From the Archives: Sabrina ( 1954 )

Audrey Hepburn falls in love in the delightful romantic comedy Sabrina ( 1954 ). In this scene, the chauffeur's daughter Sabrina ( Hepburn ) has just arrived home from Paris and catches the eye of her father's employer David Larabee ( William Holden ). 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

From the Archives: How to Steal a Million ( 1966 )

We often come across movie stills that feature scenes that were later cut from films. This particular one is from the classic caper How to Steal a Million ( 1966 ) starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. We believe this scene - at an office using IBM machines - may have appeared before Nicole ( Hepburn ) goes on her dinner date with David Leland ( Eli Wallach ). It was probably considered unessential to the story, so instead, we see Nicole simply mentioning to her father that she met an American tycoon who has a computer business. Whether this cut footage exists somewhere or was scraped is a mystery. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

From the Archives: Charade ( 1963 )

Mrs. Lambert ( Audrey Hepburn ) just received the news of her husband's death from the French police inspector ( Jacques Marin ) in this scene from Stanley Donen's comedy-thriller Charade ( 1963 ). Marin, a native of Paris, was a popular character actor both in Europe and in America. In 1966, he was reunited with Hepburn in How to Steal a Million...another film set in Paris. 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store : http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures

How to Steal a Million ( 1966 )

Audrey Hepburn loved Paris and audiences adored seeing her in Paris on film. She portrayed a young woman who journeyed to Paris to study cooking in Sabrina (1954), a shy bookshop clerk who longs to see the city in Funny Face (1957), and the daughter of a French private detective in Love in the Afternoon (1957). In the 1960s she was in love with William Holden in Paris When it Sizzles (1963) and that same year chased by four enemies throughout the city in the Hitchcockian suspense classic Charade. In 1966, Hepburn returned to Paris for one final outing, this time in the delightful caper How to Steal a Million, directed by William Wyler.

Wyler had a flair for sophisticated comedy and How to Steal a Million is reminiscent of the snappy comedies of the 1930s with its elegant setting and clever dialogue. Hepburn stars as Nicole Bonnet, the daughter of the world famous art collector Charles Bonnet (Hugh Griffith). Occasionally Monsieur Bonnet auctions some of his beloved paintings for "vast sums of money" and they pass into the hands of other avid collectors. What the buying public does not realize is that the paintings auctioned from the Bonnet collection are fakes - meticulously created by "Papa" Bonnet himself. Nicole wishes he would stop forging paintings and loaning their personal sculptures to museums, fearing they will one day be caught....especially since modern methods of examination could determine "the age of the stone, where it was quarried, when it was cut... and probably the name and address of the man who did it!".

"Papa, the Cellini Venus is a fake!"
"That's a word we don't use in this house."

Her fears are realized when their Cellini Venus sculpture, which Bonnet generously loaned to the Kléber-Lafayette Museum of Art, is scheduled to undergo a vigorous chemical examination as a preliminary insurance requirement. Rather than arousing suspicion by recalling the sculpture from the museum, Nicole turns to Simon Dermott (Peter O'Toole), a professional jewel thief, to steal the Cellini Venus back. He and Nicole sneak into the museum at night and using only a magnet, a boomerang, and his wits, attempt to steal a million-dollar art treasure. 

"Why must it be this particular work of art?"
"Why, you don't think I'd steal something that doesn't belong to me, do you?"

How to Steal a Million was one of my grandmother's favorite films. Oma Rozi spent happy years in Paris and loved the city dearly. She also loved the lifestyle of the Bonnets, especially Papa's secret attic room. So this film is particularly dear to me. It boasts a marvelous cast, a witty script, a memorable score by John Williams (credited as "Johnny Williams"), and chic Givenchy costumes (Hepburn dazzled in no less than eight different outfits) but what makes the film a true delight is its setting - Paris.

The movie avoids the cobbled streets and earthy cafe life of Paris that is often portrayed in Hollywood films and instead shows us elegant Paree - a world of high fashion, fancy sports cars, museums, private jets, and auction houses - the setting one likes to associate with the life of an art collector. The film was shot in and around the city and gives us glimpses of the famous Ritz hotel, the Musée Carnavalet, the Élysées Palace along the Champs-Élysées, Maxim's, the Place Vendome, and the Rond-point des Champs-Élysées. The Bonnet's beautiful maison was located on the Rue Parmentier at Carrefour Bineau in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, but alas...it has since been torn down. 

A number of fine French actors add to the film's authentic Parisian flavor; Charles Boyer has a small and insignificant part as DeSolny, the owner of a rival auction house, and the popular comedian Moustache is featured as one of the museum's guards who likes to take a nip when he can. Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio, Jacques Marin, and Roger Treville also have parts while American actor Eli Wallach has the best supporting role, that of Mr. Leland, a fanatic art collector wanting to marry Nicole just to get his hands on her Cellini Venus sculpture. 

Harry Kurnitz, a prolific screenwriter of the 1930s-1960s, penned the screenplay which was based on a short story "Venus Rising" from Practice to Deceive written by George Bradshaw in 1962. Unlike most capers of the 1960s, How to Steal a Million does not focus solely on the planning and execution of the heist, instead Kurnitz lets a series of amusing situations unfold, all of which lead to the final heist and, of course, Bonnet and Dermott falling in love. L'Amour dans Paris...what could be a more fitting ending? 

Bonus : Check out this site to see more of the film's locations and how they look today and this blog to read a more in-depth review of How to Steal a Million and see a ton of great screenshots. Also, an interesting bit of trivia : the famous "Nicole!".."Papa!" exchange between Hepburn and Griffith was revamped for a series of entertaining Renault Clio commercials during the 1980s.  

This post is our contribution to the France on Film Blogathon being hosted by Seredipitious Anachronisms. Head on over to her blog to read more articles on French films and films set in France. Au Revoir!

Moments of Intuition from Seven Actresses - Part Two

Audrey Hepburn

I was engaged. 

I don't think there was a girl in all the world who looked and acted happier than I did. His name was James Hanson and I had met him at a party in England. Love? No woman who ever lived could have been more honestly betrothed to a man. I could not have dreamed of a more perfect match than Jimmy and me. We had picked a beautiful ivy-covered English church for the marriage, and on the third finger of my left hand was the most grand of all engagement rings - mine. I scoured the courtiers of Paris and London for the wedding trousseau which I had pictured in my mind since I was a little girl. I had secured one whole week free from the shooting of Roman Holiday. 

On the evening of my last day's work, I went back to my apartment in Rome and, with a kind of gloating that only a woman can understand, I got out the entire trousseau : the wedding gown, the night gown, the unmentionables, the suits, the shoes, the hats, the hose, the gloves. My little flat looked like a dress shop. Wherever I looked in that room were clothe. I spun around the room in happy pirouettes until I was dizzy with pleasure. 

And then, for no reason at all, I sat down in the middle of the floor and cried. I tried to stop, but I couldn't. The tears poured down my cheeks and as I sobbed, three words kept coming to my mind. This is wrong. This is wrong. This is wrong. 

At first, I thought I had gone crazy with happiness. Then I looked at the wedding dress and felt nothing. No love, no pleasure, no joy. 

In that split second, a beautiful dream had ended. 

The next day, I talked with Jimmy and told him I couldn't marry him. 

To this day, I do not honestly know what changed my mind. 

***************************************************

Jane Wyman

The time I remember was a beautiful bright, sunny day on the patio of my home. If it hadn't been for the sparrows - well, I get a chill in my heart just thinking about it. 

Maureen, our first baby, was then about seven weeks old. Every morning, I'd bring her out in the bassinet and let her bask in the sun. Then I'd go back into the kitchen to get a napkin full of crumbs for the sparrows. They were a noisy lot and I'd laugh at the way they scrambled and fluttered about trying to get the food. 

It got so that the moment I'd come out on the patio each morning, the sparrows would come seemingly from nowhere and perch patiently on the rose bushes and trees, just waiting for my morning handout. 

On this particular morning, I set Maureen in the sun, as usual. She was gurgling happily, squirming her little body, kicking her legs and waving her arms. I fed the sparrows. Then I leaned back on the redwood chair and closed my eyes. Then sun was warm and soothing and I fell asleep. 

Suddenly, I was awakened by a terrific chirping and flapping of little wings. I opened my eyes and there were sparrows all around me. They'd swoop down close to me, fly over to Maureen's crib, then come back to me. At first, I thought they were trying to peck at me for more food. I was a bit irritated by this and I tried to shoo them away, but they only screeched louder and flapped their wings harder. 

I don't know why, but in that split second I knew something was wrong. Then I realized what the sparrows were trying to tell me. I jumped up and ran to Maureen's crib. She had turned over, and her small face was buried deep in the blanket, which she had worked around her head. She was completely still. Quickly, I picked her up and turned her over. She was limp and there was an unnatural blueness in her white skin. I was terrified. Then Maureen took a big deep breath, as if she were sobbing. 

Pretty soon, she was breathing regularly and opened her eyes and smiled. I hugged her to me as if I had just seen her for the first time. And then I cried. 

After a few minutes, I looked around for those wonderful sparrows. There wasn't one in sight. I waited and waited for them, but they never came back again. 

This post is Part Two of our republication of the 1957 Motion Picture magazine article that featured seven actresses sharing stories of moments of intuition. We hope you enjoyed reading it. Please be sure to check out the first post here and stay tuned for the third part!