Taglines: They met… they knew they shouldn’t have… they couldn’t stop!
Indiscreet movie storyline. Anna Kalman (Ingrid Bergman) is a London based actress. She has been unable to find love in her life. The reason why she came home early from a vacation to Majorca fits into that theme, as the man she met there and was initially attracted to ended up not being who she thought he was as a man. Upon her arrival home, she meets the suave Philip Adams (Cary Grant), a financier who is a work acquaintance of her brother-in-law, diplomat Alfred Munson ( Cecil Parker).
Philip initially states that there is no Mrs. Adams in his life. But when Anna later asks him out, he clarifies that statement in that there is no Mrs. Adams in London, as she is at home in San Francisco. Regardless, Anna decides still to ask him on the date she had intended to the ballet. He accepts, letting her know that whatever happens between the two of them that he will never be able to leave his wife.
As time goes on, the two fall in love, their happiness which can only be sustained as long as Philip has his Paris-based contract with NATO. So when Philip announces that he is being transferred to New York for five months, Anna comes to the realization that she truly cannot live without him and wants to marry him. Shortly thereafter, Anna learns something about Philip’s background, which not only threatens their relationship, but leads to a night that Anna wants to give him that he will never forget, and not in a good way. But the best laid plans may have a bumpy road to being executed effectively…
Indiscreet is a 1958 Technicolor British romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Cecil Parker, Megs Jenkins, Phyllis Calvert, David Kossoff, Pauline Chamberlain, Diane Clare, David Coote, Robert Desmond, Oliver Johnston and Stratford Johns.
The film is based on the play Kind Sir written by Norman Krasna. This was Grant’s and Bergman’s second film together, after Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946), and was one of the first films to popularise artistic use of the technique of split screens. The film was remade for television in 1988 starring Robert Wagner and Lesley-Anne Down.
About the Production
No film studio sought the rights to the play Kind Sir so Norman Krasna’s co-producers – Joshua Logan, Mary Martin, and Charles Boyer – agreed to Krasna’s offer to buy the rights himself for $10,000. Krasna did not tell his fellow producers he had lined up Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman to star in a film.
In March 1955 United Artists announced Krasna would direct a film version for that studio. It was originally announced that the film would be made with either Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield, and with Clark Gable as the male star.
Krasna asked Stanley Donen if he wanted to direct while the latter was making Kiss Them for Me with Grant. Donen agreed “but only with Cary”. Grant agreed but only if his co-star was Ingrid Bergman (the two had last acted together in Notorious [1946]). Bergman agreed provided the film could be shot in England, as she had a theatre commitment in Paris. Krasna agreed to make the changes from the play. Donen and Grant formed a company together, Grandon Productions, to make the film. In September 1957 Bergman announced she and Grant would star in the film for Warners.
The film ranked in the top 10 British box office hits in terms of gross profits in 1958. Kinematograph Weekly listed it as being “in the money” at the British box office in 1958. It was popular and well reviewed. Logan saw the movie expecting to find it different from the play and was surprised to find it “verbatim” like Kind Sir. “Krasna’s writing and my taste were more than vindicated,” said Logan. “Had I been well [directing the play] it would have been another story.”
Indiscreet (1958)
Directed by: Stanley Donen
Starring: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Cecil Parker, Megs Jenkins, Phyllis Calvert, David Kossoff, Pauline Chamberlain, Diane Clare, David Coote, Robert Desmond, Oliver Johnston, Stratford Johns
Screenplay by: Norman Krasna
Production Design by: Roy Parkinson
Cinematography by: Freddie Young
Film Editing by: Jack Harris
Art Direction by: Donald M. Ashton
Makeup Department: Joan Johnstone, John O’Gorman
Music by: Richard Bennett
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: June 26, 1958
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