Call Me Madam (film)

Call Me Madam
Original film poster
Directed by	Walter Lang
Screenplay by	Arthur Sheekman
Based on	Call Me Madam 1950 musical by Howard Lindsay Russel Crouse
Produced by	Sol C. Siegel
Starring	Ethel Merman Donald O'Connor Vera-Ellen George Sanders
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Edited by	Robert L. Simpson
Music by	Irving Berlin (music and lyrics) Alfred Newman (music score)
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	March 4, 1953 (1953-03-04) (Los Angeles)[1]
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.46 million[2]
Box office	$2.85 million (US rental)[3]

Call Me Madam is a 1953 American Technicolor musical film directed by Walter Lang, with songs by Irving Berlin, based on the 1950 stage musical of the same name.

The film, with a screenplay by Arthur Sheekman, starred Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, Billy DeWolfe, George Sanders, and Walter Slezak. The film replaced "Washington Square Dance" with the older "International Rag", and interpolated "What Chance Have I With Love?" from Berlin's Louisiana Purchase (sung and danced by Donald O'Connor). A soundtrack album was released by Decca both as a 10-inch LP and as a set of three 7-inch EPs, and was released on CD in 2004 by Hallmark. The numbers "The Hostess with the Mostest'" and "You're Just in Love" are included on the Rhino Records CD set Irving Berlin in Hollywood. The film was out of circulation for many years but was issued on DVD in 2004.

Merman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. Alfred Newman won the Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, and Irene Sharaff was nominated for her costume design. Lang was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America and the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival,^[4] and Sheekman's screenplay was nominated Best Written American Musical by the Writers Guild of America.