The Chapman Report

Infobox Film
name = The Chapman Report

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caption = Theatrical poster to "The Chapman Report" (1962)
director = George Cukor
producer = Darryl F. Zanuck
Richard D. Zanuck
writer = Irving Wallace (novel)
Wyatt Cooper
Don Mankiewicz
Gene Allen
Grant Stuart
starring = Shelley Winters
Jane Fonda
Claire Bloom
Glynis Johns
Efrem Zimbalist Jr
music = Leonard Rosenman
Frank Perkins
Max Steiner
cinematography = Harold Lipstein
editing = Robert L. Simpson
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
released = flagicon|USA 5 October 1962
runtime = 125 min
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0055841

"The Chapman Report" is a 1962 film made by DFZ Productions and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by George Cukor and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Richard D. Zanuck, from a screenplay by Wyatt Cooper and Don Mankiewicz, adapted by Gene Allen and Grant Stuart from the 1961 novel, "The Chapman Report", by Irving Wallace. The original music was by Leonard Rosenman, Frank Perkins and Max Steiner, the cinematography by Harold Lipstein, the colour coordination images and main title design was by George Hoyningen-Huene and the costume design was by Orry-Kelly.

The film stars Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda, Claire Bloom, Glynis Johns, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. with Ray Danton, Andrew Duggan, Ty Hardin, Harold J. Stone, Cloris Leachman, and Henry Daniell.

Plot and production

Based on Irving Wallace's novel that was based on the Kinsey Reports, the film was originally conceived for 20th Century Fox to attract customers with discussions and depictions of sexual matters that would not be allowed on American television. Darryl F. Zanuck was having problems with Fox during the production of two widescreen epic spectacular films for the studio in Europe, "Cleopatra (1963 film)" and "The Longest Day (film)" at the same time. When Fox would not do the film, Zanuck offered the property, his son the producer, director Cukor and the female stars to his friend and rival Jack Warner. [http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=2895]

Warner Brothers replaced the film's planned male leads with their own Warner Brothers Television contract leads who recieved no extra money, would attract their fans to the film, and would please the stars who had requested more interesting and different material than they had at Warners.

Andrew Duggan played a character based on Dr. Alfred Kinsey whilst Efrem Zimbalist Jr played one of his researchers who meets and interviews the four women depicted in the film. The leading ladies consist of Jane Fonda as a frigid young widow, Shelly Winters an an adulteours middle aged housewife having an affair with artist Ray Danton, Glynis Johns as a trendy older woman infatuated with athletic young beach boy Ty Hardin, (Cukor filmed an incredible amount of footage featuring him playing football in swimming trunks at the beach) played for comedy, and Claire Bloom as a nymphomaniac. [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/cukor.html]

Costume designer Orry-Kelly dressed each of the different female characters in only one colour thoughout the film. [http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=2895]

As many as seven different writers worked on the film [ibid] with Gene Allen, who was contracted to Cukor's organisation delivering the final screenplay. The film attracted much criticism during its production by the Legion of Decency amongst others. After a screening at San Francisco where Cukor claimed the audience liked the film, the studio recut the film. [p.63 Long, Robert Emmet "George Cukor: Interviews" 2001 Univ of Mississippi Press] At the Legion of Decency's insistance, Jack Warner had Michael A. Hoey reedit the film [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0388629/] and wrote a different ending [http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_michaelhoey.html] with Zimbalist and Duggan saying that American women were rather normal sexually, a message at odds with the rest of Cukor's film. A different director was brought in to reshoot it. [http://www.emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=2895]

References

External links

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