I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (film)

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Anthony Page
Produced by Daniel H. Blatt
Roger Corman
Written by Novel:
Joanne Greenberg
Screenplay:
Gavin Lambert
Lewis John Carlino
Starring Kathleen Quinlan
Bibi Andersson
Music by Paul Chihara
Cinematography Bruce Logan
Edited by Garth Craven
Distributed by New World Pictures
Release dates
  • July 14, 1977 (1977-07-14)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3 million[1]
Box office $3.2 million[1]

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is a 1977 American fantasy drama film based on the Joanne Greenberg novel of the same name.[2] Mel Gibson makes his film debut in a small uncredited role as a baseball player.

Plot

Pretty and privileged Deborah (Kathleen Quinlan) is, at the age of 16, a borderline schizophrenic who spends most of her waking hours in a bizarre fantasy realm. After a failed suicide attempt, she lands in a mental institution, where the hostile environment threatens to destabilize her condition even further. It's only through the focused attention of the sympathetic Dr. Fried (Bibi Andersson) that Deborah is gradually able to distinguish between dreams and reality again. The film was directed by Anthony Page.

Cast

Production

In the wake of the success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Roger Corman was able to get funding for a movie version of Rose Garden. Bibi Andersson played Dr. Fried, while Kathleen Quinlan played Deborah. All references to Judaism were removed, including the storyline of the vicious cruelty Deborah suffered from anti-Semitic peers, so that her childhood bout with urethral cancer becomes the sole reason for Deborah's "retreat from reality".

In an interview, Greenberg stated that the references to Judaism were removed because the producers were "terrified." The author added that the characterizations of mental illness in the film "stank on ice."[3]

Deborah's name is changed from Blau (which means "blue" in German, and parallels the author's pseudonym "Green") to Blake. Another major theme of the book, Deborah's artistic talent which flourished in spite of her illness, was reduced to a scene in which she scribbles childishly on a drawing pad. The Kingdom Of Yr is portrayed on-screen, as are some of its gods, but never seen in its original ethereal beauty, only the wasteland that it became much later.

The background music for the Yr sequences is a recording of a Balinese Kecak, the ceremonial chant of the sacred monkeys from the Ramayana. The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, headed by Danny Elfman, appear as extras in the Yr sequences.

In a 2006 interview, Greenberg recalled that she was not consulted on any aspect of the film, and was contacted only by Bibi Andersson. She recalled Andersson telling her that the producers had said Greenberg could not be consulted as she was "hopelessly insane".[4]

The studio is listed as "Imorh" Productions, imorh (variously meaning "sleep", "death" or "insanity") being an Yri word from the novel.

The movie was one of the most expensive ever made from New World Pictures.[5]

The film received mixed reviews.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Christopher T Koetting, Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books. 2009 p 100-102
  2. ↑ I Never Promised You A Rose Garden at the Internet Movie Database
  3. ↑ Author can't shed legacy of 1964 novel 'Rose Garden', Colorado Springs Gazette, October 15, 2007.
  4. ↑ Interview with Claudia Cragg, A Conversation with Joanne Greenberg. Page dated 2009-03-08, website with podcast found 2010-07-06.
  5. ↑ Ed. J. Philip di Franco, The Movie World of Roger Corman, Chelsea House Publishers, 1979 p 227

External links

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