Electric Dreams (1984)

Regisseur:

Steve Barron

Drehbuchautor:

Rusty Lemorande (writer)

Premierendatum:

20. Juli 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Komödie | Drama | Romanze | Sci-Fi

Werbezeile:

Meet Edgar. He'll make you sing, make you dance, make you laugh, make you cry, make you jealous, make you nuts.

Plot:

An artificially intelligent PC and his human owner find themselves in a romantic rivalry over a woman.

Plot Keywords:

Cello | Computer Nerd | Drive In | Golden Gate Bridge | Artificial Intelligence

Filmpreise:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Nutzerkommentare:

Being John Malkovich for the Eighties

Besetzung

Lenny von Dohlen	...	Miles Harding
Virginia Madsen	...	Madeline Robistat
Maxwell Caulfield	...	Bill
Bud Cort	...	Edgar (voice)
Don Fellows	...	Mr. Ryley
Alan Polonsky	...	Frank, Co-Worker
Wendy Miller	...	Computer Clerk
Harry Rabinowitz	...	Conductor
Miriam Margolyes	...	Ticket Girl
Holly De Jong	...	Ryley's Receptionist
Stella Maris	...	Woman at Airport
Mary Doran	...	Millie
Diana Choy	...	Check-Out Girl
Jim Steck	...	Removal Man
Gary Pettinger	...	Removal Man

Alternativ:

Computer-Träume (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]
Liebe auf den ersten Bit (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

95 Min

Produktionsland:

USA | UK

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe (Metrocolor)

Seitenverhältnis:

1.85 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby

Altersfreigabe:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:S | Sweden:7 | USA:PG | Australia:G

Drehorte:

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay, California, USA

Firma:

Virgin

Dies und das:

Gastrolle: [Giorgio Moroder]radio station executive at the very end.

Pannen:

Fehler, die von Charakteren gemacht werden (möglicherweise Absicht der Filmemacher): Miles tells Edgar that the phrase "A dream is a wish your heart makes" comes from Sleeping Beauty (1959), and starts to say the date as "nineteen sixty..." Edgar corrects him and says it's from Cinderella (1950), but states the date as 1949. (It's understandable that Miles gets both the movie and the year wrong, but it's less likely for a computer, unless Edgar is going by copyright date rather than release date.)

Dialogzitate:

Miles Harding: Or maybe the champagne?

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Enthält ausschnittsweise The Love Bug (1968)

Soundtrack:

You Can't Hurry Love

Being John Malkovich for the Eighties

When I first saw 'Being John Malkovich', I didn't really know much about - it was a while since I'd been to the cinema because of work and I went to see it on the strength of John Cusack. As I sat in that cinema full of bored teenagers, watching the story unfold, I was amazed at how similar an experience it actually was to the first film I really fell in love with, 'Electric Dreams'.

I've never been completely sure what I especially liked about the film. Virginia Madsen certainly has a big sister / first crush quality, with her woolly jumpers and body wrapped around a cello. Lenny Van Dollen is certainly as good an actor as anyone whose worked in this kind of film and offers work of quite subtle range. And the computer is heartbreaking. And the music is lovely. This is perhaps a film which is uncriticisable because it captures a time in life so beautifully.

Made in 1984, 'Dreams' has a plot similar in scope to 'Malkovich'. Miles subordinating of the newly sentient computer parallel's Craig Schwartz control of the film actor. As the computer operator uses Edger to woo the love of both their lives, so the puppeteer controls Malkovich to get into the panties of his 'business partner'.

There is no doubt the film has dated, although in its own way it uses visual techniques which at the time must have seemed as extreme as the flourishes of the latter film. Its use of pop video, in the sequences of high emotion, especially in the scene of where Miles is chased around the house, are at least echoed in the chase sequence at the heart of 'Malkovich'.

With all this in mind, its perhaps a time to re-assess this film as more than the fluff its previously been thought of as being.