Diane

Films

Diane (MGM 1956)

Lana and Roger Moore in 1956's "Diane". Lou Valentino Collection

Production Dates: May 2, 1955-July 12, 1955

Release Date: January 12, 1956.

Credited Cast and Crew:

Lana Turner, Pedro Armendariz, Roger Moore, Marisa Pavin

Directed by: David Miller

Writing Credits: Josephine Erskine (story), Christopher Isherwood

Produced by: Edwin H. Knopf

Original Music by: Miklos Rozsa

Cinematography by: Robert H. Planck

Synopsis: Lana Turner taking love anyway that she can get it in 16th century France.

My Review: Lana's last film for MGM and truly the end of an era. When she finished shooting this film in late 1955, she was for the first time in her life on her own without any help (financially or otherwise) from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. She was far younger than most of the other actresses that had passed through the gates of Metro during her tenure (consider Greta Garbo was born in 1905, Joan Crawford in 1904 and Lana in 1921) and in that respect she was lucky. She would of course make more successful pictures such as Imitation of Life and Portrait in Black but she would never again have the consistent success that she had had during her MGM years. Her career from this point on was filled with peaks and valleys with one film being a flop and the next film being a critical and box office smash. Her long reign as the "Queen of MGM" was a constant in an otherwise unpredictable existence.

Considering the financial bind that MGM (and every other studio in Hollywood) was in during this time, Diane was a first class production all the way. Lana is lit beautifully and the cinematography top notch with director David Miller pulling out all of the stops to keep Lana and costar Marisa Pavin looking gorgeous. The story can get confusing at times and I had to rewind the tape once or twice to figure out what was going on, but once the film starts to pick up speed (during Turner and Pavin's confrontation scenes) it's a highly enjoyable and entertaining film. Marisa Pavin's role as Prince Henri's "arranged" wife adds just the right amount of vinegar to the mix and her confrontation scenes with Lana are top notch. The screenwriters let the viewer decide as to whether Pavin's character is just plain evil (does she want Diane kicked out of France because she is jealous of her?) or whether she is stuck in a marriage with a man who doesn't love her, Diane is nothing but a home wrecker and Pavin's character needs our sympathy. I tend to agree that Diane IS a home wrecker and a ballsy one at that. What kind of a woman openly carries on with a married man in his own home, with his wife and children sitting not twenty feet away?

A little disturbing but well worth checking out, if only to see Our Lana trying to teach someone how to "fence". All she needed was a black hat and she'd be Zorro.

Your Review: What are YOUR thoughts on this film? Contact me at Liza@lanaturneronline.com

Highlights and Trivia

*The hourglass used by the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz (1939) can be seen during one of Marisa Pavin's scenes. (MGM sure was resourceful, wasn't it?)

*This film was Lana Turner's MGM swan song after eighteen years and thirty films. Although she would be devastated losing her MGM contract, it was actually a blessing in disguise. Her next film (and first film as a "free-lancer"), Peyton Place, would bring her an Oscar nomination and resurrect her career.

*Diane was a property that MGM had been holding since the 1930's, when they had purchased it for Greta Garbo.

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