José Ferrer in "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950) - produced by Stanley Kramer, screenplay by Carl Foreman

In seventeenth century Paris, Cyrano de Bergerac (José Ferrer), a gentleman equally accomplished with pen and sword, interrupts the performance at the Hôtel de Bourgogne Theatre, appalled by the star's bad acting, and refunds the audience's money himself.

A nobleman, Valvert (Albert Cavens), provokes a duel by commenting on Cyrano's nose, and Cyrano improvises a poem as they fight, delivering the fatal thrust during the final refrain. Cyrano's friend, Le Bret (Morris Carnovsky), warns that his brash behavior will make him dangerous enemies. Cyrano admits to Le Bret that he is in love with his beautiful cousin, Roxane (Mala Powers). Pastry chef Ragueneau (Lloyd Corrigan) tells them a nobleman about whom he wrote comic verses has hired men to ambush him on the way home. Cyrano battles and defeats all the ruffians.

Roxane tells Cyrano she is in love with a handsome guardsman, Christian (William Prince).

At the guardhouse, Cyrano tells Christian that Roxane wishes to receive a letter. Christian confesses he is not a good writer. Cyrano offers to aid Christian, and the young man accepts.

As Roxane ecstatically quotes from "Christian's" letters and speeches, Cyrano basks in the indirect praise. Christian tells Cyrano he no longer needs his help, and Cyrano hides behind a bush and listens as Roxane asks Christian to rhapsodize on the theme of love. Christian's attempts to improvise fail miserably, and Roxane indignantly goes inside. Christian appeals to Cyrano, who stands in the shadows beneath Roxane's balcony and prompts Christian, then steps in and takes his place, speaking his own passionate feelings under cover of darkness.

At the end of Cyrano's speech, Christian joins Roxane on the balcony and they kiss. A monk then comes by with a letter from Antoine De Guiche (Ralph Clanton), the Cardinal's nephew, saying his regiment has been ordered to the front to fight the Spanish and insisting that Roxane marry him at once. Roxane tells the monk that he has been instructed to marry her to Christian, and when De Guiche arrives, Cyrano detains him until the wedding is over.

Furious at the deception, De Guiche orders Christian to leave for the front at once.

Christian realizes that Cyrano is in love with Roxane, and tells him that he must tell her the truth so that she can choose between them. Before Cyrano can reveal his love to Roxane, however, Christian volunteers for a dangerous mission and is mortally wounded, and Cyrano tells the dying Christian that Roxane chose him.

Fourteen years pass, during which Cyrano visits Roxane each week at the convent where she has lived since Christian's death. On his deathbed, Cyrano asks Roxane to read her last letter from Christian. He recites aloud with great feeling, and Roxane suddenly recognizes the voice she heard from her balcony long ago. Cyrano dies, and Roxane mourns the one true love she has lost twice.

A 1950 American Black & White adventure comedy film directed by Michael Gordon, produced by Stanley Kramer, screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on the 1897 French Alexandrin verse drama "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand, using poet Brian Hooker's 1923 English blank verse translation as the basis for its screenplay, cinematography by Franz Planer, starring José Ferrer, Mala Powers, William Prince, Morris Carnovsky, Ralph Clanton, Comte de Guiche, Lloyd Corrigan, Virginia Farmer, Edgar Barrier, Elena Verdugo, Albert Cavens, Arthur Blake, Don Beddoe, Percy Helton, and Francis Pierlot.

The film was the first motion picture version in English of Rostand's play, though there were several earlier adaptations in different languages.

José Ferrer received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring performance as Cyrano de Bergerac. José Ferrer is the only person to receive an Oscar, Tony, and Emmy nomination for the same role.

The film was one of the first to employ the then-new Western Electric magnetic sound recording system, which would become commonplace by 1953 and which was a necessity for stereo sound recording and reproduction.

The film was produced on a significantly lower budget than most costume dramas, because the producers were afraid that it would fail at the box office (it did). The sparseness of the sets is concealed by camera angles and by the lighting. Darkness is frequently used to hide the fact that the production design was not especially elaborate.

If the film was decried for its low-budget, stagy look, as well as for some of its supporting actors, it was almost universally admired for Ferrer's star performance, in what is acknowledged to be his greatest role.The New York Times' film critic Bosley Crowther praised Ferrer, stating that he "speaks the poetry of Rostand with richness and clarity such as only a few other actors have managed on the screen."

In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

Видео José Ferrer in "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1950) - produced by Stanley Kramer, screenplay by Carl Foreman канала Donald P. Borchers