Green Dolphin Street movie storyline. Two beautiful daughters of a wealthy merchant fall in love with the same handsome young man (Richard Hart), but because he favors the gentle modesty of Marguerite (Donna Reed), her “not quite nice” sister Marianne (LanaTurner) persuades him to seek his fortune abroad. Settled down in business in New Zealand with a friend (Van Heflin), he sends for Marguerite to join him: however, he drunkenly addresses his proposal to sensual Marianne. When the wrong sister meets up with her husband-to-be and his partner, a bitter rivalry is provoked between the men for the love of an irresistible woman.
Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 historical drama disaster film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and based on the novel Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge, published in Britain as Green Dolphin Country.
The film stars Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed, and Richard Hart, and features a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson based on the historical novel Green Dolphin Street (1944) by Elizabeth Goudge. The film was directed by Victor Saville and produced by Carey Wilson.
Hart and Heflin, who played romantic rivals in Green Dolphin Street, were similarly cast in B.F.’s Daughter (1948). Hart made only four feature films before his death at an early age, two of them co-starring Heflin. The film was shot on locations in Humboldt County, California.
The film was one of the most popular movies at the British box office in 1948 and MGM’s most popular movie of 1947. It earned $4,304,000 in the US and Canada and $2,869,000 elsewhere, but because of its high cost only recorded a profit of $339,000.
In 1948, the film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, particularly for its depiction of a devastating earthquake. It was also nominated in the categories Cinematography (Black-and-White), Film Editing, Sound Recording (Douglas Shearer) and Special Effects.
The film’s title song, “Green Dolphin Street” (often recorded as “On Green Dolphin Street”), went on to become a jazz standard. The song has been recorded by Bill Evans, Eric Dolphy, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Albert Ayler, Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, John Coltrane, Agnieszka Hekiert, *Dick and Kiz Harp, Steps Ahead, and Grant Green among others. “Green Dolphin Street” is referenced in Part 6 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Stone Ocean as Green Dolphin Street Prison, in which most of the story takes place.
Green Dolphin Street (1947)
Directed by: Victor Saville
Starring: Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed, Richard Hart, Frank Morgan, Edmund Gwenn, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Gladys Cooper, Moyna Macgill, Linda Christian, Bernie Gozie
Screenplay by: Samson Raphaelson, Carey Wilson
Cinematography by: George J. Folsey
Film Editing by: George White
Costume Design by: Walter Plunkett, Valles
Set Decoration by: Edwin B. Willis
Art Direction by: Malcolm Brown, Cedric Gibbons
Music by: Bronislaw Kaper
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: November 5, 1947
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