Sylvia (1965 film)

American film directed by Gordon Douglas

Sylvia

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Gordon Douglas
Screenplay by| Sydney Boehm
Based on| Sylvia
1960 novel
by E. V. Cuningham
Produced by| Martin Poll
Starring| Carroll Baker
George Maharis
Peter Lawford
Cinematography| Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by| Frank Bracht
Music by| David Raksin

Production
company

Marpol Productions

Distributed by| Paramount Pictures

Release date

* February 10, 1965 (1965-02-10) (US)

Running time

| 115 minutes
Country| United States
Languages| English
French
Spanish
Box office| $1.5 million[1]

Sylvia is a 1965 American drama film directed by Gordon Douglas, written by Sydney Boehm, and starring George Maharis, Carroll Baker, and Peter Lawford.[2][3] The film is based on the novel of the same name by E. V. Cunningham in 1960.[4]

Released by Paramount Pictures, it was filmed in Pittsburgh.

## Plot

[edit]

Sylvia West seems just about perfect in the eyes of middle aged California millionaire Frederic Summers, who proposes marriage to her. She is beautiful, brilliant, financially independent, writes poetry, and seems to personify exactly what he wants in a woman.

But as a precaution, Summers brings in a private investigator, the young Alan Macklin, to do a background check. Macklin travels to Sylvia's hometown of Pittsburgh, where to his surprise he learns that Sylvia has a history of selling sexual favors to middle-aged men. Librarian Irma tells Macklin that Sylvia always liked to read and helped her select literature from the library. She reads books in between clients to numb out her feelings. Raped by her stepfather, Jonas, she is an incest survivor who has a hard time setting boundaries. After her rape she turns to a fanatic priest who takes her to Mexico; he is later killed. She pays Oscar Stewart through sexual services to get her back to the United States on a road trip.

Back in the US, Sylvia becomes friends with Jane, a sex worker, and helps her out after a life-threatening accident. To pay her medical bills, Sylvia sells sexual services through a transvestite madam. Sylvia is raped and assaulted by one of the clients, Bruce Stamford III, who buys her off to keep quiet about it. She invests the payoff, using advice from Jane's husband; these investments help Sylvia become financially independent and she publishes her poetry.

Macklin meets Sylvia and says he is interested in her poetry; the two of them fall in love. He confesses that he has been investigating her for her husband, and she is upset. He refuses to give his report to Summers, Sylvia eventually forgives Macklin, and they get together in the end.

## Cast

[edit]

* Carroll Baker as Sylvia West aka Sylvia Karoki
* Peter Lawford as Frederic Summers
* George Maharis as Alan Macklin
* Joanne Dru as Jane Phillips
* Viveca Lindfors as Irma Olanski
* Edmond O'Brien as Oscar Stewart
* Nancy Kovack as Big Shirley
* Ann Sothern as Grace Argona
* Jay Novello as Father Gonzales
* Aldo Ray as Jonas Karoki
* Lloyd Bochner as Bruce Stamford III
* Paul Gilbert as Lola Diamond
* Anthony Caruso as Muscles
* Paul Wexler at Peter Memel
* Majel Barrett as Anne (Uncredited)

## Production

[edit]

The film was based on a novel by E. V. Cunningham, a pen name for Howard Fast. The novel was published by Doubleday in 1960, and was popular enough for Fast to write other suspense-mystery novels under the pseudonym of E. V. Cunningham, with titles that were women's names. (Others included Penelope.)[5]

Film rights were bought by producer Martin Poll in April 1961. Poll called the film "a suspense love story".[6] He originally set the film up at Paramount as a coproduction with Paul Newman and Martin Ritt's company – Newman was going to star and Ritt direct.[7] Fast was hired to write a script and filming was scheduled to start December 1961.[8] This did not happen. The project was reactivated in 1964 with Sydney Boehm writing the script and Robert Reed as a possible star.[9] Carrol Baker, who had just made The Carpetbaggers and Mister Moses, was hired to play the lead.[10] David Miller was signed to direct.[11] The male lead role eventually went to George Maharis, who recently had left the cast of the hit CBS dramatic series Route 66 after recovering from a bout with hepatitis that he had contracted while performing stunt work in a body of water during filming of that series. During filming of Sylvia, Miller was replaced as director by Gordon Douglas.

## Reception

[edit]

### Critical response

[edit]

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times called it a "travesty of a film... it is hard to tell whether Carroll Baker... is worse than the script. Both are incredibly awful. Miss Baker is as lifeless as a stick, and the script... is a collection of all the clichés of bordello literature" and said that Gordon Douglas and Martin Poll "should both have their mouths washed out, their wrists slapped and their credentials as filmmakers taken away."[2]

The staff at Variety wrote in their review: "Carroll Baker is joined in stellar spot by George Maharis as the private eye who ultimately falls in love with the woman he is tracing. Actually, although hers is the motivating character, top honours go to Maharis for a consistently restrained performance which builds, while actress suffers somewhat from the spotty nature of her haphazard part."[3]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1965

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Anticipated rentals accruing distributors in North America. See "Top Grossers of 1965", Variety, 5 January 1966 p 36.
2. ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (February 11, 1965). "Drama at Loew's State and at Other Houses". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
3. ^ a b "Sylvia". Variety. December 31, 1964. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
4. ^ Cuningham, E. V. (1960). Sylvia (in French) (1st ed.). New York City: Doubleday. ASIN B0006AWMWI.
5. ^ "Howard Fast: E.V. Cunningham's Women".
6. ^ A.H. WEILER (Apr 30, 1961). "PICTURES AND PEOPLE". New York Times. p. X9.
7. ^ "Impact Films Plans 3 More This Year". Los Angeles Times. June 17, 1961. p. A6.
8. ^ "Of Local Origin". New York Times. June 27, 1961. p. 23.
9. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (Jan 27, 1964). "Son of 'Defenders' With Carroll Baker: London in Industry Crisis as Backlog Still Piles Up". Los Angeles Times. p. C11.
10. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (May 8, 1964). "Servant' Director Fast Winning Cult: Losey Acclaimed in Europe; Carroll Baker 'Sylvia' Star". Los Angeles Times. p. C15.
11. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (May 29, 1964). "David Miller Signs to Direct 'Sylvia': He'll Spread Love Around; A Female 'Tom Jones' Next". Los Angeles Times. p. D7.

## External links

[edit]

* Sylvia at IMDb
* Sylvia at the TCM Movie Database
* https://catalog.afi.com/Film/22308-SYLVIA

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Gordon Douglas

1930s|

* General Spanky (1936)
* Zenobia (1939)

1940s|

* Saps at Sea (1940)
* Broadway Limited (1941)
* The Great Gildersleeve (1942)
* Gildersleeve's Bad Day (1943)
* Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943)
* A Night of Adventure (1944)
* Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944)
* Girl Rush (1944)
* The Falcon in Hollywood (1944)
* Zombies on Broadway (1945)
* First Yank into Tokyo (1945)
* Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)
* San Quentin (1946)
* If You Knew Susie (1948)
* Walk a Crooked Mile (1948)
* The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)
* Mr. Soft Touch (1949)

1950s|

* The Nevadan (1950)
* Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)
* Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950)
* Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)
* Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
* The Great Missouri Raid (1951)
* Only the Valiant (1951)
* I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951)
* Come Fill the Cup (1951)
* Mara Maru (1952)
* The Iron Mistress (1952)
* She's Back on Broadway (1953)
* The Charge at Feather River (1953)
* So This Is Love (1953)
* Them! (1954)
* Young at Heart (1954)
* The McConnell Story (1955)
* Sincerely Yours (1955)
* Santiago (1956)
* The Big Land (1957)
* Bombers B-52 (1957)
* Fort Dobbs (1958)
* The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958)
* Up Periscope (1959)
* Yellowstone Kelly (1959)

1960s|

* The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961)
* Gold of the Seven Saints (1961)
* Claudelle Inglish (1961)
* Follow That Dream (1962)
* Call Me Bwana (1963)
* Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
* Rio Conchos (1964)
* Sylvia (1965)
* Harlow (1965)
* Stagecoach (1966)
* Way...Way Out (1966)
* In Like Flint (1967)
* Chuka (1967)
* Tony Rome (1967)
* The Detective (1968)
* Lady in Cement (1968)

1970s|

* Skullduggery (1970)
* They Call Me Mister Tibbs! (1970)
* Barquero (1970)
* Skin Game (1971, uncredited)
* Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973)
* Nevada Smith (1975)
* Viva Knievel! (1977)

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