In seventeenth-century England, Amber St. Clair aims to raise herself from country girl to nobility, and succeeds, but loses her true love in the process.In seventeenth-century England, Amber St. Clair aims to raise herself from country girl to nobility, and succeeds, but loses her true love in the process.In seventeenth-century England, Amber St. Clair aims to raise herself from country girl to nobility, and succeeds, but loses her true love in the process.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 1 nomination total
- Lord Redmond
- (as Edmond Breon)
- Bess
- (scenes deleted)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe Catholic Legion of Decency condemned the film for its "glamorization of immorality and licentiousness", and it demanded the studio (20th Century-Fox) make changes so the film would be removed from their '"Condemned" list. The studio defiantly refused, initially, but when the actual boycotts began to occur, it caved in. During a period of about two months, Fox and representatives of the Legion of Decency discussed how the film could be changed to meet the Legion's approval. Among the scenes added was a narrated prologue over the credits which said the main character would be punished for sins, a new ending in which Amber watches Lord Carlton leave for Virginia and ends up accepting a supper invitation from the King's equerry, plus the deletion of scenes suggesting Amber had many lovers and the addition of new scenes to condemn her immorality. After these changes were made, the Legion of Decency took the film off the "Condemned" list and moved it to the "Class B-Objectionable in Part" listing, but the film's bookings had been severely cut due to the earlier condemnation. Fox president Spyros P. Skouras later apologized to the Legion, not for offending them but for refusing to conform to them.
- Quotes
King Charles II: [at a royal ball] Look at them. My loving subjects. You'd never know that half of them danced in Puritan garb while my father went to the chopping block.
Amber St. Clair: [moved] No wonder you seek solace in amusement, sire.
Amber St. Clair: [slyly] Can a common trollop help you to forget?
- Crazy creditsPrologue: "1644--The English Parliament and Oliver Cromwell's army have revolted against the tyrannical rule of Charles I. England is aflame with civil war..."
- Alternate versionsA couple of weeks after its record breaking premiere, studio heads finally caved into Catholic protests and re-cut the movie. Among the changes:
- References to Amber's sex life and any acts of non-marital romance were cut.
- SPOILER: A new ending in which Amber watches her son go off with Bruce.
- Redubbed dialogue in the form of Cornell Wilde repentative of his behaviour: "In Heaven's name, Amber, haven't we caused enough unhappiness?" and "May God have mercy on us both for our sins."
- Also a prologue was added that condemned the character's actions: "This is the tragic story of Amber St. Claire... slave to ambition.. stranger to virtue... the wages of sin is death".
- ConnectionsFeatured in Twentieth Century Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
Now this brings up a serious problem In the Hollywood of 1947, the Production Code made it virtually impossible to film the script unless huge changes were made in the story. Well, apparently Twentieth Century-Fox STILL didn't sanitize the story enough...and the Catholic Legion of Decency condemned the film. The movie was quickly withdrawn from theaters, scenes were re-shot and it returned to theaters....where it was wildly successful. Despite a huge price tag of $6,000,000, it went on to be the top grossing film of the year. I wonder how much of the Catholic Legion of Decency hubbub actually ended up HELPING the film!
Linda Darnell stars as Amber St. Clair, a young girl from a good middleclass English family who lived during the Restoration period (when the monarchy was invited back to rule after the death of Cromwell in 1660). Amber is NOT a normal lady by any standard of the day and her family shocked when she not only refuses to marry the man they picked out for her but she then runs away to make her fortune. This essentially consists of sleeping her way up through the English gentry....with a brief period in which she slummed it with a highwayman. Throughout all her many affairs, she is most devoted to Bruce Carlton (Cornel Wilde)...though they never seem to connect up for long.
When I watched the movie, I could tell some cuts had been made in a few places. One was odd, as she suddenly ended up pregnant...and you really weren't sure what happened there and it remained that way through much of the picture! Well, she obviously slept with a guy....but who? And, after the baby was born you don't hear any more about the baby until late in the story. Was the tike misplaced somewhere or perhaps taken by aliens and then returned? Who knows?!
As far as the film goes, in many ways it's like a reworking of the Pre-Code film, "Red-Headed Woman"...in which Jean Harlow's character sleeps her way up through the social ranks. But of the two, "Red-Headed Woman" is the better film in many ways....mostly because it was much more open about the character's sexuality and the movie ended with the character receiving neither punishment nor learning a thing along the way! But with bowing to the Legion of Decency's demand for cuts, the film comes off as more episodic and confusing about Amber's sex life! Plus, let's be honest, the film is a lot less entertaining when it's less sleazy. As far as the production goes, it looks nice in rich Technicolor...but is also a tad stilted and dull after a while.
- planktonrules
- May 26, 2019
- How long is Forever Amber?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Amber, die große Kurtisane
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 18 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1