Elke Sommer (Daniella), Ivan Desny (Count Castellani), Danik Patisson (Claudine), Claire Maurier (Esmerelda), Helmut Schmidt (Karl Bauer), Rene Dary (Lanzac), Sandrine (mannequin), and Albert Dinan, Kathy Kaack, Romana Rombach, Brigette Banz, Rudy Lenoir, France Lombard.
Director: MAX PECAS. Screenplay: Wolfgang Steinhardt, Grisha M. Dabat, Max Pecas, Jean Clouzot. Dialogue: Grisha M. Dabat. Based on a novel by W. Ebert. Photography: Andre Germain. Film editor: Paul Cayatte. Art directors: Sidney Bettex, Bob Luchaire. Music: Charles Aznavour, Georges Garvarentz. Production supervisor: Joel Lifschultz. Production managers: Theo Michel, Helmut Deutschman. Sound recording: Severin Frankiel. Producer: Jacques Garcia. Executive producers: Leopold Branover, Rene Thevenet.
Copyright 1961 by Contact Organisation/Paris Interproduction (Paris) —Pandora Films/L. Branover/Cinelux (Berlin). U.S. release through Cambist Films, Audubon Films: November 1962. U.K. release through Gala Film Distributors: March 1962. Australian release through Blake Films. Original running time: 90 minutes. The French version was cut to around 83 minutes for release in the U.S.A. and the U.K. The English-dubbed version released in the U.S.A. and Australia ran around 80 minutes. This latter version was acquired by Paramount for release, primarily to TV, in the U.S.A. French release title: DE QUOI TU TE MELES, DANIELA! Dubbed English version called either DANIELA BY NIGHT (Australia) or DANIELLA BY NIGHT (USA).
SYNOPSIS: Spies hide a secret microfilm in a French model's lipstick case.
COMMENT: So far as New York's generally more sophisticated movie- going populace of the 1950s was concerned, the cinema offered two clear choices: English films or American films. Few people knew even the names, let alone the films, of non-English-speaking actors and actresses. With three notable exceptions: two young ladies from Italy, namely Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, and France's Brigitte Bardot. Their rise to fame was entirely due to incessant, unremitting press publicity. But aside from one or two of their excursions into English-language movies, their films were not particularly popular in the U.S.A. at large.
In the 1960s, the German actress Elke Sommer followed a similar route. She made her first films in Italy in 1958, shuttled between Italy and Germany in 1959, settled in Germany in 1960 and 1961, moved to Britain for "Don't Bother To Knock" in 1961, and then to France for Douce Violence and others, then to Germany, back to Great Britain for "The Victors" (1963) and then to Hollywood for "The Prize."
And all this time a barrage of pin-up photos decorated the pages of every newspaper in the country almost every day of the week. Naturally this avalanche of free publicity induced a few independent distributors to cash in by actually releasing a couple of Sommer movies. The second to hit New York was this poorly dubbed "Daniella by Night."
"Daniella By Night" emerges as a tepid spy drama. Of course the world of spies was another subject film-makers did to death in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the James Bond, the Matt Helm and the Our Man Flint series, spies were a no-no in New York. So Daniella By Night had two strikes against it before a single ticket could be sold. It didn't really matter that it was indifferently directed and mechanically acted as well. I was about the only person who bothered to see it. Miss Sommer was most attractively photographed and costumed, so I was happy.
Though actually I was also surprised. Elke's next film "Douce Violence", made that same year by Max Pecas and much the same production team, had been shown in New York first. And that was quite imaginatively directed. But in Daniella, Pecas exhibits only on two or three occasions the inventive touches that continually enliven Douce.
Ivan Desny is wasted too. And as for the story, its progress reminded me of that early Wright Brothers airplane that took half- an-hour to get off the ground, finally flew a few feet, yet then lumbered clumsily back to earth.
Aside from Elke, the only other thing I can say in praise of Daniella is that the French locations are mildly appealing.
OTHER VIEWS: This French-German co-production was made in two language versions, but neither of them English. It's hard to get involved in a movie in which the dubbing is so obvious and technically deficient. — JHR writing as George Addison.
Director: MAX PECAS. Screenplay: Wolfgang Steinhardt, Grisha M. Dabat, Max Pecas, Jean Clouzot. Dialogue: Grisha M. Dabat. Based on a novel by W. Ebert. Photography: Andre Germain. Film editor: Paul Cayatte. Art directors: Sidney Bettex, Bob Luchaire. Music: Charles Aznavour, Georges Garvarentz. Production supervisor: Joel Lifschultz. Production managers: Theo Michel, Helmut Deutschman. Sound recording: Severin Frankiel. Producer: Jacques Garcia. Executive producers: Leopold Branover, Rene Thevenet.
Copyright 1961 by Contact Organisation/Paris Interproduction (Paris) —Pandora Films/L. Branover/Cinelux (Berlin). U.S. release through Cambist Films, Audubon Films: November 1962. U.K. release through Gala Film Distributors: March 1962. Australian release through Blake Films. Original running time: 90 minutes. The French version was cut to around 83 minutes for release in the U.S.A. and the U.K. The English-dubbed version released in the U.S.A. and Australia ran around 80 minutes. This latter version was acquired by Paramount for release, primarily to TV, in the U.S.A. French release title: DE QUOI TU TE MELES, DANIELA! Dubbed English version called either DANIELA BY NIGHT (Australia) or DANIELLA BY NIGHT (USA).
SYNOPSIS: Spies hide a secret microfilm in a French model's lipstick case.
COMMENT: So far as New York's generally more sophisticated movie- going populace of the 1950s was concerned, the cinema offered two clear choices: English films or American films. Few people knew even the names, let alone the films, of non-English-speaking actors and actresses. With three notable exceptions: two young ladies from Italy, namely Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren, and France's Brigitte Bardot. Their rise to fame was entirely due to incessant, unremitting press publicity. But aside from one or two of their excursions into English-language movies, their films were not particularly popular in the U.S.A. at large.
In the 1960s, the German actress Elke Sommer followed a similar route. She made her first films in Italy in 1958, shuttled between Italy and Germany in 1959, settled in Germany in 1960 and 1961, moved to Britain for "Don't Bother To Knock" in 1961, and then to France for Douce Violence and others, then to Germany, back to Great Britain for "The Victors" (1963) and then to Hollywood for "The Prize."
And all this time a barrage of pin-up photos decorated the pages of every newspaper in the country almost every day of the week. Naturally this avalanche of free publicity induced a few independent distributors to cash in by actually releasing a couple of Sommer movies. The second to hit New York was this poorly dubbed "Daniella by Night."
"Daniella By Night" emerges as a tepid spy drama. Of course the world of spies was another subject film-makers did to death in the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from the James Bond, the Matt Helm and the Our Man Flint series, spies were a no-no in New York. So Daniella By Night had two strikes against it before a single ticket could be sold. It didn't really matter that it was indifferently directed and mechanically acted as well. I was about the only person who bothered to see it. Miss Sommer was most attractively photographed and costumed, so I was happy.
Though actually I was also surprised. Elke's next film "Douce Violence", made that same year by Max Pecas and much the same production team, had been shown in New York first. And that was quite imaginatively directed. But in Daniella, Pecas exhibits only on two or three occasions the inventive touches that continually enliven Douce.
Ivan Desny is wasted too. And as for the story, its progress reminded me of that early Wright Brothers airplane that took half- an-hour to get off the ground, finally flew a few feet, yet then lumbered clumsily back to earth.
Aside from Elke, the only other thing I can say in praise of Daniella is that the French locations are mildly appealing.
OTHER VIEWS: This French-German co-production was made in two language versions, but neither of them English. It's hard to get involved in a movie in which the dubbing is so obvious and technically deficient. — JHR writing as George Addison.