When the quints turned nine, their parents were finally able to retain custody of their daughters. It's worth watching for the experience and the realization that as horrendous as the Dionnes were treated, there's still a great deal of acceptance for that kind of exploitation of children today. The film takes on more gravity when approached with the knowledge of the quint's life story. Actors like Trevor, Romero and Hersholt are always a pleasure to see, but it is painful watching them struggle with a truly absurd situation. As cute as they are, you can't help feeling a little guilty intruding on their childhood this way, though.įive of a Kind is a jumbled, slow-moving curiosity. Their terrified, then curious, and finally loving reactions are real. While not a single joke hits the mark in the scripted scenes, the girls are truly funny in a segment where they are each presented with a puppy. The contrast between the strained hilarity of the journalism plot and the quint's raucous play is significant. While babbling in French, the quints rip off the doctor's glasses, destroy a radio microphone and, in a truly bizarre scene, pound away on five tiny baby grand pianos while dressed in lederhosen. ![]() Hersholt interacts with the girls, and while their scenes together can be unsettling (it is disturbing to see the girls handled like a charming zoo exhibit), they also have plenty of unrehearsed charm. While getting a radio exclusive with the quints is the key part of the plot, the quints never interact with Trevor and Romero it is as if they are appearing in entirely different films. Their frantic and dull hijinks make up most of the film. The main storyline features Claire Trevor and Caesar Romero as cutthroat radio journalists in a game of one-upmanship. These restrictions give Five of a Kind a weird, disjointed feel. Throughout each production, they were carefully monitored by Dr. There were rigid guidelines for the filming of these movies: The girls were only available for one hour of work per day and they were filmed at the compound where they lived. These girls were not only famous, but a tourist attraction, who, for a time, surpassed the number of visitors to Niagara Falls. It is one of the many ways five Canadian sisters known as the Dionne quintuplets were packaged and marketed to a fascinated public. While Five of a Kind is not a flawless film, it is an interesting look at a different time that, in many ways, isn't very different at all. In Reunion (1936), they once again starred with Hersholt, though the official sequel to their debut was Five of a Kind two years later. ![]() Their first film, The Country Doctor (1936), was a fictionalized version of their birth story. Dafoe, and the girls, though playing themselves and using their own first names, were called the Wyatt quintuplets. In addition to a handful of shorts and newsreels, the girls appeared in three films. The quints' brief Hollywood career is yet another way their supposed caregivers made money off a fascinated public. Rather than being protected by their country, they became a commodity, making millions through viewings, products with their images, and advertising endorsements. The girls were made available for viewing most days, through a one-way glass in the lavish compound where they lived. Ironically, that same government exploited the quints quite thoroughly over the next nine years. When the cash-strapped Oliva and Elzire considered allowing the babies to be displayed at Chicago's Century of Progress exhibit not long after their birth, the Canadian government stepped in and took over custody of the children, claiming concern about their exploitation. ![]() The Dionnes were already a struggling family with five older children. Allan Roy Dafoe, who also delivered the babies that all of them lived and thrived. It was only with the careful guidance of Dr. Arriving two months early, it was assumed none of the children of them would survive. Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Emilie and Marie Dionne were born to poor farmer, Oliva-Edouard, and his wife Elzire in the village of Corbeil, Ontario, Canada in 1934. However, there's nothing in modern life that can compare to the sensation the girls created when they became the first recorded quintuplets to live beyond infancy. If the Dionne quintuplets had been born today, they would have been reality television stars or a YouTube sensation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |