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You Only Live Once is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda. Considered an early film noir, the film was the second directed by Lang in the United States. At least 15 minutes were trimmed from the original 100-minute version of the film due to its then unprecedented violence. Despite the absence of such scenes, the film is widely considered an early film noir classic.
| You Only Live Once | |
|---|---|
Theatrical Film Poster | |
| Directed by | Fritz Lang |
| Produced by | Walter Wanger |
| Written by | C. Graham Baker Gene Towne |
| Starring | Sylvia Sidney Henry Fonda |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $628,138 |
| Box office | $589,503 |
Screenplay
Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda) is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. He marries but is then wrongly convicted for a bank robbery in which six people are killed. He is sentenced to death by electrocution. On the eve of his execution a gun smuggled into the execution area enables him to escape. During the escape he unintentionally kills the prison chaplain. The chaplain was trying to convince Eddie that he has had a last minute pardon. This is because the body of the guilty bank robber and the getaway vehicle with the stolen money have just been recovered from a lake. Eddie and his pregnant wife Joan go on the lam, and are blamed for every crime in the area. The baby is born and is left with Stephen, the public defender, the wife's former employer. Eddie and Joan then get ambushed by the police.
- Sylvia Sidney as Joan "Jo" Graham
- Henry Fonda as Eddie Taylor
- Barton MacLane as Stephen Whitney
- Jean Dixon as Bonnie Graham
- William Gargan as Father Dolan
- Jerome Cowan as Dr. Hill
- Warren Hymer as Muggsy
- Charles Sale as Ethan
- Margaret Hamilton as Hester
- Warren Hymer as Buggsy
- Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Rogers
- John Wray as Warden Wheeler
- Walter De Palma as Monk Mendall
The film recorded a loss of $48,045.
Radio adaptation
You Only Live Once was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse November 28, 1941. The adaptation starred Burgess Meredith.
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