Victor/Victoria

----Infobox Film
name = Victor/Victoria


image_size = 175px
caption = original film poster
director = Blake Edwards
producer = Tony Adams
Blake Edwards
writer = Blake Edwards
Hans Hoemburg
Reinhold Schünzel (1933 script)
starring = Julie Andrews
James Garner
Robert Preston
music = Henry Mancini
cinematography = Dick Bush
editing = Ralph E. Winters
distributor = MGM/UA Entertainment
released = March 16, 1982
runtime = 132 min.
country = USA
UK
FRA
FRG
language = English/French
amg_id = 1:52384
imdb_id = 0084865

"Victor/Victoria" is a 1982 musical comedy film, which involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras and John Rhys-Davies. The screenplay was adapted by Blake Edwards (Andrews' husband) and Hans Hoemburg from the 1933 German film "Viktor und Viktoria" by Reinhold Schünzel. The film was produced by Tony Adams, directed by Blake Edwards, and scored by Henry Mancini, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. It was later adapted in 1995 as a Broadway musical.

The movie won the Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert Preston), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Julie Andrews), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lesley Ann Warren), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Plot summary

In 1930s Paris, Victoria Grant (Andrews), a struggling female singer, is unable to find work. She runs into Carroll Todd ("Toddy", played by Preston) at a Paris restaurant as she is scheming to plant a cockroach in her food in order to get her meal for free. Toddy has a plan to help both her and himself: Victoria will pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman, and get a job as a female impersonator in a nightclub. In order to enhance the ruse, Toddy will pretend to be her gay lover.

Soon Victoria's new persona, "Count Victor Grezinski", becomes the toast of Paris. As money and fame start to turn her (and Toddy's) lives around, an additional complication arises. King Marchand (Garner), a gangster and nightclub-owner from Chicago, finds himself at first repelled by and then strangely attracted to "Victor". This encourages his burly bodyguard, "Squash" Bernstein (Karras), to come out of the closet, but it enrages Marchand's current girlfriend, Norma Cassady (Warren).

Norma becomes more annoying and tawdry, in contrast to the classy Victoria, and King finally has Squash send her home to Chicago so that he is free to pursue Victoria. Victoria must come to terms with what she really wants out of life: to be true to herself by giving up her career and fame in Paris to be with the man who loves her and whom she loves, or to continue with her duplicitous profession and risk losing Marchand.

The vocal numbers in the film are presented as real-life scenes or entertainments that involve singers; this explains why neither Toddy nor Marchand sings a duet with Victoria as part of some sort of private scene. Nevertheless, the lyrics or situations of some of the songs are calculated to relate to the unfolding drama. Thus, the two staged numbers "Le Jazz Hot" and "The Shady Dame from Seville" help to present Victoria as a female impersonator. The latter number is later reinterpreted by Toddy for diversionary purposes in the plot. The cozy relationship of Toddy and Victoria is promoted by the song "You and Me," which is sung before the audience at the nightclub.

ee also

* Cross-dressing in film and television

External links

*imdb title|id=0084865|title=Victor/Victoria (film)
*ibdb title|id=4310|title=Victor/Victoria (Broadway play)
*imdb title|id=0265987|title=Victor/Victoria (TV adaptation of Broadway play)
*amg title|id=1:52384|title=Victor/Victoria (film)
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8844857220560459276&q=%22James+Garner%22+%22Charlie+Rose%22&total=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0 James Garner Interview on the "Charlie Rose Show"]
* [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22archive+of+american+television+interview+with+james+garner%22 James Garner interview] at Archive of American Television