Mardi Gras (film)

Mardi Gras
Directed by	Edmund Goulding
Written by	Curtis Harrington
Starring	Pat Boone Christine Carère Tommy Sands Sheree North Gary Crosby Fred Clark
Studio	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 18, 1958 (1958-11-18)
Budget	$1.69 million[1]
Box office	$2.5 million[2]

Mardi Gras was a 1958 musical comedy film starring, Pat Boone, Christine Carère, Tommy Sands, and Sheree North, and, co-starred, Gary Crosby, Fred Clark, Dick Sargent, and, Barrie Chase.

Mardi Gras is said to be a "low-budgeted" film, but, was shot on a big budget and released in Technicolor and CinemaScope. Only over time has Mardi Gras gained the attention that it was first meant to have when released to poor reviews in 1958.

Plot

A military school cadet (Boone) wins a date with a French movie goddess (Carère) who happens to be the queen of the "Mardi Gras" parade. The two fall in love, but, the studio of the goddess's enployment, wants to publicize on this newly found love for publicity.

Cast

• Pat Boone as Paul Newell
• Christine Carère as Michelle Marton
• Tommy Sands as Barry Denton
• Sheree North as Eadie West
• Gary Crosby as Tony Collins
• Fred Clark as Al Curtis
• Dick Sargent as Dick Saglon
• Barrie Chase as Torchy Larue
• Jennifer West as Sylvia Simmons
• Geraldine Wall as Ann Harris
• King Calder as Lt. Col. Vaupell
• Robert Burton as Comdr. Tydings

Production

The film was Sheree North's final film with 20th Century Fox; who signed North in 1954, to mold her as a stand-in to the raining sex goddess, Marilyn Monroe. While under contract with Fox, North made six other movies that were released by them; How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955); The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956); The Best Things in Life Are Free (1956); The Way to the Gold (1957); No Down Payment (1957); and, In Love and War (1958).

Despite high notices, Mardi Gras, failed to amount greatly at the box-office, and, therefore, North was released from her duties at the studio; that seemed to have lost interest in her in 1956, when they signed big-busted, "Marilyn Monroe King-Sized", Jayne Mansfield, to a six year contract, and, cast her in films like, The Girl Can't Help It (1956); (1957); Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957); and, The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958).

References

1. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989
2. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989 p227

External links

• Mardi Gras at the Internet Movie Database