Was Ann Dvorak in “FP1?”
Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 70
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Ann Dvorak had a handful of reasons for walking out on her Warner Bros. contract and traveling to Europe in the summer of 1932; exhaustion, wanderlust, lust in general (she had recently gotten married and wanted to go on a honeymoon). What prompted Ann and her husband Leslie Fenton to take off across the Atlantic is that Fenton was offered a part in the film F.P.1.
F.P.1., a science-fiction/spy drama set on a floating air station, was shot simultaneously in French, German, and English and jointly produced by Gaumont, UFA, and Les Productions Fox Europa. Fenton was cast in a supporting role in the English-language version and jumped at the chance to be involved in the production which was filmed in Berlin and the Baltic Sea. As soon as he confirmed, that also instantly meant that Ann would be coming, as there was no way the couple would have an ocean and continent between them.
Ann was reportedly offered the lead role, which was ultimately played by Jill Esmond, opposite Conrad Veidt. As much as Ann may have wanted to star in appear in another film with her husband (they had previously appeared together in The Strange Love of Molly Louvain before they were married), she knew that appearing in a non-Warner Bros. film would burn her last bridge with the studio. At this point, she wasn’t sure what their reaction was going to be to her lengthy absence, and she decided not to violate her contract further by acting in another studio’s film. It’s kind of a shame that she didn’t make the film, because it would have been a more sophisticated part that what she usually got at Warner Bros.
Ann may have not starred in F.P.1., but did she appear in it anyway? She came with Fenton to the set everyday, and was around so much that the crew nicknamed the couple “the inseperables.” When I sat down to watch the film, it occurred to me that maybe Ann would have been put in the film as an extra, just for kicks. As I sat through it, I had my Ann-detector on and think I may have spotted her. The movie opens with a party scene and for a split second, there is a woman who walks through the frame who bears a striking resemblance to Ann as Cesca Camonte, the character she played in Scarface. I tried to grab a some screen shots, from the moment that lasts maybe 2 seconds.
The one thing that leads me to think it wouldn’t be her is that Fenton is not in the scene, so they would not have been required to be on set. Otherwise, I think there’s a good possibility that it’s our Divine Miss D slinking her way through a couple of frames in F.P.1.
What do you think?
if Ann did appear in that film she might have eventually become known as the talkies version of Louise Brooks, haha! its tough to say with any real certainty but my opinion is no that is not Ann in those screenshots. i did the same thing with Patricia Ellis’s 3 uncredited appearances, with posted screenshots, but she was real easy to spot 🙂
Really? I totally think that third shot looks like her. Brunette, rail thin, with a prominent nose.
there’s a lot of prominent noses in Germany 😉 btw happy birthday ‘Nails Nathan’ 😀
I took snaps of the best of your four film frames, then found a similar side view of Ann (talking with Henry Fonda); blew them up so just the face portion was 8†tall, then did a layover comparing the profiles (eye sockets, nose profile, shape and placement of the lips, and the chin). If the person in your film clips isn’t Ann then it has to be someone with unbelievably close characteristics. This seems to be good Detective work on your part. Congratulations!!
The fact that Fenton isn’t in the scene isn’t necessarily important. More than one scene is filmed daily and he may have been in a subsequent setup shortly thereafter. For them to be required to be in every scene is a stretch.
Then you have Ann’s personality. And with it your speculation makes perfect sense. I sincerely doubt that she would have been satisfied to merely stand around and watch her husband solely. Ann Dvorak surely would have “wheedled, cajoled, pushed, connived (take you pick) to be an extra in at least a few scenes in the film for their memories… That certainly would fit the young Ann Dvorak of the early ’30’s!!
Thanks, Dick! I am going to agree with your assessment. It really all fits together pretty well.