the characters the music the concepts & origins images and times of Under the Cherry Moon

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Published: Thursday, July 3, 1986
Section: FTR
Page: 13A

NERVY PRINCE RETURNS WITH A STYLISTIC SMASH

It takes a lot of nerve to set a picture on the French Riviera and then shoot it in black and white.

And Prince, bless him, has a lot of nerve.

"Under the Cherry Moon," his second film (the first, "Purple Rain," won him an Oscar and grossed more than $80 million), is a stylistic smash.

Its substance leaves something to be desired, true. But fine-looking fun backed by choice music by Prince and the Revolution is quite enough to guarantee most audiences a couple of good hours.

BASICALLY, "Cherry Moon" is the story of a gigolo who falls in love with an heiress and gives it all up for love.

Shot in France around Nice and Cap d'Antibes, some of the world's priciest and most beautiful scenery backgrounds this story of nightclub pianist Christopher Tracy (Prince), his best friend Tricky (Jerome Benton) and a couple of Miami boys in Nice for a little discreet gold-digging.

When Tricky spots a newspaper photo of Mary Sharon (Kristin Scott-Thomas) -- and the story of her 21st birthday inheritance -- he and Christopher crash the party. After that, it's a battle of love, with the couple opposed by Christopher's favorite client (Francesca Annis), Mary's nervous mother and nasty father, and the combined forces of Nice's police and coast guard.

PRINCE IS apparently as hardheaded as filmmaker Barbra Streisand about getting his way. When original director, Mary Lambert, left the picture a few weeks into the shooting, Prince took over her chores. After the film wrapped, unhappy with some of the scenes, Prince returned to Nice and reshot them. He has done respectable work: He finished the picture; he produced an entertainment that, while limited, is as good as much of the stuff cranked out by longtimeprofessionals, and he got to do it the way he wanted.

But, you may ask, can Prince act?

Not yet, at least not on a regular basis. But whenever he's not pouting or vamping a la Valentino, he's infinitely better than he was in "Purple Rain."

The look of the picture is its biggest strength -- contemporary, yes, but with a distinct feel for the '40s. For that, audiences can again thank Prince, who had the good sense to hire cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, a Werner Fassbinder graduate who worked with John Sayles and Martin Scorsese. Ballhaus also filmed Volker Schlondorf's stunning television version of "Death of a Salesman." Backing Ballhaus is production designer Richard Sylbert, the man responsible for the visual style of "Chinatown" and "The Cotton Club."

Kristin Scott-Thomas, the English actress plays the heiress Christopher tames (Prince has not yet entirely outgrown his bad-boy attitude toward women.). She does very nicely in her film debut, so long as she doesn't have to look dreamy and recite Christopher's poetry. And Prince's pal Benton is bearable, albeit slightly less than three-dimensional, as Tricky.

The plot gets embarrassingly over-dramatic near the end -- this isn't supposed to be Shakespeare, for heaven's sake -- but, all things considered, Prince deserves to take a bow. And, no doubt, he will.

Under the Cherry Moon film score

1. Under the Cherry Moon Outro - Piano Instrumental (Intro Voice over)
2. An Honest Man - Piano Instrumental (Titles)
3. Christopher Tracy’s Parade (Nice)
4. Incidental Strings (Mirror, Mirror, 17 fold)
5. Incidental Sax & Strings (That Bela Lugosi look)
6. Incidental Sax & Strings (Bath phone call)
7. Do U Lie? (Mary’s party)
8. Planet Rock (Party Jam)
9. Incidental Drums (Christopher & Mary’s eyes meet)
10. Mia Bocca: Intro (Mary reappears)
11. New Position (Party Conga)
12. Happy Birthday (Jonathan calls)
13. Incidental Strings (Mary & Christopher)
14. Do U Lie? – Piano Instrumental (Mrs Wellington’s phone message)
15. Incidental Organ (Christopher & Mrs Wellington)
16. I Wonder U (Mary thinks of a retort)
17. Alexa De Paris (Dance on the veranda)
18. Do U Lie? – Instrumental (Isaac’s car at Mrs Wellington’s)
19. Incidental Drums & Bass (Mary wants to take boat out)
20. It’s A Wonderful Day – Instrumental (Butterscotch, Chocolate)
21. Incidental Chamber music (Restaurant)
22. Girls & Boys (making a scene at the restaurant)
23. I Wonder U (Mary in bed)
24. Love Or Money (I know, let’s spend it!)
25. Life Can Be So Nice (Waiting at the Hippodrome)
26. Junk music (Car race at the Hippodrome)
27. Under the Cherry Moon Istrumental (Christopher & Mary)
28. Venus De Milo (Phone booth)
29. Old Friends 4 Sale – Strings only (Tricky confronts Christopher)
30. Mountains – Part 2 (Let’s run away, for couple of hours)
31. Incidental Drums & Bass (Tricky says something he shouldn’t)
32. Incidental Strings (Mrs Wellington & Christopher)
33. Anotherloverholenyohead (Race to the airport)
34. Incidental Sax (Isaac gets to the plane)
35. Kiss (Define ‘Love’)
36. Incidental Sax (Isaac on the phone)
37. Kiss – Part 2 (Tricky oon the run)
38. Venus De Milo (Mary wakes up in the grotto)
39. Incidental Strings (Tricky fights back)
40. Sometimes It Snows In April (Miami)
41. Mountains (End Titles)

Under The Cherry Moon (Prince, 1986)

MTV & Warner Bros. World Premiere
Under the Cherry Moon movie premier 7.1.1986
Holiday Inn Sheridan Wyoming


prince med Lisa Barber

* * * * * PEOPLE WEEKLY/JULY 21, 1986
Prince Charming : His movie's a smash -- in Wyoming

First you win a contest, then you win friends. That's how it happened for Lisa Barber, 20, a Sheridan, Wyo. motel chambermaid who last month dialed an MTV contest number and, by being the 10,000th caller, won a date with Prince and the opportunity to have his much-hyped new movie, Under the Cherry Moon, premiered in her hometown. Barber, a veteran contest entrant who had never won more than "a couple of Big Macs and a curling iron," was ecstatic. So were her friends, many of whom she had never met. Moments after her name was announced, callers from California to the Carolinas began ringing up to ask for one or two or 10 of the 200 tickets she'd been allotted for Prince's frontier fandango. Her mother, Elena Holwegner, fielded the endless requests with humor, if not compromise. Ring! "No, Lisa's not here," she fibbed to one caller. "You say you're calling from Maine? Sorry." Ring! "You say you want to come over and take pictures of me doing housework? I've got a better idea. You come over and do housework, and I'll take pictures of you." Ring! "Sorry, no more tickets. What? You say you have six days to live? Well, sorry to break the news, honey, but you'll be long gone before Prince gets here. What? You say you can hold on an extra day? Well, I can't. Sorry!" Click. [continued]

* * * * * For Prince -- who, when it comes to publicity, is usually about as visible as a microbe and only slightly more talkative -- the sojourn to Sheridan seemed to serve two purposes. After years of performing in bikini underwear and a raincoat and singing such single-entendre hits as "Head" and the incest-themed "Sister," he is, say pals, concerned that the public hasn't seen enough of the happy-go-lucky, Little House on the Prairie side of his personality. "He's perceived by the media as a bad boy, a rude boy," says his friend and protégé, singer Sheila E. "He is very conscious of his reputation, and I think he's making an effort to turn it around. Basically, he's an easy-going guy." Says Lisa Coleman, keyboardist with Prince's band, the Revolution, "He's so consumed by what he's doing that sometimes he has not noticed what is happening to his public image. He realizes it now." [continued]

MAZARATI also performed at the opening

01. Players' Ball [uncirculated audience recording]
02. I Guess It's All Over [uncirculated audience recording]
03. 100 MPH






Prince & the Revolution

1.Raspberry Beret
2.Delirious
3.Controversy
4.Mutiny

MTV Under The Cherry Moon Premiere

Holiday Inn, Sheridan

1st July 1986

Girls And Boys (promo video) / 100 MPH (Mazarati Performance) / Anotherloverholenyohead (promo video)

Performance - Raspberry Beret / Delirious / Controversy / Mutiny

Under the Cherry Moon opening orgasmic piano scene

1. Under the Cherry Moon Outro - Piano Instrumental [Intro Voice over]
2. An Honest Man - Piano Instrumental [Titles]

An Honest Man

I want 2 be an honest man
I'll be your slave, just understand
How much I need U
And if I died
We'll be 2gether side by side

With U I know I can stand, stand
With U I can be an honest man

Prince arrive in Nice France

3. Christopher Tracy’s Parade (Nice, France)

Everyone come behold Christopher Tracy's Parade
The show will proceed unless it should rain strawberry lemonade
Hopefully that will not occur, the man above has been paid
Give what U can, all U can stand, and all of your life will be made

Everyone should come and dig Christopher Tracy's piano
The chord strikes, the devil no like, so he runs 2 his evil car

Everyone come behold Christopher Tracy's Parade
Goodness will guide us if love is inside us
Christopher Tracy's Parade (Christopher Tracy's Parade)
Christopher Tracy's Parade (Christopher Tracy's Parade)
Christopher Tracy's Parade

thanks oldfriends, i love this era.. LOVE UTCM

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
Thursday, July 3, 1986
Section: FEATURES
Page: 47

MOVIES

A BATTY PRINCE ON THE RIVIERA

By JOE BALTAKE
Daily News Film Critic

The difference between the superstar's first two films is that "Purple Rain" is a psychological/autobiographical glorified rock video starring Prince and the Revolution, while his new one, "Under the Cherry Moon," is a movie starring Prince, period.

Actually, it's several movies - part Antonioni, part Howard Hawks, part Andy Warhol, part whatzit - all jumbled together and seemingly based on the mental landscape of its kinetic, eccentric, self-consciously lascivious star. I've seen "Under the Cherry Moon," I enjoyed it enormously, but I haven't quite figured out what it's supposed to be. Still, I like it.

This overall murkiness, which probably will be exaggerated by the detractors of "Purple Rain," is what gives the film its vulnerable charm, along with the film's moody tug-of-war with itself: Prince's distinctly modernist presence never seems to be quite welcome by his own film's nostalgic Art Deco elements. This unease gives the movie a timelessness, a feeling of being out-of-place with itself, that's hugely affecting.

It took some time for me to catch on, settle back and enjoy it. "Under the Cherry Moon" gets off to a rather creepy start with just about everyone behaving as if he is a vampire in one of those once-trendy Warhol/Paul Morrissey horror collaborations. When bats appear in one scene - in a cabaret, no less - the joke is made clear: This is Prince's portrait of the expatriate as a young zombie. After the bats appear, liberating everyone, the film itself perks up.

It could have been titled "Two Gals in Paris," only in this case, we get two guys - Prince and sidekick Jerome Benton - and they're in Nice, on the Cote d'Azur, not in Paris. The boys, gigolos hoping to sponge off the jet set and get rich themselves, are simply male variations of the characters that Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell played in Hawks' "Gentleman Prefer Blondes."

Prince is Christopher Tracy, a boy who entertains nightly in a piano bar and dares to fall in love with a swell (Kristin Scott-Thomas), much to her parents' chagrin, and he plays the part with a mixture of his usual wild-eyed randiness and a certain '40ish insouciance.

The film's dramatic structure - its simple narrative and simple psychology and sociology - is merely a matter of the girl's parents trying to keep this dapper punk away from their daughter and the kids searching for a place to be alone.

There's no question in my mind that Prince is playing Marilyn Monroe here (at times, he has the same sweet, startled, slightly addled innocence) or that the speedboat escape at the end looks like the final scene from "Some Like it Hot."

I've mentioned a lot of films and filmmakers here and, no, Prince the director is not able to make all of them hold together. But at least, "Under the Cherry Moon" isn't a trendy retread.

Word leaked out a few weeks ago that "Under the Cherry Moon" was something of a stinker. Horsefeathers! It's unique, by far the boldest film of the summer.

Parental guide: Rated PG-13 for its language.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Under the Cherry Moon film score

1. Under the Cherry Moon Outro - Piano Instrumental (Intro Voice over)
2. An Honest Man - Piano Instrumental (Titles)
3. Christopher Tracy’s Parade (Nice)
4. Incidental Strings (Mirror, Mirror, 17 fold)
5. Incidental Sax & Strings (That Bela Lugosi look)
6. Incidental Sax & Strings (Bath phone call)
7. Do U Lie? (Mary’s party)
8. Planet Rock (Party Jam)
9. Incidental Drums (Christopher & Mary’s eyes meet)
10. Mia Bocca: Intro (Mary reappears)
11. New Position (Party Conga)
12. Happy Birthday (Jonathan calls)
13. Incidental Strings (Mary & Christopher)
14. Do U Lie? – Piano Instrumental (Mrs Wellington’s phone message)
15. Incidental Organ (Christopher & Mrs Wellington)
16. I Wonder U (Mary thinks of a retort)
17. Alexa De Paris (Dance on the veranda)
18. Do U Lie? – Instrumental (Isaac’s car at Mrs Wellington’s)
19. Incidental Drums & Bass (Mary wants to take boat out)
20. It’s A Wonderful Day – Instrumental (Butterscotch, Chocolate)
21. Incidental Chamber music (Restaurant)
22. Girls & Boys (making a scene at the restaurant)
23. I Wonder U (Mary in bed)
24. Love Or Money (I know, let’s spend it!)
25. Life Can Be So Nice (Waiting at the Hippodrome)
26. Junk music (Car race at the Hippodrome)
27. Under the Cherry Moon Istrumental (Christopher & Mary)
28. Venus De Milo (Phone booth)
29. Old Friends 4 Sale – Strings only (Tricky confronts Christopher)
30. Mountains – Part 2 (Let’s run away, for couple of hours)
31. Incidental Drums & Bass (Tricky says something he shouldn’t)
32. Incidental Strings (Mrs Wellington & Christopher)
33. Anotherloverholenyohead (Race to the airport)
34. Incidental Sax (Isaac gets to the plane)
35. Kiss (Define ‘Love’)
36. Incidental Sax (Isaac on the phone)
37. Kiss – Part 2 (Tricky oon the run)
38. Venus De Milo (Mary wakes up in the grotto)
39. Incidental Strings (Tricky fights back)
40. Sometimes It Snows In April (Miami)
41. Mountains (End Titles)

MUST HAVE THIS !!!

An Honest Man....one of the most beautiful moments in the film and so hugely differnet and disapointing on Crystal Ball

Many a time i quoy=ted it in cheesy love letters in my youth,,,,,hey nobody else was gonna know where it came from

purpledoveuk said:

An Honest Man....one of the most beautiful moments in the film and so hugely differnet and disapointing on Crystal Ball

Many a time i quoy=ted it in cheesy love letters in my youth,,,,,hey nobody else was gonna know where it came from

lol my favorite part of the CB release is the ending when the strings & other sounds come in

Oldfriends4sale,

I know it takes your personal time and effort to create these types of threads/post so I would like to say thank you. Your threads are fun and insightful for someone like me who was a still toddler in 1986 and has no previous knowledge about this era of Prince music/movies.

Again thank you and keep up the good work.

With that said, I have never been able to sit through this movie. I tried very hard to let the DVD continue to play but lost the battle. The music was great but the movie......

There are many Prince song's that I did not like at first listen and grew to love...maybe the this movie will be the same.

niki5017 said:

Oldfriends4sale,

I know it takes your personal time and effort to create these types of threads/post so I would like to say thank you. Your threads are fun and insightful for someone like me who was a still toddler in 1986 and has no previous knowledge about this era of Prince music/movies.

Again thank you and keep up the good work.

With that said, I have never been able to sit through this movie. I tried very hard to let the DVD continue to play but lost the battle. The music was great but the movie......

There are many Prince song's that I did not like at first listen and grew to love...maybe the this movie will be the same.

I think it will, because I loved Prince I was just stoked to see him on screen and another side to him, I was a bit disappointed that there were no band in the movie. Prince is a rock star not an actor, if he would have recognized that he would have had the bands in the movie. You'll grow to appreciate it though. But without diverting from the subject, all the bands in the world could not make me appreciate Graffiti Bridge. I'm still doing an era thread on that one and I still can't.

I've always liked UTCM. I read up above someone saying it's not Shakespeare, and it's not, but it is a fun 90 minutes to have. The movie shows Prince's sense of humor and did introduce us to Kristin Scott Thomas.

Graffiti Bridge, on the other hand, was a little harder to watch. There are good moments but it's not close to the goodness of UTCM.

Condition of the Heart was supposed to be some kind of script for the UTCM movie

Always cool how a lot of those album/eras then tied in

There was a girl in Paris whom he sent a letter 2

Hoping she would answer back now wasn't that a foolhardy notion

On the part of a sometimes lonely musician?

Acting out a whim is only good 4 a condition of the heart

There was a dame from London who insisted that he love her

Then left him 4 a real prince from Arabia

Now isn't that a shame

That sometimes money buys U everything and nothing?

Love - it only seems 2 buy a terminal condition of the heart

Oh - thinking about U driving me crazy

Oh - my friends all say it's just a phase but?

Oh - every day is a yellow day

I'm blinded by the daisies in your yard

There was a woman from the ghetto

Who made funny faces just like Clara Bow

How was I 2 know that she would wear the same cologne as U

And giggle the same giggle that U do?

Whenever I would act a fool the fool with a condition of the heart

Oh - thinking about U driving me crazy

Oh - my friends all say it's just a phase but?

Oh - every single day is a yellow day

I'm blinded by the daisies in your yard

(There was a girl in Paris whom he sent a letter 2)

There was a girl?whom he sent a letter 2

(Hoping she would answer back)

She never answered back and now

(Wasn't that a foolhardy notion?)

He's got a condition of the heart

ROCK & SOUL * APRIL 1986

THE PRINCE INTERVIEW
Mr. Purple Discusses His Movies, His Music, His Musicians
And More, More, More.

By Michael Shore

Under the Cherry Moon is a love story, set in the 1940s and shot in black and white. Word from the set has it that the plot is more or less spelled out in the lyrics to "Condition of the Heart" on Around the World in a Day, which appears to be about a musician falling in love with a woman too rich and worldly for his own lifestyle.

... great thread as usually OF4S

PurpleLove7 said:

... great thread as usually OF4S

Thanks brother!!

Originally, the film was to be directed by Mary Lambert, a premier music-video director who has overseen Madonna's "Borderline" and "Material Girl," Sheila E.'s "The Glamorous Life," and the Go-Go's "Yes Or No." But in mid-September, about a month or so into the movie's two-month shooting schedule, Lambert abruptly walked off the set and handed the directing reins to His Royal Badness.

Lambert issued a statement which read, in part, "I'm leaving under totally amicable circumstances. It's just become quite apparent that Prince has such a strong vision of what this movie should be, a vision that extends to so many areas of the film, that it makes no sense for me to stand between him and the film anymore. So I'm going off to work on my own feature and letting him finish his."

MTV (1985)

-----

reprinted in ROCK & SOUL * APRIL 1986

THE PRINCE INTERVIEW
Mr. Purple Discusses His Movies, His Music, His Musicians
And More, More, More.

By Michael Shore

Would you ever like to direct your own movie?

Yes, (very enthusiastically) yes, yes.

Speaking of movies, tell us as much as you can about Under The Cherry Moon.

Ooooh.

What's the plot, what kind of characters, what kind of music, how many songs, what can we expect?

It's a French film. It's a black-and-white French film, and ah, she's in it (girlish giggles can be heard). And her name's Emanuelle. [Emmanuelle Sallet]

Bookmarked... favorite thread so far... Loved this movie.

4. Incidental Strings (Mirror, Mirror, 17 fold)
5. Incidental Sax & Strings (That Bela Lugosi look)
6. Incidental Sax & Strings (Bath phone call)

[Edited 4/14/11 9:17am]

7. Do U Lie? (Mary’s party)

Little Gypsy girl on Do U Lie? is played by Sandra Francisco
Do U Lie? - the Drums are played by Jonathan Melvoin

Do U Lie?

Les enfants qui mentent ne vont pas au paradis
0 -+> Children who lie don't go 2 heaven

Ok Ok, Merci {Ok, thank U}

When I lie awake in my boudoir
I think of U, dear
Do U think of me?
Or do U lie, do U lie?

When I'm in a sad and lonely mood, dear
I cry 4 U, dear (I cry 4 U)
Do U cry 4 me?
Do U cry, do U cry?

When I need someone 2 talk 2
U're not around
When I need another human's touch
I wear a frown cuz U're Uptown

Goin' down, goin' down, goin' down

I... I... I don't lie 2 U (I don't lie)
When I say that I'm in love, mama (Mama, mama)
I feel so good when U're near (Mama, mama)
Tell me, do U feel it 2?
Do U lie, do U lie?

(Or do U cry) Do U cry from the inside out, dear?
Or are they only artificial tears? (Artificial tears)
Do U really mean it when U cry, when U cry, when U cry? (Cry)

When I need someone 2 talk 2 (Do U lie?)
U're not around, U're not around (U're not around, I wear a frown)
When I need another human touch (Tell me why)
I wear a frown cuz U're Uptown
(Tell me why U wanna go and leave me all alone)

Goin' down, goin' down, goin' down (Goin' down)
Goin' down (down), goin' down (down), goin' down (down)
Goin' down (down), goin' down (down), down (down)

When I lie awake in my boudoir (I think of U)
I think of U, dear (Do U?)
Do y'all think of me?
Do U lie, do U lie?

© 1986 Controversy Music - ASCAP

8. Planet Rock (Party Jam)
9. Incidental Drums (Christopher & Mary’s eyes meet)

9. Incidental Drums (Christopher & Mary’s eyes meet)