Mister Cory
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Blake Edwards
Tony Curtis
Martha Hyer
Charles Bickford
Kathryn Grant
William Reynolds
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Card shark Cory leaves behind his working-class neighborhood of Chicago for Green Pines Lodge, an upscale Wisconsin resort. Restaurant owner Mr. Earnshaw offers Cory a job as a busboy, but reprimands him for every misstep. At night, Cory angers his fellow employees by consistently winning at poker games, while in the mornings he holds secret putting contests with the wealthy guests. One night, while Cory is working, he sees beautiful Chicago socialite Abby Vollard celebrating her birthday, and forms a plan to seduce her. To that end, he follows her and her boyfriend, Alex Wyncott, out to the terrace and eavesdrops as Abby skillfully refuses Alex's marriage proposal while inflaming his desire for her. After Abby sends Alex away, Cory approaches her and intrigues her with his brash attitude. The next day, he intentionally damages the engine in her motorboat and then lies in wait on the deck nearby. When the motor dies in the middle of the lake, he swims to the rescue, but finds only Abby's vivacious teenage sister Jen in the boat. Jen, who finds Cory very attractive, invites him to their house that evening in thanks. Although the Vollards assume that Cory is a guest at Green Pines, Jen later reveals to Cory that she saw him staring at Abby at her birthday dinner and thus not only knows his true social standing, but has guessed that he deliberately damaged the motor to ingratiate himself with Abby. Impressed, Cory enlists her help, instructing her to tell her sister that he has boasted that Abby will marry him. The next morning, Abby arrives at Green Pines asking for Cory, who then tells Earnshaw he is ill so he can rush out to meet her, dressed as a guest, on the lawn. There, he tells a haughty Abby that when he sees something he wants, he goes after it, and demands that she meet him that afternoon at the lake. Earnshaw is waiting in Cory's room to chastise him for lying and fraternizing with guests, and later, when Cory goes to the lake, only Jen is there to meet him. She informs him that Abby, who left hours earlier for Chicago with Alex, has already cancelled her trip, and offers him her car to pick Abby up at the train station. Upon her return, Abby is disturbed to find Cory waiting, and insists on driving the car recklessly. Cory shifts the car into neutral and forces it to the side of the road, where he ignores Abby's angry protests and pulls her into a passionate kiss. Subdued, she takes him out on her boat, and after an evening of lovemaking, invites him to sneak away with her for two weeks in New York. Later that night, Cory asks to join the poker game held nightly in the room of Jeremiah Caldwell, and although he initially wins every hand, Caldwell eventually cleans him out. Broke, he is forced to postpone the New York trip. When Abby comes to look for him at the club, a fellow employee reveals that "Mr. Cory" is a lowly busboy, and she stalks out. One year later, Cory is at a gambling table in Reno, Nevada, when he sees Caldwell and discovers that he is actually a professional poker player named Biloxi. Because he has an ulcer that limits his ability to work, Biloxi hires Cory as his front, and over the next year they travel throughout the country earning money and an expert reputation. Cory sends an orchid to Abby each month, and when gangster Ruby Matrobe offers them a job running his Chicago casino, Cory jumps at the opportunity to return home. Thanks to Cory's good taste and his decision to hire Earnshaw as the manager, the Dolphin nightclub and casino is an immediate sensation. He sends grand-opening invitations to the Vollards, and Jen, now a stunning young woman, rushes to the casino to see Cory and inform him that his invitation has spurred Abby to announce her engagement to Alex. Jen, Abby and Alex attend the opening, and after Cory arranges for Alex to win all evening, he pulls Abby aside and asks her to meet him later in his old neighborhood. She shows up, and after he explains that he wanted her to see his humble beginnings, she kisses him. Soon, Alex is losing regularly at the casino, while Cory and Abby carry on a torrid secret affair. Biloxi exhorts Cory to bring everything out into the open, and although Cory disdains him, Cory roughly demands that Abby tell Alex the truth. Abby, content to marry into the upper class and maintain her affair with Cory, lies to both men, But Alex finally discerns the affair. Wanting only to protect Abby, he confronts Cory, offering to help him start a more legitimate business to keep Abby happy. After Cory excoriates Alex as a weak martyr, Biloxi, disgusted with his friend's cruelty, quits. Soon after, Cory proposes to Abby, but after she refuses him, he realizes that she will never truly love him. They are interrupted by the arrival of Matrobe, who announces that Alex has arranged for a raid on the casino, but before Cory can rush Abby out the back door, Alex enters and shoots Cory in the shoulder. Matrobe takes the gun from Alex and threatens to call the police, but Cory stops him, informing Alex that Abby has turned down Cory's proposal and that he will tell the police that he shot himself accidentally. Days later, Cory is leaving town with Biloxi when Jen arrives at the airport to tell him that he may as well invite her along, as she will follow him wherever he goes. Surprised, he takes her into his arms.
Director
Blake Edwards
Cast
Tony Curtis
Martha Hyer
Charles Bickford
Kathryn Grant
William Reynolds
Henry Daniell
Russ Morgan
Willis Bouchey
Louise Lorimer
Joan Banks
Harry Landers
Glen Kramer
Dick Crockett
Hylton Socher
Paul Bryar
Nesdon Booth
Tyler Mcvey
Robert Brubaker
Jack Mather
Mack Williams
Clark Howat
George Eldredge
Billy Snyder
Robert Wehling
John Truax
Jimmy Gray
Joe Forte
George Lynn
William Newell
Charles Horvath
Ralph Neff
Joey Ray
George Mather
Jack Gargan
Perk Lazelle
Robert Haines
Margaret Bert
Bobby Johnson
Rex May
Dick Monda
Jimmy Karath
Mickey Little
Ernesto Morelli
Carl Sklover
Harry Raven
Eumenio Blanco
Larry Mcgrath
Albert Godderess
Billy Engle
Edwin Rochelle
Richard Gordon
Sayre Dearing
Thomas F. Martin
Billy Griffith
Bud Widom
George Hickman
Bill Meader
Allen Wood
Ed Haskett
Bud Winters
Jack Del Rio
Leon Alton
Paul Palmer
Anna Stein
Florence Vinsen
Palmere Jackson
Chester Jones
Chalky Williams
Harlan Hoagland
Crew
Robert Arthur
Leslie I. Carey
Edward Curtiss
Blake Edwards
Russell A. Gausman
Joseph Gershenson
Alexander Golitzen
Julia Heron
Corson Jowett
Russell Metty
Eric Orbom
Ronnie Rondell
Leo Rosten
Joan St. Oegger
Clifford Stine
Bill Thomas
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Cory. According to a May 1956 "Rambling Reporter" item in Hollywood Reporter, Janet Lake was originally cast as "Jen Vollard." Although a February 1956 Daily Variety article reported that Universal had owned Leo Rosten's story "for some time," a "Rambling Reporter" item in Hollywood Reporter stated that Tony Curtis had recently bought the story from Rosten and sold it to the studio. Universal borrowed Kathryn Grant from Columbia to play Jen. According to studio press materials and news items, some scenes were shot on location at Lake Arrowhead, CA.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States March 1957
Released in United States Spring March 1957
c Eastmancolor
CinemaScope
Released in United States March 1957
Released in United States Spring March 1957
