Miracle of the White Stallions (Disney) (1964)

LILLI PALMER For an actress who made her stage debut standing on her head, Lilli Palmer was soon to land on her two feet and become one of the most sought-after in Hollywood and Europe. Proof of the pudding is her starring role opposite Robert Taylor in Walt Disney’s feature motion picturey MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS. Born Maria Lilli Peiser in Posen, Germany, on May 24, Lilli inherited the love of the theatre from her mother, Rose Lissmann Peiser, a leading actress until she married. Set on becoming an actress, she entered the Ilkka Gruening Dramatic School and at eighteen made her stage debut at the Rose Theatre in Berlin, standing on her head in a play called “Die Eiserne Jungfrau.” But Lilli and her sister, Irene, were eager to leave Hitler’s Germany and, journeying to Paris, Lilli changed her name from Peiser to Palmer. Landing a part in a musical com-: edy at the Moulin Rouge; she: had the bad luck to sprain:her ankle on=: opening night but completed the two weeks’ run. Then, with her sister, teaming up as a duet singing act, they appeared in other Parisian nightclubs. Seen by a talent scout for Alexander Korda, he persuaded her to come to London for a screen test. Scoring in a number of leading British films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s “Secret Agent,” “The Man With 1,000 Faces,” “A Girl Must Live,” “Thunder Rock,” “The Gentle Sex,” “English Without Tears,” “The Rake’s Progress” and “Beware of Pity,” Lilli Palmer became an established star. She made her London stage debut at the Garrick Theatre in 1938 as Katia in “Road to Gandahar,” and subsequently appeared in plays like “The Tree of Eden” and “Little Ladyship.” On tour in England with “You Of All People,’ Lilli met actor Rex Harrison, whom she married at the height of the Nazi bombings on London, January 25, 1943. A year later, during an air-raid, their son Carey was born. Now a wife and mother, Lilli decided to retire from acting and devote her time to family life. She accompanied her husband to Hollywood in 1945, where he was to play the King in “Anna and the King of Siam.” Here producers came to Lilli, offering exciting roles. Coming out of her short-lived retirement she appeared in such films as “Cloak and Dagger,” “Body and Soul,” “My Girl Tisa” and “No Minor Vices.” By 1948 she was back Page Twenty-four x ot ©1962 Walt Disney Productions Mat ST-1C on Broadway in “My Name is Aquilon” and, with Cedric Hardwicke, in “Caesar and Cleopatra.” Her next Broadway appearance was to be in 1951 as co-star with Rex Harrison in the smash hit, “Bell, Book and Candle.” Then she inaugurated a television program called “The Lilli Palmer Show.” In 1955 she starred in the London stage presentation of “Bell, Book and Candle” and at the end of its run went to France and Germany to make seven films. She won two German awards for films made in that country and took the best perform ance award at Brussels for a French film, “Montparnasse 19.” She also won an award at the Venice Film Festival for her American film, “The Four Poster.” Lilli is now married to Carlos Thompson, a handsome Argentineborn actor who is currently starring in German films. Carey, her son by Rex Harrison, is now seventeen and attends school at Harrow, England. In 1959 she co-starred with Clark Gable in “But Not For Me” and then went to Italy to star in “Conspiracy of Hearts.” In 1960 Miss Palmer returned to Hollywood to star with Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds and Tab Hunter in “The Pleasure of His Company,” and in 1961 she costarred with William Holden in “The Counterfeit Traitor.” The glamorous Miss Palmer is currently starred with Robert Taylor and Curt Jurgens in Walt Disney’s exciting production, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS, in which she _ portrays Colonel Alois Podhajsky’s wife, Verena. It is a role that might have been written just for her. The impression she makes on the screen is confirmed at first meeting. A beautiful woman with an elegant presence, a lively sense of humor, a cultured personality, an irresistable charm, she is the ideal Colonel’s lady. Disney Spares No Horses in Filming His ‘Miracle of the White Stallions’ Walt Disney spared no expense in re-creating the 1955 re-opening of Vienna’s fabulous Spanish Riding School for his new feature-length romantic-drama, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS. The momentous occasion of eight years ago marked the resumption of the training of and performances by the famed Lipizzan horses following a ten-year exile brought on by World War II and the pagan imposition of the Nazi regime in Austria. Disney’s version of the re-inaugural bears all the brilliance of the original. The school’s magnificent white Baroque Riding Hall was brilliantly illuminated, superbly decorated for the big scene. Some 800 kilowatts of electric power supplemented the three large glistening chandeliers which normally light the Hall. Six thousand carnations and 250 yards of silk swagging, in the Austrian national colors of red and white, were used to adorn the balustrade of the lower gallery. Sixty antique Baroque chairs, borrowed from the Hofburg, graced the Imperial Box, from which Lilli Palmer, James Franciscus, Brigitte Horney and other principals viewed the performance and five hundred eager extras crowded the galleries to watch the spectacle. A fanfare of silver trumpets announced the arrival of the team of twelve riding masters, led by Robert Taylor, playing Colonel Alois Podhajsky, the school’s director, wearing the gala scarlet, white and gold uniform of the school. Twenty saddled white Lipazzaners, led by ten grooms, followed the entourage into the arena and as Taylor doffed his two cornered black and gold hat in the traditional greeting, the crowd broke into enthusiastic applause and the color cameras recorded the overall scene. To photograph the phalanx of riders against the wide panorama of the arena, Disney’s special effect experts constructed a large wooden bridge, sixty feet wide and twelve feet high, weighing some four tons, mounted on eight rubber-tired wheels and pulled by sixteen men, which carried the cameras down the full 185-foot length of the arena, ahead of the approaching horsemen. This enabled the scene to be filmed at close range. Thus bringing movie audiences closer to the amazing performance of the highly trained stallions and their riders. This thrilling story of the daring rescue of the prized white Lipizzans and the preservation of the famed Spanish Riding school during the last days of the war, filmed in brilliant color by Technicolor, stars Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer and Curt Jurgens and co-stars Eddie Albert and James Franciscus. Arthur Hiller directed from a screenplay by A. J. Carothers for Buena Vista release. 1962 Walt Disney Productions : aE: Mat ST-2G GOOD NEWS—Helmeted James Franciscus gives Robert Taylor and Lilli Palmer reason to rejoice in this scene from Walt Disney's Technicolor feature, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS. Arthur Hiller directed the Buena Vista release. Disney's 'White Stallions Based on Life of Dedicated Equestrian Colonel Alois Podhajsky, the tall, lank, dignified director of Vienna’s Famed Spanish Riding School, has become a legend in his lifetime. A part of this great man’s career is brought to the screen in Walt Disney’s feature motion picture, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS.” The colonel has dedicated his life to the art of classic riding. Had he chosen to do otherwise, this manly yet graceful form of art called “haute ecole” might no longer exist. For in 1945 Podhajsky ignored Nazi orders and moved his beloved white stallions from the bomb-torn city of Vienna to safety in upper Austria. He asked for and received official protection from the American Army when it swept through Austria. Then he persuaded General George Patton to rescue the Lipizzan mares and foals from certain capture by the advancing Russians in Hostau, Czechoslovakia. From the day Podhajsky first became director of the Spanish Riding School in 1933 to the present, he has given his life to the continuance and improvement of the last school of classic riding left in the world. Arthur Hiller Directs New Disney Film To handle the direction of his high budget feature motion picture, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLions, Walt Disney signed Arthur Hiller, a dynamic young man whose work in television has established him as one of the most creative new directors in Hollywood today. A Canadian by birth, Hiller gained his early experience as a director of radio and_ television dramas for the C.B.S.,_ which brought him to the attention of Albert McCleary, producer of NBCTV’s “Matinee Theater.” Hiller spent a year directing these exciting live television productions in Hollywood, after which he turned to free-lance work doing shows like “Playhouse 90,” “Climax” and “Gunsmoke.” In 1957 he debuted as a motion picture director on “The Careless Years,” for Bryna Productions. The picture was not a great boxoffice success but it showed Hiller where his future lay. As a film director he could do all the things he did with television, only better. All he needed now was the opportunity. He returned to television and held the reins on such popular shows as “Wagon Train,” “Ben Casey,” “Perry Mason,” “Route 66” and “The Dick: Powell Show.” It was one of the programs he directed for “Naked City” that caught the eye of Walt Disney. | et Mat ST-2F LIVING MIRROR—Robert Taylor, astride a Lipizzan stallion, meets Col. Alois Podhajsky, the man he portrays in Walt Disney's MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS. The Technicolor feature also stars Lilli Palmer, Curt Jurgens, Eddie Albert and James Franciscus. Buena Vista releases. Horse Lovers Will Love Disney's Miracle of the White Stallions’ Horse lovers the world over are bound to be among those who will greet with open arms Walt Disney’s feature motion picture, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS. Disney’s unusual and exciting film story is highlighted by the greatest exhibition of classic riding ever seen on the screen. The setting is Vienna’s famed Spanish Riding School. The performers are the ancient school’s Lipizzan stallions and their dedicated riders. The film story is based on the autobiography of Colonel Alois Podhajsky, the school’s director, who risked his life to save the irreplaceable stallions during World War II. In the riding sequences, the horses step high and proud under the imperceptible guidance of their riders. Their heavily muscled necks are arched. Their movements are graceful, yet restrained. The overall impression is one of bursting vitality under the most subtle and sensitive control. Like the ballet or the bullfight, “haute ecole” as performed by the dedicated riders and superbly trained horses of the Spanish Riding Academy is a dramatic and beautiful form of art. The horses and riders create the impression that the rider does not exist, and the stallion sways free of all earthy weight. The stallions are guided through pirouettes, cross-steps, leaps from the hind legs, intricate quadrilles and other basic maneuvers. The immensely difficult and breathtaking leaps of the “school above the ground” include the Piaffe, an in-place trot; the Levade, balancing on bent haunches with forelegs prancing in the air; the Courbette, two to five leaps from the Levade position; and the Capriole, a giant leap with hind legs stretching straight back and forelegs curved inward. Audiences in general, and horse lovers in particular, will thrill to this magnificent display of “haute ecole” by the horses and riders of the last school of classic riding left in the world, the Spanish Riding Academy. Filmed in brilliant color by Technicolor, MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS stars Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer and Curt Jurgens and costars Eddie Albert and James Franciscus. Arthur Hiller directed from a screenplay by A. J. Carothers for Buena Vista release.