A Stone for Danny Fisher

Product Information

That said, I’ve known some successful genre writers who assumed that being “literary” meant that they should overwrite. And that’s a helluva mess, too. Mom wasn't privy to the audiobook, but I found that the narrator's enactment of a woman crying, especially Nellie, really grated on my nerves! King Creole also was one of the first of Harold Robbins's novels to be made into a film. Yet it's never thought of as a Robbins film like The Carpetbaggers or The Betsy. It's an Elvis film, first and foremost.

King Creole is a 1958 American musical drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and based on the 1952 novel A Stone for Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins. Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the film stars Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dolores Hart, Dean Jagger, and Vic Morrow, and follows a nineteen-year-old (Presley) who gets mixed up with crooks and involved with two women. On December 20, 1957, a month before filming was due to begin, Presley received his draft notice. [10] Presley and Paramount had to request special permission to defer Presley's enlistment to allow him to finish the film. Both pointed out to the draft board that a delay in filming would cost them a large sum of money invested in the pre-production of the film. On December 27, Presley received a 60-day deferment. [11] [12] PDF / EPUB File Name: A_Stone_for_Danny_Fisher_1952_-_Harold_Robbins.pdf, A_Stone_for_Danny_Fisher_1952_-_Harold_Robbins.epub I'm now the proud owner of a Harold Robbins book. Never heard of him? Me neither. But the title is well known to me, and I immediately recognized it in the second-hand bookshop. Elvis fourth movie "King Creole" is based on it and it's called "A Stone For Danny Fisher". Zolov, Eric (1999). Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-21514-6.Directed by seasoned pro Michael Curtiz (Casablanca and White Christmas), King Creole is a gritty affair, unlike Elvis's later, candy-coloured, family-friendly cinematic offerings. Combining hard-edged drama, violence and tragedy with sexually charged musical numbers (just watch those women swoon), and with Presley exuding rebelliousness with every shake of his hip, King Creole is a masterpiece of the misunderstood youth genre, its star giving a perfectly nuanced, iconic performance to rival James Dean at his best. I cheated and read the ending first, and it is not as happy as in "King Creole", where Danny continues his success. Instead he gets a stone in a cemetery, so to speak. But a little before that, he also becomes a father, if I understand it correctly. Guess I have to start from the beginning.

I love a good character-driven novel, but I just couldn't connect with any of them in this book! Author Harold Robbins introduces his main character, Danny Fisher, who stole my heart as a youngster, but as he grew into his later teenage years as well as into manhood, he really annoyed me with his disrespectful attitude, selfishness and arrogance. He lost any redeeming qualities he had as a boy for me; The first part is a typical coming of age story about a kid in a new neighborhood, about a first kiss, about finding a stray dog, about watching the neighbor girl through the window. The story doesn't really get moving until the family has to move to the lower east side tenements and Danny becomes a neighborhood tough. From there, the story just explodes. The boxing sequences are terrific. You feel as if you are right there ringside watching the action. My dad told me that this was the first novel that my mom read shortly after they were married 59 years ago (she wasn't an avid reader up to that point.) I could see how it appealed to her, especially the ending. stars. This is a good coming-of-age-and-beyond story. In the right hands, the story could become a movie that eclipses the book. (I think there might already be a movie, but I don't know how good it is.) Although ASFDF was easy to read, I wouldn't classify it as a beach book. The story line is too dark, and Danny's predicaments and behavior are too frustrating. As for Presley, his role here shows a dark and vulnerable side and he does it with intensity, charisma, swagger, charm and emotional honesty and no stiffness. Of his performances, which largely varied dependent on his material, it is agreed that this is his best. He has one of his best supporting casts, particularly a terrifyingly reptilian (while also remarkably complex for a mobster heavy) Walther Matthau, a touching Carolyn Jones and perfectly weasel-like Vic Morrow.

Blog Archive

The book was written in 1951 and it must have sold steadily through the years, because my edition is the 42nd printing, dated July 1973. And apparently the book is still in print. Kirchberg (January 1999), Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American dream, p.59, ISBN 9780786407163 Presley later indicated that of all the characters he portrayed throughout his acting career, the role of Danny Fisher in King Creole was his favorite. To make the film, Presley was granted a 60-day deferment from January to March 1958 for beginning his military service. Location shooting in New Orleans was delayed several times by crowds of fans attracted by the stars, particularly Presley.

The Spectator, however, criticized the relationship of Presley's character with his love interests: This was Elvis' 4th movie, and made right before he was drafted into the Army at age 22. Although much of the movie has a "staged" feel to it, Elvis does a credible job, and his singing is featured when he gets a job in a New Orleans FrenchQuarter night spot. A somewhat young Walter Matthau, doing a decent Bogart impression, plays the heavy, Maxie Fields, who always bends the rules, often breaking them, to get his way. Carolyn Jones, who later was popular on the TV series "The Addams Family" is good as Ronnie, who belongs to Maxie but longs for Danny. Dolores Hart, who left the movies and became a nun just a few years later, was 19 here playing Nellie, the good girl that falls for Danny too. Before filming began, Curtiz was convinced that Presley would be a "conceited boy", but after a few weeks of working together, he described Presley as a "lovely boy" who would go on to be a "wonderful actor". [9] Presley, after seeing an early copy of the finished film, thanked Curtiz for giving him the opportunity to show his potential as an actor; he would later cite Danny Fisher as his favorite role of his acting career. Fourteen days after the completion of King Creole, Presley was officially inducted into the U.S. Army. [5] Reception [ edit ] Advertisement in Modern Screen (Aug 1958) King Creole" is a must for Elvis fans everywhere. There was a darkness in this movie something like Rebel Without a Cause set in New Orleans. Elvis was even darker than James Dean....in this movie. Jeansonne, Glenn; Luhrssen, David; Sokolovic, Dan (2011). Elvis Presley, Reluctant Rebel: His Life and Our Times. ABC-Clio. ISBN 978-0-313-35904-0.

Pages

In the mid-1920s, a young Danny Fisher and his family move into a new house in a Brooklyn suburb. Within a few years, however, the Great Depression begins and Danny must use his one talent, boxing, as a means of supporting his family. Maybe 'King Creole' is a touch overlong, and the female characters are not as interestingly written as the male ones, somewhat lazy and it's the performances that stop them from being completely vapid. Otherwise there is very little to dislike. Have commented a couple of times on the writing and stories not being strong suits in Elvis' films, but 'King Creole' is a pleasant exception. The writing is surprisingly gritty and suspenseful, with few soap-operatic or corn elements, and the story is darker and meatier than the usual story for an Elvis film, thus one of the most absorbing. If LOVING YOU (1957) seemed to me at times to play like a lighter version of A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), this reminded me of another Elia Kazan masterpiece, ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) which is quite appropriate since this is one of Elvis Presley’s better and most popular vehicles and one of the few with genuinely talented Hollywood craftsmen behind them. The movie version homes in on the tension between the father, a cold [ citation needed], withdrawn figure and barely successful pharmacy employee and his son, a rebellious teenager whose failures in high school are largely a passive-aggressive response to his father, masking the need for the patriarch's approval. It’s all about craft and engaging the reader–some writers can engage on more subliminal levels, others provide more obvious stimulations. God bless the writers who can do both.