has-been Hollywood producer
Barry "Dutch" Detweiler, with whom she once had a brief affair and who serves as the film's narrator.
We flashback
to a villa on an island
near Corfu
, where Dutch had visited Fedora two weeks earlier, determined to convince her to star in a new screen adaptation of Anna Karenina
. She had told him she was a prisoner in her remote retreat, held captive by aged Polish
Countess Sobryanski, her overprotective servant Miss Balfour, her chauffeur
Kritos, and Dr. Vando, who seemingly was responsible for keeping the one-time star looking so young. When he had tried to respond to Fedora's plea for help, Dutch had been knocked unconscious by Kritos. He had awakened nearly a week later, only to learn Fedora had killed herself.
At her funeral, Dutch accuses Vando and the Countess of driving Fedora to her death. The Countess ultimately reveals she actually is Fedora, and the woman who died was her daughter Antonia, who had been impersonating the actress for years after one of the doctor's treatments disfigured her. Antonia's charade was successful until she fell in love with actor Michael York
while making a film with him and decided to tell him the truth. In order to ensure her silence, she was held captive and kept drugged, until she finally killed herself. Dutch bids the real Fedora farewell, and six weeks later, she dies too.
, had been released four years earlier, and had been a critical and commercial failure. Furthermore, two more recent Hollywood-based films, Gable and Lombard
and W.C. Fields and Me
(both released in 1976), had failed to engender any interest at the box office. As a result, executives at Universal Pictures
were hesitant to offer the auteur
his usual deal. Instead, they paid Wilder and Diamond to write the screenplay with the understanding the studio would have 45 days following its submission to decide if it wanted to proceed with the project. They ultimately put it in turnaround, and Wilder began shopping it to other studios with no success. An infusion of capital from German
investors enabled him to proceed with the film.
Wilder originally envisioned Marlene Dietrich
as Fedora and Faye Dunaway
as her daughter Antonia, but Dietrich despised the original book and thought the screenplay was no improvement. Sydney Pollack
invited Wilder to a pre-release screening of Bobby Deerfield
, in which former fashion model Marthe Keller
had had a featured role. Wilder decided to cast her as both mother and daughter in Fedora, but the actress had suffered facial nerve injuries in an automobile accident and was unable to endure wearing the heavy makeup required to transform her into the older character, so he cast Hildegard Knef
in the role.
After viewing a rough cut of the film, Wilder realized neither Keller nor Knef could be understood easily, nor did they sound very much alike, which was crucial to the film's plot. He hired German actress Inga Bunsch to dub
the dialogue of both women for the film's English-language
release. Keller eventually recorded the voices for both characters in the French version, and Knef did likewise for the German release.
Allied Artists dropped its deal to distribute the film after it was screened at a Myasthenia Gravis Foundation
benefit in New York City
and the audience response was unenthusiastic. The film was picked up by Lorimar Productions
, which planned to peddle it to CBS as a television movie
. Before the network could agree to the offer, United Artists
stepped in. After cutting twelve minutes of the film based on studio recommendations, Wilder sneak previewed
the film in Santa Barbara
. Halfway through it the audience began derisively laughing at all the wrong places. Dejected by the response and despondent from all the problems he had encountered up to this point, the director refused to make any more edits.
On May 30, 1978, the film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival
as part of a retrospective
of the director's work. Afterward it was released in only a handful of select American and Europe
an markets with little fanfare, prompting an insulted Wilder to claim the studio spent "about $625 on a marketing campaign."
Both Henry Fonda
and Michael York make cameo appearance
s in the film, Fonda as the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
who presents a lifetime achievement award to Fedora, and York as himself.
called it "old-fashioned with a vengeance, a proud, passionate remembrance of the way movies used to be, and a bitter smile at what they have become. It is rich, majestic, very close to ridiculous, and also a little bit mad. It seems exactly what Mr. Wilder wants it to be, perfectly self-contained and filled with the echoes of a lifetime; no one could mistake this for the work of a young man. Indeed, it has the resonance of an epitaph
. That, too, seems a part of Mr. Wilder's design . . . The compactness and symmetry evident in Fedora aren't easily achieved these days without a good deal of self-consciousness. Mr. Wilder achieves them naturally."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
wondered, "Should you see it? I dunno. If you do, go with a clear mind and a slight grin on your face and a memory for the movies of the 1940s. Accept the dumb parts, and the unsurprising revelations, as part of the film's style instead of as weaknesses. Trust Wilder to know what he's doing, even during the deliberate cliché
s. See it like that, and I bet you'll like it. See it with a straight face, and you'll think it's boring and obvious. Fedoras odd that way: It leaves itself up to the audience."
TV Guide
describes it as "defiantly and proudly old-fashioned both in style and content, weaving an (intentionally) campy melodrama about the mysterious suicide of a faded movie queen into a spellbinding meditation on cinema and the price of manufactured illusions . . . Fedora is a marvelous lesson in classical storytelling and the pleasures to be had from an absorbing narrative. It's almost as if Wilder is bidding adieu to the Golden Age of Hollywood, utilizing opulent sets, elegant crane shots, ultra-slow dissolves, and a flourish of voice-overs and flashbacks-within-flashbacks in a final demonstration of virtuoso scenario construction, only to tear it down at the end and show it was all a lie . . . The film is not perfect, and would have undoubtedly been better still had Wilder been able to persuade Marlene Dietrich to play the Countess, but it's still a worthy late addition to the work of a master."
Time Out London calls it "a shamefully underrated film . . . and one of the most sublime achievements of the '70s . . . it has a narrative assurance beyond the grasp of most directors nowadays: finely acted, mysterious, witty, moving and magnificent."
In his Chicago Reader review, Dave Kehr stated, "Its spare classical style, its sense of character, and its occasional romantic excesses are all very much Old Hollywood . . . but the deliberate and sometimes dismaying anachronisms are signs of a deep, unshakable commitment to a personal aesthetic - a commitment that is sometimes more moving than anything in the film itself."
Variety
opined, "Wilder's directorial flair, the fine production dress, Holden's solid presence and Michael York . . . and Henry Fonda . . . add some flavor to this bittersweet bow to the old star system," and added, "Missing are needed hints at Fedora's true star quality, which are not . . . inherent in Keller's performance or that of Knef . . . and which mar pic with disbelief."
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon
Tom Tryon was an American film and television actor, best known for playing the title role in the film The Cardinal and the Walt Disney television character Texas John Slaughter...
included in his collection Crowned Heads, published in 1976.
Plot
The film's central character is a reclusive foreign-born actress, one of the greatest movie stars of the century, who inexplicibly has retained her youthful beauty despite her advancing years. In the opening scene she commits suicide by throwing herself in front of a train, and among the mourners at her funeralFuneral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
is aging has-been Hollywood producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
Barry "Dutch" Detweiler, with whom she once had a brief affair and who serves as the film's narrator.
We flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
to a villa on an island
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
near Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, where Dutch had visited Fedora two weeks earlier, determined to convince her to star in a new screen adaptation of Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger...
. She had told him she was a prisoner in her remote retreat, held captive by aged Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Countess Sobryanski, her overprotective servant Miss Balfour, her chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...
Kritos, and Dr. Vando, who seemingly was responsible for keeping the one-time star looking so young. When he had tried to respond to Fedora's plea for help, Dutch had been knocked unconscious by Kritos. He had awakened nearly a week later, only to learn Fedora had killed herself.
At her funeral, Dutch accuses Vando and the Countess of driving Fedora to her death. The Countess ultimately reveals she actually is Fedora, and the woman who died was her daughter Antonia, who had been impersonating the actress for years after one of the doctor's treatments disfigured her. Antonia's charade was successful until she fell in love with actor Michael York
Michael York (actor)
Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
while making a film with him and decided to tell him the truth. In order to ensure her silence, she was held captive and kept drugged, until she finally killed herself. Dutch bids the real Fedora farewell, and six weeks later, she dies too.
Production
Wilder's previous film, The Front PageThe Front Page (1974 film)
The Front Page is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond is based on the 1928 play of the same title by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, which was previously adapted for the screen under its...
, had been released four years earlier, and had been a critical and commercial failure. Furthermore, two more recent Hollywood-based films, Gable and Lombard
Gable and Lombard
Gable and Lombard is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Sidney J. Furie. The screenplay by Barry Sandler is based on the romance and consequent marriage of legendary screen stars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard...
and W.C. Fields and Me
W.C. Fields and Me
W.C. Fields and Me is a 1976 American biographical film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Rod Steiger and Valerie Perrine. The screenplay by Bob Merrill is based on a memoir by Carlotta Monti, mistress of W.C. Fields for the last 14 years of his life....
(both released in 1976), had failed to engender any interest at the box office. As a result, executives at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
were hesitant to offer the auteur
Auteur theory
In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur"...
his usual deal. Instead, they paid Wilder and Diamond to write the screenplay with the understanding the studio would have 45 days following its submission to decide if it wanted to proceed with the project. They ultimately put it in turnaround, and Wilder began shopping it to other studios with no success. An infusion of capital from German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
investors enabled him to proceed with the film.
Wilder originally envisioned Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
as Fedora and Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
as her daughter Antonia, but Dietrich despised the original book and thought the screenplay was no improvement. Sydney Pollack
Sydney Pollack
Sydney Irwin Pollack was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack studied with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City, where he later taught acting...
invited Wilder to a pre-release screening of Bobby Deerfield
Bobby Deerfield
Bobby Deerfield is a 1977 film based on the novel Heaven Has No Favorites by Erich Maria Remarque, and stars Al Pacino as the title character...
, in which former fashion model Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller
Marthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...
had had a featured role. Wilder decided to cast her as both mother and daughter in Fedora, but the actress had suffered facial nerve injuries in an automobile accident and was unable to endure wearing the heavy makeup required to transform her into the older character, so he cast Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Knef
Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, singer and writer. She was billed in some English language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.-Early years:...
in the role.
After viewing a rough cut of the film, Wilder realized neither Keller nor Knef could be understood easily, nor did they sound very much alike, which was crucial to the film's plot. He hired German actress Inga Bunsch to dub
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
the dialogue of both women for the film's English-language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
release. Keller eventually recorded the voices for both characters in the French version, and Knef did likewise for the German release.
Allied Artists dropped its deal to distribute the film after it was screened at a Myasthenia Gravis Foundation
Myasthenia gravis
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability...
benefit in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and the audience response was unenthusiastic. The film was picked up by Lorimar Productions
Lorimar Productions
Lorimar, later known as Lorimar Television and Lorimar Distribution, was an American television production company that was later a subsidiary of Warner Bros., active from 1969 until 1993...
, which planned to peddle it to CBS as a television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
. Before the network could agree to the offer, United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
stepped in. After cutting twelve minutes of the film based on studio recommendations, Wilder sneak previewed
Film screening
A film screening is the displaying of a motion picture or film, generally referring to a special showing as part of a film's production and release cycle...
the film in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
. Halfway through it the audience began derisively laughing at all the wrong places. Dejected by the response and despondent from all the problems he had encountered up to this point, the director refused to make any more edits.
On May 30, 1978, the film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival
1978 Cannes Film Festival
The 31st Cannes Film Festival was held on May 16-30. This festival saw the introduction of a new non-competitive section, 'Un Certain Regard', which replaces 'Les Yeux Fertiles' , 'L'Air du temps' and 'Le Passé composé'.- Jury :*Alan J...
as part of a retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
of the director's work. Afterward it was released in only a handful of select American and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an markets with little fanfare, prompting an insulted Wilder to claim the studio spent "about $625 on a marketing campaign."
Both Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and Michael York make cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in the film, Fonda as the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
who presents a lifetime achievement award to Fedora, and York as himself.
Cast
- William HoldenWilliam HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
..... Barry "Dutch" Detweiler - Marthe KellerMarthe KellerMarthe Keller is a Swiss actress and opera director. She studied ballet as a child, but stopped after a skiing accident at age 16...
..... Fedora/Antonia - Hildegard KnefHildegard KnefHildegard Frieda Albertine Knef was a German actress, singer and writer. She was billed in some English language films as Hildegard Neff or Hildegarde Neff.-Early years:...
..... Countess Sobryanski - José FerrerJosé FerrerJosé Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
..... Dr. Vando - Frances SternhagenFrances SternhagenFrances Hussey Sternhagen is an American actress. Sternhagen has appeared on and off Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.-Personal life:...
..... Miss Balfour - Stephen Collins ..... The Young Barry Detweiler
- Gottfried JohnGottfried John-Life and work:During the 1970s and early 1980s, Gottfried John played various roles in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, notably that of Reinhold in the epic Berlin Alexanderplatz . He is internationally known for his portrayals of General Ourumov in the James Bond film GoldenEye and Julius...
..... Kritos - Arlene FrancisArlene FrancisArlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
..... The Newscaster
Critical reception
In her review in the New York Times, Janet MaslinJanet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
called it "old-fashioned with a vengeance, a proud, passionate remembrance of the way movies used to be, and a bitter smile at what they have become. It is rich, majestic, very close to ridiculous, and also a little bit mad. It seems exactly what Mr. Wilder wants it to be, perfectly self-contained and filled with the echoes of a lifetime; no one could mistake this for the work of a young man. Indeed, it has the resonance of an epitaph
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
. That, too, seems a part of Mr. Wilder's design . . . The compactness and symmetry evident in Fedora aren't easily achieved these days without a good deal of self-consciousness. Mr. Wilder achieves them naturally."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
wondered, "Should you see it? I dunno. If you do, go with a clear mind and a slight grin on your face and a memory for the movies of the 1940s. Accept the dumb parts, and the unsurprising revelations, as part of the film's style instead of as weaknesses. Trust Wilder to know what he's doing, even during the deliberate cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s. See it like that, and I bet you'll like it. See it with a straight face, and you'll think it's boring and obvious. Fedoras odd that way: It leaves itself up to the audience."
TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
describes it as "defiantly and proudly old-fashioned both in style and content, weaving an (intentionally) campy melodrama about the mysterious suicide of a faded movie queen into a spellbinding meditation on cinema and the price of manufactured illusions . . . Fedora is a marvelous lesson in classical storytelling and the pleasures to be had from an absorbing narrative. It's almost as if Wilder is bidding adieu to the Golden Age of Hollywood, utilizing opulent sets, elegant crane shots, ultra-slow dissolves, and a flourish of voice-overs and flashbacks-within-flashbacks in a final demonstration of virtuoso scenario construction, only to tear it down at the end and show it was all a lie . . . The film is not perfect, and would have undoubtedly been better still had Wilder been able to persuade Marlene Dietrich to play the Countess, but it's still a worthy late addition to the work of a master."
Time Out London calls it "a shamefully underrated film . . . and one of the most sublime achievements of the '70s . . . it has a narrative assurance beyond the grasp of most directors nowadays: finely acted, mysterious, witty, moving and magnificent."
In his Chicago Reader review, Dave Kehr stated, "Its spare classical style, its sense of character, and its occasional romantic excesses are all very much Old Hollywood . . . but the deliberate and sometimes dismaying anachronisms are signs of a deep, unshakable commitment to a personal aesthetic - a commitment that is sometimes more moving than anything in the film itself."
Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
opined, "Wilder's directorial flair, the fine production dress, Holden's solid presence and Michael York . . . and Henry Fonda . . . add some flavor to this bittersweet bow to the old star system," and added, "Missing are needed hints at Fedora's true star quality, which are not . . . inherent in Keller's performance or that of Knef . . . and which mar pic with disbelief."