You Only Live Once (film)

You Only Live Once

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Fritz Lang
Produced by Walter Wanger
Written by C. Graham Baker
Gene Towne
Starring Sylvia Sidney
Henry Fonda
Music by Alfred Newman
Cinematography Leon Shamroy
Edited by Daniel Mandell
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • January 29, 1937 (1937-01-29)
Running time
 86 minutes
Language English
Budget $628,138[1]
Box office $589,503[1]

You Only Live Once is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Considered an early film noir, the film was the second directed by Lang in the United States.[2] At least 15 minutes were trimmed from the original 100-minute version of the film due to its then unprecedented violence. Despite the absence of such scenes, the film was initially successful and is an early film noir classic.

Plot synopsis

Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda) is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. He marries but is then wrongly convicted for a bank robbery in which six people are killed. He is sentenced to death by electrocution. On the eve of his execution a gun smuggled into the execution area enables him to escape. During the escape he unintentionally kills the prison chaplain. The chaplain was trying to convince Eddie that he has had a last minute pardon. This is because the body of the guilty bank robber and the getaway vehicle with the stolen money have just been recovered from a lake. Eddie and his pregnant wife Joan go on the lam, and are blamed for every crime in the area. The baby is born and is left with Stephen, the public defender, the wife's former employer. Eddie and Joan then get ambushed by the police.

Cast

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $48,045.[1]

Legacy

Radio adaptation

You Only Live Once was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse November 28, 1941. The adaptation starred Burgess Meredith.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent, Minnesota Press, 2000 p437
  2. ↑ Fritz Lang at the Internet Movie Database


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