MOVIES INTERNATIONAL:
AMERICA’S BEST, BRITAIN’S FINEST
by John Howard Reid
Smashwords Edition Copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid
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Our cover portrait of Larry Parks and Ellen Drew draws attention to the two extremes in which British films made use of top-ranking Hollywood stars. Mr Parks was forced to take refuge in Britain from the House Un-American Activities Committee, but the British film industry did not exactly welcome him with open arms. He made only one film, Tiger by the Tail, before returning to Hollywood for some TV roles and his final movie, Freud (1962). Ellen Drew, on the other hand, had just about reached grade “A” lead status (she played Huguette in the 1938 If I Were King) when she was invited to Britain to co-star with Ray Milland in the prestigious French Without Tears (1939), one of the Top Ten releases of the year.
HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS 14
Other Books in the “Hollywood Classics” series:
1. New Light on Movie Bests
2. “B” Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies
3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s
4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West
5. Memorable Films of the Forties
6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s
7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program
8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Movie Entertainment
9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties
10. Hollywood “B” Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills
11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics
12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards
13. Movie Mystery & Suspense
14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest
15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic
16. Hollywood Movie Musicals
17. “Hollywood Classics” Index Books 1-16
18. More Movie Musicals
19. Success in the Cinema
20. Best Western Movies
21. Great Cinema Detectives
22. Great Hollywood Westerns
23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema
24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies
25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Films Reviewed in Books 1-24
Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid
CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope
CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox
CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge
Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills
WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD
British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD
Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD
Musicals on DVD
Table of Contents
The Man with the Green Carnation
Grand Hotel, featured in HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS 3
Fritz Kortner (Abdul Hamid II/Kislar), Nils Asther (Kadar Pasha), Esme Percy (Ali), John Stuart (Talak Pasha), Adrienne Ames (Therese Alder), Walter Rilla (Hassan Bey), Charles Carson (Halmi Pasha), Alfred Woods (Abbas), Patric Knowles (Omar), Eric Portman (young Turkish conspirator), Clifford Heatherly (doctor), Henry Longhurst (general of bodyguards), Annie Esmond (English lady), H. Saxon Snell (chief inquisitor), George Zucco (firing squad officer), Robert Naylor (opera singer), Warren Jenkins (young Turk singer), Henry Peterson (Malik), Charlotte Francis (modiste), Arthur Hardy (ambassador).
Directed by KARL GRUNE. Photographed by Otto Kanturek. Screenplay: Ashley Dukes, Robert Burford and W. Chetham-Strode. From a story by Robert Neumann and a treatment by Emeric Pressburger and Curt Siodmak. Adaptation: Ashley Dukes. Music: Hanns Eisler. Art directors: John F. Mead and J. Clarence Elder. Film editors: A.C. Hammond, W. Stokvis. Costumes designed by Joe Strassner. Music director: Idris Lewis. Assistant director: Roy Goddard. Sound recording: Roy Goddard. Producer: Max Schach.
An Alliance-Capital Production, released in the U.K. by British Instructional Pictures, in the U.S.A. by Columbia. U.K. release date: February 1935. U.S. release date: 10 May 1936. New York opening at the Rialto: 10 May 1936. 9,899 feet. 110 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the misdeeds of Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey from 1876 to 1909.
COMMENT: This lavishly produced spectacle, with hordes of costumed extras and the most dazzlingly ornate sets, has been fluidly directed with driving pace (in fact, the pace is so fast, the story seems at times a little difficult to follow) and magnificently photographed. Fritz Kortner’s acting rates as superlative in both facets of his dual role (notice the faultless special effects work, especially in the mirror sequence), and the support cast is uniformly excellent. Highly recommended.
OTHER VIEWS: Superb film, with Kortner’s magnificent performance as a major interest. Kortner receives strong support from Nils Asther, Esme Percy and Adrienne Ames. As a production, the film is given a wonderfully stylish authenticity and it is brilliantly directed by Karl Grune. A movie due for rediscovery as one of the finest British films of the period.
—E. Victor Dyer.
A full-length 16mm print, running two hours has now come to light. The pace is still fast, though it does tend to sag just a touch in the last six or seven minutes. Oddly, the central reel has been printed up on a beautiful green stock, and I wonder if original theatrical prints were also printed up this way. My guess is that the first 16mm reel and the last were originally printed in sepia (and presumaby the corresponding 35mm spools). Certainly the lighting, heavy on shadows but slightly over-bright on faces, would tend to support this view. In any event, what we have here is a superlative example of a successful “mixed movie”—by which I mean a movie in which artists of more than one nationality were involved. The star, Fritz Kortner, who gives such a charismatic performance, and his intuitively imaginative director, Karl Grune, were both Austrians; the skilful Danish actor, Nils Asther, was a familiar figure in Hollywood where he starred in such movies as The Bitter Tea of General Yen and The Man in Half Moon Street; our American heroine, Adrienne Ames, invests the best role of her career with both artistry and presence; whilst a number of players, well-known to Hollywood movie buffs, such as Patric Knowles and George Zucco, fill out supporting roles. The German cinema is also well represented, with outstanding cinematography by Otto Kanturek, and a rousing music score by Hanns Eisler.
Stewart Granger (Adam Black), Jean Simmons (Evelyne Wallace), Edwin Styles (Bill Murray), Raymond Young (Roddy Black), Helen Cherry (Moira), Beatrice Varley (Mrs Parker), Joan Swinstead (Molly), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Colonel Bradley), Fred Johnson (Chris Kirby), Peter Reynolds (David), Geoffrey Denton (Inspector Collins), John Forrest (Tony), Brenda Hogan (Christine), Irene Handl (store manageress), Dora Bryan (store assistant), Betty Blackler (Ruth), Joy Harrington (Miss Rice), Mona Washbourne (Mrs Salop), Dino Galvani (Luigi), Patrick Barr and Joan Schofield (friends of Adam), Sally Newton (Roddy’s friend), Jimmy Holland (Dickie), Keith Falkner (Tommy Baxter), Nino Pastellides (1st head waiter), Lou Matto (2nd head waiter), Lionel Grose (ambulance man), Tony Eustrel (1st man at restaurant bar), Francis de Wolff (2nd man at restaurant bar), Edie Martin (washerwoman), and Dennys Taylor, Max Kirby, Philip Ray, Fred Davies, Ernest Metcalfe, Patrick Baring, Elsie Wagstaff, Bruce Walker, John Kelly.
Directed by HAROLD FRENCH from an original screenplay by Noel Langley. Additional dialogue: Lesley Storm, George Barraud and Nicholas Phipps. Photographed by Guy Green. Film editor: John D. Guthridge. Art director: Paul Sheriff. Assistant director: Cecil F. Ford. Production manager: Andrew Allan. Hair styles: Vivienne Walker. Make-up: Tony Sforzini. Music composed by Mischa Spoliansky, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Muir Mathieson. Sound technicians: W. Lindop and Desmond Dew. Produced by Harold French for Two Cities Films, London. Presented by J. Arthur Rank. Made at Denham Studios, London.
Released through G.F.D. in the U.K., B.E.F. in Australia, Universal-International in the U.S.A. New York opening at the Park Avenue: 11 May 1950. Australian release: 9 March 1950. U.K. release date: 4 July 1949. U.S. release date: August 1950. Copyright in the U.S.A. by Two Cities Films, Ltd., 1 July 1950. 92 minutes. 8,340 feet.
U.S. release title: Adam and Evalyn.
SYNOPSIS: A professional gambler and man-about-town is stuck with the beautiful daughter of a deceased friend.
COMMENT: The witty dialogue here is decidedly better than the corny plot with its echoes of Little Miss Marker, Daddy Long Legs and Orphan Annie. It is competently directed and quite agreeably played.
OTHER VIEWS: Although the publicity hacks would have it that this was the first teaming of Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons, in point of fact they both acted in Caesar and Cleopatra back in 1946. Nonetheless, this is enjoyable, light entertainment, although it is a little over-long. Production values are A-1.
Robert Beatty (Father Phillip), Jack Warner (Cronk), Simone Signoret (Michele), Gordon Jackson (Duncan), Paul Dupuis (Picquart), Giselle Preville (Julia), John Slater (Emile), Peter Illing (Andrew), James Robertson Justice (Ackerman), Sybilla Binder (Malou), Helene Hanson (Marie Berlot), Gilbert Davis (commandant), Andrew Blackett (Frankie), Arthur Lawrence (Verreker), Eugene Deckers (Marcel Van Hacke), Leo de Pokorny (Balthasar), Rory MacDermot (Carey), Andre Morell (the abbot), Kenneth Villiers (Lewis), Kenneth Hyde (Captain Parker), Olaf Olsen (German officer), Philo Hauser (Joseph), Martin Bradley (Captain Rich), Sheila Carty (Bridie), Margot Lassner (Madame Meyer), Guy Stephen Deghy (German sergeant-major), Jean Pierre Hambye (Blondal), George Kersen (Flour), René Poirier (Herremans), Robert Wyndham (doctor), Duncan Lewis (sergeant).
Directed by CHARLES CRICHTON from a screenplay by T.E.B. Clarke, based on a story by J. Elder Wills, adapted by Michael Pertwee, with additional dialogue by Paul Vincent Carroll. Photographed by Lionel Banes. Art director: J. Elder Wills. Film editor: Alan Osbiston. Assistant director: Harry W. Kratz. Process photography: Geoffrey Dickinson. Special effects: Richard Dendy. Camera operator: Paul Beeson. Music composed by Leslie Bridgewater and played by the Philharmonia Orchestra directed by Ernest Irving. Hair stylist: Marjorie Whittle. Wardrobe supervisor: Anthony Mendleson. Make-up: Ernest Taylor. Production manager: L.C. Rudkin. Production supervisor: Hal Mason. Sound recording: Stephen Dalby and Arthur Bradburn. Associate producer: Sidney Cole. Producer: Michael Balcon.
Ealing Studios, Ltd., London. U.S. copyright date: 25 February 1948. New York opening at the Little Carnegie: 25 June 1949. Released in the U.S. through Eagle Lion Films, Inc., September 1949. Presented by J. Arthur Rank. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 29 March 1948. Australian release through British Empire Films: 30 March 1950. 8,589 feet. 95 minutes. Cut to 87 minutes in Australia.
SYNOPSIS: After training in England, a group of Belgian saboteurs are dropped back home to harass the Nazis.
COMMENT: Not one of T.E.B. Clarke’s most exciting scripts, and Crichton’s direction can only be described as competent. The continuity is very jerky, partly due to cutting and partly due to poor integration of the Belgian-photographed location footage with the studio material. There are a few effective compositions but all in all this picture does not amount to much and is mainly of curiosity value as Miss Signoret’s first English-language feature.
OTHER VIEWS: Disappointing, when the later films of Miss Signoret are considered, this is one of those drab, British war-subjects of the ’forties, jam-packed with sentiments like: “Ah, your best friend turns out to be a collaborator and you work with a swine!” There are a few interesting ideas like Warner shaving as his death sentence is decoded in the same room, or priest Beatty’s reaction to the suicide pill, or the quite lively chase after one of the group has not been able to jump from the mined train. But devices like cutting away as the narration goes on are beaten to death, and Signoret, making her English-language debut, is the only member of the cast not called upon to speak French!
— Barrie Pattison.
Peggy Cummins (Clare Hemsley), Terence Morgan (Terence Winch), Ronald Squire (Victory Hemsley), James Hayter (Dutton), Marie Lohr (dowager), Geoffrey Sumner (Teddy), Charles Goldner (manager), David Hurst (Beckstein), Jacques Brunius (inspector), Jill Day (singer), Sebastian Cabot (taxi driver), Jacques Brown (manager), Dino Galvani (magistrate), Peter Jones (man with fez), Martin Benson (hotel desk clerk), Eliot Makeham (hotel guest), Geoffrey Goodhart (Dutton's lawyer), Mary Hinton.
Director: RALPH SMART. Original screenplay: Ralph Smart, Peter Jones. Photography: C. Pennington-Richards. Film editor: Alfred Roome. Art director: Maurice Carter. Dress designer: Julie Harris. Make-up: George Blackler. Miss Cummins' make-up: Harry Frampton. Camera operator: James Bawden. Set continuity: Yvonne Axworthy. Assistant director: Peter Bolton. Production manager: Denis Holt. Production controller for Pinewood Studios: Arthur Alcott. Sound editor: Roger Cherrill. Sound recording: C.C. Stevens, Gordon K. McCallum. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: George Pitcher. Producer: Robert Garrett. Executive producer: Earl St John. A Clarion Film. Presented by J. Arthur Rank.
Copyright 3 May 1953 by Clarion Films Ltd, London. New York opening simultaneously at the Art, Beekman and Gramercy theatres: 27 May 1954. U.S. release through Universal International Films: June 1954. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 14 September, 1953. Australian release through British Empire Films: 10 September 1954. 7,549 feet. 83 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Swindlers playing their trade on the Riviera meet their comeuppance at the hands of Cupid.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Although the film seems at times to connive at swindling and theft, the film is suitable for family viewing provided parents are present to answer questions and drive home the moral.
COMMENT: Pleasant, but not quite as funny in the telling as it might be, as director/co-scriptwriter Ralph Smart chooses to play it smooth rather than farcical, romantic rather than risque.
Fortunately Smart has a wonderful group of players on hand to bring this humorously romantic trifle to an amusing life. Peggy Cummins is audaciously lovely (assisted by some knockout costumes) as the forlorn bride, whilst Terence Morgan, normally the heaviest of heavies, here displays an agreeably deft touch with light comedy. The character players are led by one of our favorite Englishmen, Ronald Squire, who not only makes the most of the script's excellent opportunities but even we suspect invents some delightful bits of business on his own. Stand-out characterisations are also contributed by Geoffrey Sumner (a former top con man who has fallen on such bad times he is reduced to picking pockets); James Hayter as Cash Dutton, a self-made crook who doesn't trust banks; and David Hurst, an impecunious bunco artist with an untimely taste for liquor.
Technical credits are likewise most ingratiating, with plush sets, fine location photography and an appropriately zippy music score.
All told, provided your expectations are not unrealistically high, most agreeable entertainment, with enough plot twists, enough laughs, a bit of suspense, lots of likeable characters, plenty of great scenery, and more than enough chuckles to last out this 83-minute round trip to the tourist-trap Riviera.
OTHER VIEWS: This is one of those British films of the fifties that were the descendants of the Rookery Nook cycle and depended on comedians like Cecil Parker and Ronald Squire playing out situation comedies that could have taken to the boards in Shaftesbury Avenue just as easily. Like most of these, this one is mildly risque with its husband-swapping plot, not very inventive, not very funny, but not all that bad. There are a few laughs, but the function of this kind of film has been taken over by TV — which offers comparable production values.
— Barrie Pattison.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr (Barnabas Barty), Elissa Landi (Lady Cleone Meredith), Gordon Harker (Natty Bell), Basil Sydney (Louis Chichester), Hugh Williams (Lord Ronald Meredith), Irene Brown (Lady Hunstanton), Athole Stewart (Marquess of Camberhurst), Coral Brown (Pauline Darville), Margaret Lockwood (Georgina Hunstanton), Esme Percy (John Townsend), Frank Bertram (Belcher), Gilbert Davis (Prince Regent), Frank Pettingell (John Barty), and Marius Goring.
Directed by THORNTON FREELAND from a screenplay by Edward Knoblock, Clemence Dane and Sergei Nolbandov based on the novel by Jeffrey Farnol. Dialogue: Clemence Dane. Film editor: Conrad von Molo. Music composed by Richard Addinsell and scored by Walter Goehr. Photography: Gunther Krampf. Choreographer: Quentin Todd. Western Electric Sound System. Produced by Marcel Hellman, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr for Criterion Film Productions Ltd.
U.S. copyright date: 17 April 1936. Released through United Artists. U.S. length: 9 reels (85 minutes). New York opening at the Roxy: 26 April 1936. U.K. release date: 23 August 1936. Review date: 23 January 1936. U.K. length: 9,118 feet (101 minutes).
SYNOPSIS: Barnabas Barty goes to London to discover the jewel thief who stole from a guest at the Barty Inn.
COMMENT: An enjoyable period piece directed with great style and atmosphere. Fairbanks makes a splendid hero-highwayman, playing with dash and virility, whilst Elissa Landi makes a beautiful and charming heroine. The supporting cast is first-rate, while sets, make-up and costumes all bring the right note of period authenticity to the proceedings.
— E.V.D.
This most entertaining film is a companion of Accused which has the same producer, director and star, and it is the third version of Farnol’s Regency novel. The other two film adaptations were silent, one made in England in 1920 by Maurice Elvey starring Langhorne Burton, and the other a Hollywood production directed by Sidney Olcott with Richard Barthelmess in the title part.
— G.A.
Wolfgang Kieling (Inspector Van Der Valk), William Marlowe (Martin Ray), Catherine Von Schell (Sophie Ray), Pamela Ann Davy (Elsa de Charmoy), Josef Dubin-Behrman (Eric de Charmoy), Will Van Selst (1st policeman), Lo Van Hensbergen (magistrate), Erik Plooyer (baron), Guido De Moor (Piet Ulbricht), Peter Burton (Herman Ketelboer), Hendrik Onno Molenkamp (Henk Piet Romer), Andre Van Den Heuvel (Professor Comerius), Geert Tijssens (pressman), Liesbeth Stuppert (Dr Tulp), Elizabeth Versluys (weeping wife), Guy Deghy.
Directed by GERRY O’HARA from a screenplay by Edmund Ward, based on the 1962 novel Love in Amsterdam by Nicholas Freeling. Photographed in Eastman Colour by Gerry Fisher. Art director: Terry Pritchard. Film editor: Barry Peters. Music composed and directed by Patrick John Scott. Assistant director: Tony Kovacs. Production manager (Holland): Wim Lindner. Sound recording: Brian Marshall. Producer: Gerry Willoughby. Executive producers: William Gell and Howard Barnes. Sound: Maurice Askew.
A Trio Films/Group W production, released in the U.K. by London Independent Producers, in Australia by Blake Films. Not released in the U.S.A. U.K. release: 2 June 1968. 8,190 feet. 91 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: An English writer is arrested in Amsterdam on a charge of murder.
NOTES: Freeling’s first mystery novel. Other “Van Der Valk” books have followed, including The King of the Rainy Country (1966) for which he won the Mystery Writers of America’s famous Edgar Award for the Best Novel of the Year.
COMMENT: An English film, largely lensed on location in Amsterdam with a predominantly Dutch cast. The locations are attractive, there is a fine music score, and though there is little action, the script and direction are quietly effective. Wolfgang Kieling, despite a somewhat impenetrable accent, engages the interest as a conscientious detective.
Eileen Herlie (Henrietta Stein), Basil Sydney (Francis Alt), Norman Wooland (Crown Prince Rudolf), Anthony Bushell (Baron Hugo Traun), Maria Schell (Anna Linden), John Justin (Paul Alt), Oscar Werner (Hermann Alt), Olga Edwardes (Monica Alt), Anton Edthofer (Emperor Franz Joseph), Andrew Cruickshank (Otto Eberhard), Campbell Cotts (General Leon Paskiewicz), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Simmerl), Dorothy Batley (Pauline Drauffer), John Van Eyssen (Albert Drauffer), Jane Henderson (Gretel Paskiewicz), Jill Gibbs (Monica Alt as a child), Brian Crown (Paul Alt as a child), Allan Woolstan (Hermann Alt as a child), John Corbett (Francis Alt II), Titia Brookes (Henrietta Alt II), Alfred Neugebauer (magistrate), Joan Schofield (governess), Meadows White (Czerny), Jack Faint (Hausmann), David Davies (Nazi leader), Nigel Neilson (2nd Nazi), Derrick Penley (3rd Nazi), Olive Gregg (flower shop assistant), Marc Anthony (Freddie).
Directed by ANTHONY BUSHELL from the English adaptation by Clemence Dane and W.E.C. Fairchild of a screenplay by Karl Hartl and Franz Tassie based on the novel Der Engel mit der Posaune by Ernst Lothar. Photography: Robert Krasker. Film editor: Reginald Beck. Sets designed by Andre Andrejew. Costumes: Roger Furze. Music: Willy Schmidt-Gentner. Assistant director: Guy Hamilton. Producer: Karl Hartl. Executive producer: Alexander Korda.
London Films, released in the U.K. by Associated British on 20 March 1950. Australian release through Universal: 20 October 1950. Copyright in the U.S.A. by London Film Productions, Inc. on 16 June 1950. New York opening at the 68th Street Play House: 20 December 1951. U.S. release through Snader Productions. 8,976 feet. 99 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: The famous Alt family of Viennese piano makers lived in an eighteenth century mansion with a carved emblem over the door — an angel blowing a trumpet. Old Christopher, their founder, used to say: “The trumpet says make music and the angel says serve God”.
One day in 1888, Francis Alt, now head of the family, announced his engagement to Henrietta Stein. The others objected because she had a Jewish father and an actress mother. Besides, her name had been coupled with that of Crown Prince Rudolph. But Francis insisted on marrying her.
Henrietta went to the Prince’s hunting lodge, Mayerling, and, after supper with him and his companion, Baron Traun, she broke the news that they must part.
NOTES: This is the English version of an Austrian film entitled Der Engel mit der Posaune produced and directed by Karl Hartl in 1948 with Paula Wessely in the leading role. After the Austrian film was made, Korda invited Hartl to London to produce an English version. In the interests of economy, a great deal of the Austrian film was incorporated in the English picture. This was facilitated to some extent by the use of Maria Schell and Oscar Werner in their original roles. Some of the minor players were simply dubbed — none too skilfully — and many long shots (in some of which Miss Wessely can be plainly discerned) from the original movie were also retained. Other leading players in the Austrian film were Curt Jurgens, Attila Horbiger, Helene Thimig, Paul Horbiger and Hans Holt.
COMMENT: Although the total result of this panorama of a Viennese family is labored and sketchy, a genuine attempt was made to preserve something of the quality of Eileen Herlie’s power as a dramatic actress. The fault lies not with the performances — which are uniformly fine — but with a script that attempts too much and cannot hold to a dramatic unity (the piecemeal attempt at production is only partly to blame). The script tries to cover far too much ground. One’s interest finally wanders to a contemplation of what might have been achieved with considerable pruning and a more compact storyline. The film is a sad miscalculation, successful neither artistically nor commercially, a sad miscarriage of talent both in production and performance. Still, parts of it reveal what might have been.
— E.V.D.
OTHER VIEWS: Anthony Bushell, director of The Angel With The Trumpet, also plays Baron Traun in the picture. To this arduous dual role Tony Bushell brings a wealth of experience. Though this is his first directing job, he has been in films since 1929, and on the stage since 1924. He was also Laurence Olivier’s producer on the film version of Hamlet.
Tony Bushell was born at Westerham, Kent, on 19 May 1904. Immediately he came down from Hertford College, Oxford, he joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making his first appearance on the stage at the age of 20 in “Diplomacy”. Except for a sneaking desire to win the open golf championship, Tony Bushell has never had any ambition other than the theatre and films. He has appeared in some 20-odd stage productions here and in the U.S., where he spent four years, from 1928 to 1932. These included such favourites as “Her Cardboard Lover”, “The Sacred Flame”, “I Killed the Count”, “Peter Pan”, and the 1939 Malvern Festival repertory, Shaw’s “In Good King Charles’ Golden Days”, “What Say They?” and “Dead Heat”.
— London Films publicity.
Richard Attenborough (Tom Curtis), Pier Angeli (Anna Curtis), Michael Craig (Joe), Bernard Lee (Connolly), Alfred Burke (Travers), Geoffrey Keen (Davis), Laurence Naismith (Martindale), Russell Napier (Sid Thompson), Penelope Horner (Pat), Brian Bedford (Eddie), Brian Murray (Gladys), Oliver Reed (Mick), David Jarrett (Chuck), Daniel Parson (himself), Alan Whicker (himself), Marilyn Green (Cathy Curtis), Ronald Hines (Ball), Beckett Bould (Arkwright), Tony Doonan (Mathews), Michael Wynne (Green), Michael Lees (Harris), Gerald Sim (Masters), Noel Hood (Miss Bennett), Edna Petrie (Harpy), Lloyd Pearson (Howarth), Norman Shelley (Seagrave), Norman Bird (Roberts), Bryan Forbes (London reporter), Stephen Lindo (Brian Curtis), Irene Barrie, Karal Gardner (teenage girls), Frederick Peisley (Lewis), Piers Keelan (Keyes), and Alfred Maron, Joe Gibbons, Bernard Horsfall, Roger Maxwell, Eve Eden, George Murcell, Marianne Stone, Lisa Page, Dolores Mantez, John Charlesworth, Redmond Phillips, Michael Raghan, Jessica Spencer, Deering Wells, Graham Rowe, Rowland Bartrop, Michael Murray.
Directed by GUY GREEN from a screenplay by Bryan Forbes based on an original story by Michael Craig and Richard Gregson. Photography: Arthur Ibbetson. Music composed and directed by Malcolm Arnold. Film editor: Anthony Harvey. Art director: Ray Simm. Assistant directors: Basil Rabin and Julian Mackintosh. Sound supervisors: Alastair McIntyre and Red Law. Sound engineer: Buster Ambler. Associate producer: Jack Rix. A Beaver Film produced by Richard Attenborough and Bryan Forbes.
Released in the U.K. by British Lion on 28 March 1960; in Australia by B.E.F. on 6 April 1961; in the U.S.A. by Valiant Films on 12 December 1960. New York opening at The Sutton: 12 December 1960. Sydney opening at The Embassy. 8,580 feet. 95 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: There had never been any trouble at Martindale’s — the factory which dominated the town of Melsham — until Travers (Alfred Burke) came to work there. But, then, that was Travers’ intention. He came to make trouble.
Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough), who worked at Martindale’s, had problems enough of his own without Travers adding to them. His Italian-born wife Anna (Pier Angeli) was pregnant again and they couldn’t afford the luxury of a third child.
He wasn’t like his best friend, Joe (Michael Craig), who roomed with them and who had no ties or responsibilities.
But as soon as Travers moved in, things got organised at Martindale’s and family problems were pushed into the background.
A works committee came into being — with a man called Connolly (Bernard Lee), whom no one had ever heard of before, as its official spokesman. Of course Travers was the real spokesman behind the scenes. And Travers had made trouble his business.
NOTES: Both Academy and New York Film Critics Award nominations for Best Original Story and Screenplay (lost to The Apartment).
Catholic Film Office Award, and Critics Award at the Berlin Film Festival.
Best British Screenplay — British Academy Award.
The Angry Silence also figured on “Ten Best Films of 1960” lists for The National Board of Review, The New York Post, The New York Daily Mirror, and The New York Times.
Vic Dyer tells us that Michael Craig’s real name is Michael Gregson. Co-writer Richard Gregson is his brother.
COMMENT: After Room at the Top this is the most powerful of the realistic cycle of British films made around 1960. Surprisingly like Three Ten to Yuma in subject, this one offers Attenborough as the one ordinary individual who does what he considers to be right despite the pressures around him. The characterization of this man, his Italian wife and his easy-going friend are new to the British cinema of this period, and there are scenes of tremendous power like the one where the man’s child turns on him or Craig’s riding down the hoodlums on his cycle. The craftsmanship is okay, without being faultless. Green established himself as a director with this film. He had been directing “B” films for about six years and had been a cameraman for over 20 years before that. The producers had some courage to make a straight film like this in a contemporary setting, but they back down by making the bad guy a left-wing agitator.
— Barrie Pattison.
OTHER VIEWS: The script attempts too much and the director loses control in the melodramatic final reel, but the performances are superbly realistic, the direction brisk and the subject-matter daring. In all, the film’s virtues far outweigh any weaknesses.
Dirk Bogarde (Wing Commander Tim Mason), Ian Hunter (Group Captain Logan), Dinah Sheridan (Eve Canyon), Bill Kerr (Flight Lieutenant Bill Brown), Bryan Forbes (Pilot Officer Greeno), William Sylvester (Mac), Charles Victor (Dobbie), Anne Leon (Pamela Greeno), Walter Fitzgerald (Dr Mulvaney), Terence Longden (Dr Buchanan), Sam Kydd (A.C. Ackroyd), Tom Walls (gunnery leader), Harold Siddons (Flight Lieutenant Saunders), Campbell Singer (flight sergeant), Arnold Bell (padre), Allan McClelland (wireless operator flight sergeant), Donovan Winter (navigator), Peter Rendall (flight engineer), Don Sharpe (mid upper gunner), Desmond Roberts (Admiral Parker), Anthony Shaw (Smith), Richard Wattis (Pascal), Gillian Maude (W.A.A.F. officer), John Collicos (Pip), John Fabian (Dizzy), Edward Evans (A.C. Bridges), Stephen Vercoe (Sergeant/Pilot Finch), John Martin (sergeant, control caravan), Carl Jaffe (German general), Carl Duering (German duty officer), Wolf Frees (German Luftwaffe officer), Mrs Aubrey Baring (W.A.A.F.).
Directed by PHILIP LEACOCK from a screenplay by John Wooldridge and Robert Westerby. Photographed by Stephen Dade. Film editor: Vladimir Sagovsky. Art director: Don Ashton. Music composed and conducted by John Wooldridge, played by The Philharmonia Orchestra. Wardrobe supervisor: Bill Walsh. Make-up: Jim Hydes. Camera operator: R.D. Moray Grant. Production manager: Cecil R. Foster Kemp. Sound: A. Ambler. Western Electric Sound System. Producers: Aubrey Baring and Maxwell Setton.
A Mayflower Production, released in the U.K. through British Lion on 16 March 1953; in Australia through London Films on 28 January 1954; in the U.S.A. through Associated Artists in November 1955. No New York opening. Sydney opening at The Esquire. 8,719 feet. 96 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: This is the story of Bomber Command; its action takes place during one month of 1943.
In particular it is the story of a group of men — of Wing Commander Tim Mason; Bill Brown, an Australian pilot; Mac, an American; Pilot Officer Greeno, affectionately called “The Brat” because of his extreme youth, and of their crews in the stirring days of 1943, when Bomber Command set out to smash Hitler’s power behind the lines.
Tim Mason is a leader of men, but leading them constantly into danger has left its mark on him. He and his men have just completed another successful sortie over Germany when their Group Captain, Logan, informs them that they have an important appointment in London to keep one month from that day.
NOTES: Location scenes filmed at the R.A.F. station at Upwood, Hunts.
COMMENT: This film was widely touted at the time of its release as the first time Bogarde had a sympathetic part and was able to speak in his normal voice. Frankly, I didn’t notice any change and the film itself was no more than a passably entertaining tribute to the men of the R.A.F. Bomber Command. The action sequences are vividly staged, but the story itself has many over-familiar ingredients and many of the characters are the usual one-dimensional “types”.
OTHER VIEWS: Dirk Bogarde is a Bomber Command captain whose nerves are being torn to shreds behind that composed countenance, chiefly because he is stubbornly determined to keep on flying until he has completed 90 sorties over enemy territory.
The story is told with considerable sympathy, dignity, and skill, especially in the vivid raid sequences — but there are many common-places, and there is an irritating undercurrent of smugness in the general temper of it.
Dinah Sheridan is a charming romantic interest.
— Sunday Herald.
Jack Buchanan (John Bentley), Janette Scott (Gwen Bentley), Brenda de Banzie (Mrs Stella Bentley), Jerry Wayne (Bobby Denver), Diana Dors (Pearl), Hugh McDermott (Barnaby), Susan Stephen (Corinne), Nigel Green (Peter), Jean Carson (Pat), David Hurst (Dr Schneider), Joan Sims (Linda, the Bentley maid), Athene Seyler (Mrs Arbuthnot, the Bentley's neighbor), Dora Bryan (Mavis), Gilbert Harding (himself), Edie Martin (elderly fan), Susan Lyall Grant, Jean Aubrey (teenage fans), Peter Illing (gendarme sergeant), Hattie Jacques (party girl), Charles Hawtrey (fan in balcony with Peter), Arnold Bell (ship's purser), Pauline Winter (Miss Prendergast), Joan Hickson (barmaid), Norman Wisdom (himself), Ronnie Stevens (man with snuffles), John Blythe (conductor), and Vivienne Martin, Leslie Phillips, Charles Ross.
Director: J. LEE-THOMPSON. Screenplay: Alan Melville. Based on the 1954 West End stage farce by Vernon Sylvaine, which was inspired by the popularity of Johnny Ray. Photographed in Eastman Color (processed by Denham Laboratories) by Gilbert Taylor. Film editor: John D. Guthridge. Art director: Michael Stringer. Costume supervisor: Yvonne Caffin. Make-up: W.T. Partleton. Furs: Molho. Camera operator: Jack Atcheler. Set continuity: Tilly Day. Production manager: Jack Swinburne. Production controller for Pinewood Studios: Arthur Alcott. Assistant director: Pat Marsden. Sound editor: Roger Cherrill. Sound recording: John Dennis, Gordon K. McCallum. Westrex Sound System. Producer: Raymond Stross. Executive producer: Earl St John. A Raymond Stross Production, presented by J. Arthur Rank.
Music scored and directed by Stanley Black. Songs by Sam Coslow. "You Started Something When You Said Goodbye" (Wayne, reprised three times by Wayne); "Quiet Little Rendezvous" (Carson); "I Don't Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry" (Wayne, reprised twice by Wayne and once by Buchanan); "Crazy Little Mixed-Up Heart" (Carson); "If Your Sweetheart Sends a Letter of Goodbye" (Wayne); "Be My Guest" (Wayne); "The Hokey-Pokey Polka" (Dors, McDermott, Buchanan, chorus); "The Light in Liza's Eyes" (Wayne); "It's No Secret" (Buchanan); "I Hate the Mornings" (Buchanan, reprised Buchanan); "Falling In Love" (Wisdom). Additional song: "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (McDermott, reprised McDermott). Choreography: Paddy Stone, Irving Davies. Music recording: Ted Drake.
Copyright 1955 by J. Arthur Rank Film Productions, Limited. No New York opening. U.S. release through Rank Film Distributors: November 1957 (sic). U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 11 April 1955. Australian release through British Empire Films: 12 December 1956 (sic). Running times: 91 minutes (UK), 94 minutes (Aust), 76 minutes (USA).
SYNOPSIS: London city man's teenage daughter has a crush on a crying crooner.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Okay for all.
COMMENT: A one-joke farce dressed out with a couple of mild sub-plots, As Long As They're Happy is nothing if not enthusiastically played and colorfully produced. Admittedly the vigor of the acting is somewhat undermined both by flat scripting and maladroit direction, whilst some of the sheen is taken off the color by obviously tight budgeting; but the songs are pleasant, if forgettable and the choreography has one or two imaginative touches. A pity the script is so talkative, yet almost totally lacking in real bite, and that the direction with its incessant TV-style close-ups (particularly in some ugly shots of Janette Scott) so clumsy. In the unflattering proximity of the camera, Jack Buchanan looks his age. Fortunately, the gracefulness of his dancing is undiminished, though his fans will regret that his opportunities are limited by the omnipresent Jerry Wayne (is this his only movie appearance?), who seems to be forever bursting into song in order to re-emphasize the film's central joke at the expense of Johnny Ray. This wheeze was not very funny at the time. In 2006 it is completely pointless. Fortunately, as said, the songs are themselves agreeable enough — though perhaps viewers will thank Australian television for airing the British version rather than the original Australian release print which contains another two or three minutes of Mr Wayne's warbling. There is a noticeable cut after the first few bars of "If Your Sweetheart Sends a Letter of Goodbye" which then possibly turned into a full-length reprise of "I Don't Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry". I haven't seen the Australian version since early 1957 when it played to a miniscule audience at the local Odeon. None of the film's stars, not even Diana Dors — who looks absolutely stunning — or Norman Wisdom (who both have smallish if important guest roles here) were ever especially popular in Australia.
Nigel Green, although miscast, does his best as a brawling hippie who inexplicably softens into domesticity, Carson is energetic, Miss Stephen personable, but the bulk of the laughs are generated by such support leaguers as Joan Sims as a forever fainting maid-of-little-work, David Hurst as an inventive toilet mechanic, Athene Seyler as a prissy neighbor, Peter Illing as a smitten gendarme and Edie Martin wonderfully frail and diminutive as a rabid fan. It's mostly due to all this devoted work in the minor ranks that As Long As They're Happy, despite its many shortcomings, still adds up as pleasant entertainment.
Noel Coward (Christian Faber), Celia Johnson (Barbara Faber), Margaret Leighton (Leonora Vail), Joyce Carey (Susan Birch), Graham Payn (Tim Verney), Amy Veness (Alice Smith), Ralph Michael (Philip Lucas), Michael Hordern (Ernest), Patricia Glyn (Helen), Alan Webb (Sir Reginald), Everely Gregg (Miss Harper), John Salew (Soames), Gerald Anderson (waiter), John Warren (barman).
Directed by TERENCE FISHER and ANTONY DARNBOROUGH from a screenplay by Noel Coward, based on his own stage play. Photography: Jack Asher. Supervising art director: George Provis. Designs and art director: Maurice Carter. Miss Johnson's gowns: Molyneux. Miss Leighton's gowns: Digby Morton. All other costumes: Yvonne Caffin. Film editor: V. Sagovsky. Music composed by Noel Coward, played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Muir Mathieson. Assistant director: Ernie Morris. Production controller: Arthur Alcott. Artistic supervisor for Mr Coward: Gladys Calthrop. Camera operator: Len Harris. Make-up: W.T. Partleton. Production manager: H. Attwooll. Sound recording: R. Barnes-Heath, Gordon K. McCallum. Western Electric Sound System. Associate producer: Vivian Cox. Producer: Antony Darnborough. Executive producer: Sydney Box. Miss Leighton appears by arrangement with London Film Productions.
Copyright 18 October 1950 by General Film Distributors. A Gainsborough Picture, presented by J. Arthur Rank. New York opening at the Park Avenue Theatre: 14 February 1950. U.S. release through Universal-International: March 1950. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 27 March 1950. Australian release through British Empire Films: 13 October 1950. 8,019 feet. 89 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A successful psychiatrist ruins his life and career through an infatuation with a glamorous socialite.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: The theme is tastefully treated. Suitable for all.
But it shall come to pass, if though wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee... The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Deuteronomy 28: 15, 28-29.
COMMENT: "Astonishment of heart" here means distraction of mind, specifically fear and panic. The film's central character really brings this curse upon himself by deliberately setting out on a path, that he knows from his own experience with others, leads to disaster. Coward's screenplay is inclined to be a bit wordy and slow-moving (even in the 71-minute TV version), but the film's chief fault lies in his wooden portrayal of the central role, especially when contrasted with the more realistic and "natural" playing of Celia Johnson as his long-suffering wife and Margaret Leighton, who gives the performance of her career as the shallow, scheming siren who fatally disrupts their lives. Miss Leighton's fans will be happy to note that she is so beautifully groomed and photographed we can well believe in Mr Coward's infatuation. What we find more difficult to believe is her interest in him. Coward's script carefully prepares the ground for his own entrance but he does not do it justice and once he does move into camera range, he rarely moves off! And is doubtful if he could have given himself more close-ups had he directed the film himself! His wooden movements rob the climax of some of its force, though his music score is atmospherically effective. Photography also makes a contribution to atmosphere. Other credits are skilful but undistinguished (excepting Miss Leighton's stunning costumes). Joyce Carey heads the support players and turns in her usual reliable performance and is able to carry effectively a role somewhat larger than is her usual portion. Other support players are uninteresting (Michael Hordern has a small, inconsequential part as a butler!). Production values are moderate.
OTHER VIEWS: Were it not for its sombre theme, The Astonished Heart could well be described as a brittle comedy of manners. Mr Coward's sure way with witty banter is much in evidence, his stagecraft with his clever building-up and anticipation of both entrances and exits is superb. And although the play is primarily a dialogue piece, Coward has ingeniously opened it out in filmic fashion with lots of interludes, often utilising real locations. Thanks to this skilful construction — as well as to some stylish lighting effects — we never have the impression we are simply watching a filmed stage play.
Elizabeth Bergner (Rosalind), Sir Laurence Olivier (Orlando), Sophie Stewart (Celia), Henry Ainley (banished Duke), Mackenzie Ward (Touchstone), Leon Quartermayne (Jaques), Richard Ainley (Silvius), Felix Aylmer (Duke Frederick), Aubrey Mather (Corin), J. Fisher White (Adam), George Moore Marriott (Dennis), John Laurie (Oliver), Lionel Braham (Charles), Austin Trevor (Le Beau), Gavin Gordon (Amiens), Cyril Horrocks (1st lord), Ellis Irving (2nd lord), Lawrence Hanray (3rd lord), Joan White (Phebe), Dorice Fordred (Audrey), Peter Bull (William), W. H. Clark, A. H. Scott, G. Hall, G. Lawrence (pages), Muriel Johnson (Hisperia).
Directed by PAUL CZINNER from a screenplay by Robert J. Cullen and James M. Barrie, based on the stage play by William Shakespeare. Photography: Harold Rosson. Camera operator: Jack Cardiff. Film editor: David Lean. Music: Sir William Walton. Art director: Lazare Meerson. Dialogue director: Leon Quartermayne. Music director: Efrem Kurtz. Choreography: Ninette de Valois. Costumes: John Armstrong, Joe Strassner. Assistant directors: Teddy Baird, Dallas Bower. Production manager: Robert J. Cullen. Producer: Paul Czinner.
Released in the U.S. by 20th Century-Fox on 5 November 1936. An Inter-Allied Picture. A Paul Czinner Production. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 5 November 1936 (ran one week). 100 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: A banished Duke’s daughter poses as a man.
COMMENT: The formidable array of talent engaged on this production is vitiated every time producer/director Paul Czinner’s wife, Elizabeth Bergner, appears on screen. Not only is her accent so thick as to render most of her speech unintelligible, her performance is just plain awful. Czinner’s direction is routine (he seems to start every scene at a high angle and then dolly down), but the sets, costumes and photography with their brilliant high contrast and some of the supporting acting, particularly Laurie and Quartermayne, make the film worth seeing.
Cicely Courtneidge (Sally Bird/Mademoiselle Zaza), Sam Hardy (Michael "King" Kelly), Phyllis Clare (Queenie Mills), Billy Milton (Billy Kelly), Hartley Power ("Gloves" Clark), Ben Welden (Casino), Enrico Naldi (Little Joe), Ann Hope (Joan), Ivor McLaren (Madison), Rex Evans (Percy), Tubby Cipen (Tubby), Leslie Holmes, The Carlyle Cousins, The Three Admirals, Val Rosing, The Naldi Trio, Debroy Somers and his Band, The Gainsborough Chorus, Reilly and Comfort (themselves).
Director: TIM WHELAN. Screenplay: Guy Bolton. Adaptation and additional dialogue: Austin Melford, A.R. Rawlinson. Story: Tim Whelan. Photography: Charles Van Enger. Film editor: Derek Twist. Art director: Alex Vetchinsky. Assistant art director: Oscar Werndorff. Costumes: Gordon Conway. Music: Harry Woods. Dances: Edward Royce. Music director: Louis Levy. Songs: "I Want a Fair and a Square Man" (Clare), "My Wild Oat" (Courtneidge, reprised Holmes), "My Lazy Lily" (Courtneidge), "I Love Everything" (Courtneidge), "Napoleon's Hat" (Courtneidge), "You Ought To See Sally on Sunday" (Milton, Admirals and chorus), "The Wind in the West" (chorus, reprised Carlyle Cousins, reprised Courtneidge), "Riding on a Rainbow" (Courtneidge and chorus). All songs by Harry M. Woods. Unit production manager: Herbert Mason. Sound supervisor: George Gunn. Sound recording: H. Hand. British Acoustic Film Sound System. Producer: Michael Balcon.
A Gainsborough Picture, not copyrighted in the U.S.A. Produced by Gainsborough Pictures (1928) Ltd. New York opening at the Criterion: 15 June 1934. U.S. release through Gaumont-British: 15 June 1934. U.K. release through Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd: 5 March 1934. Registered in the U.K. on 22 December 1933. 7,620 feet. 84 minutes.
U.S. release title: ALONG CAME SALLY.
SYNOPSIS: A variant on Brandon Thomas' 1892 play Charley's Aunt (hence the title). Rejected amateur crashes show business by impersonating a fictitious Continental star.
NOTES: American actor Sam Hardy made nearly 75 movies before his untimely death in Hollywood in 1935.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Although morally unobjectionable, the film is unsuitable for children because of its setting and generally loose attitude.
COMMENT: One of the best British musicals with two outstanding production numbers (both worthy of Busby Berkeley, complete with trademark overhead shots, though it must be admitted that the individual chorus girls are not quite so devastatingly beautiful), three really catchy songs, and a couple of chucklesome novelty ditties. The band is in really fine form. A musical worth seeing just for the music alone!
The plot on which the numbers are pegged is rather old-hat, though it does allow Cicely Courtneidge ample comic opportunities. The support players are classy enough too.
Whelan has directed with unobtrusive skill. Other credits and production values are absolutely top-drawer.
OTHER VIEWS: A standard show business plot. How many can you come up with? Mae West in Every Day's a Holiday, Doris Day in It's a Great Feeling... How well you like this one will depend on how well you like Cicely Courtneidge who has the lion's share of both the comic action and the songs. If you're a Courtneidge fan, you'll be in heaven.
The Director: An imaginative director, Tim Whelan is equally at home with musical comedies, thrillers and westerns, with a number of really first-class films to his credit including The Camels Are Coming, Clouds Over Europe, The Thief of Bagdad, International Lady, Higher and Higher, Step Lively, and Badman's Territory.
Valerie Hobson (Barbie Lomax), Philip Friend (John Lomax), Norman Wooland (Bill Ogden), Janette Scott (Jess), Mandy Miller (Linda), Jeremy Spenser (Adrian), Lily Kann (Brownie), Helen Shingler (Mary Wallace), Richard Wattis (David Wallace), Thora Hird (Mrs Humphries), Louise Hampton (Miss Russell), Joss Ambler (judge), Brian Harding (Arthur Meade), Jack Melford, (Mackay), Lloyd Lamble (defence counsel), Ernest Butcher (clerk) and Barbara Hicks.
Directed by DANIEL BIRT from a screenplay by Warren Chetham-Strode and Don Sharp, based on the stage play by Warren Chetham-Strode. Photography: Arthur Grant. Film editor: John Trumper. Art director: Michael Stringer. Hair styles: Eileen Bates. Wardrobe: Amy Binney. Make-up: Stuart Freeborn. Set continuity: Shirley Barnes. Camera operator: Kenneth Hodges. Music composed by Franz Liszt, played by Cyril Smith. Assistant director: Denis Johnson. Production manager: Michael Delamare. Sound recording: Len Page. RCA Sound System. Producer: Herbert Mason. Executive producer: John Grierson.
A Group 3 Production, made at Beaconfield Studios, Buckinghamshire. Released in the U.K. by A.B.F.D. on 9 November 1953. Released in Australia by B.E.F. on 29 September 1955. Not theatrically released in the U.S.A. but available to TV through Creative Cine-Tel under the title: Two Loves Hath Barbie. 7,449 feet. 82 minutes.
Alternative U.S. title: Edge of Divorce.
COMMENT: Unconvincing and uninteresting domestic drama, melodramatically resolved. Birt’s direction is even duller than the script, though his training as an editor is occasionally shown by some effectively sharp cuts. The players do their best, however, and there are some occasional Liszt piano pieces, smoothly played by Cyril Smith. The writer Chetham-Strode also made a small contribution to Abdul the Damned. His name appears in very modest print in the credits of that movie, whereas the other screenwriters figure comparatively large.
Dennis Price (Lord Byron), Mai Zetterling (Teresa Guiccioli), Joan Greenwood (Lady Caroline Lamb), Linden Travers (Augusta Leigh), Sonia Holm (Arabella Millbank), Raymond Lovell (John Hobhouse), Leslie Dwyer (Fletcher), Denis O'Dea (prosecution), Ernest Thesiger (Count Guiccioli), Irene Browne (Lady Melbourne), Barry Jones (Colonel Stanhope), Henry Oscar (Count Gamba), Archie Duncan (John Murray), Liam Gaffney (Tom Moore), John Salew (Samuel Rogers), Wilfrid Hyde-White (Mr Hopton), Betty Lynne (Signora Segati), Leo Texera (Pietro Gamba), Richard Molinas (gondolier), Gerard Heinz (Austrian officer), Robert Harris (Dallas), Cyril Chamberlain (defence counsel), Ronald Adam (judge), Natalie Moya (Lady Milbanke), John Stone (Lord Clare), Gilbert Davis (Tita), Zena Marshall (Italian girl), Vincent Holman (bailiff), Guy Le Feuvre (doctor), Aubrey Mallalieu (1st old member, Byron's club), Desmond Roberts (2nd old member), Nora Swinburne (Lady Jersey), Lena Lenare (La Fornarina), Bernard Rebel (Dr Bruno), Olaf Pooley (Blaquiere), Henry Mollison (Price Mavrocordate), Maurice Denham (Count Von Manderfeld), Fred Groves (porter, Byron's club), Christopher Watt (mandoline player), John Warren (Captain Sass), Richard Angus (Major Henriques), Henrik Jacobson (Major Forston), Cavan Watson (McAlister), V.J. Capernaros (1st suliote), Paul Merras (2nd suliote), George Angeleglou (3rd suliote), Michael Yannis (interpreter).
Directed by DAVID MACDONALD from a screenplay by Terence Young and Anthony Thorne, based on "The Years of Fame" and "Byron in Italy" by Peter Quennell and "The Trial of Lord Byron" by Laurence Kitchin. Story advisor: Paul Holt. Mr MacDonald's services by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios Ltd. Photography: Stephen Dade. Camera operator: David Harcourt. Italian location photography: Gordon Lang. Italian camera operator: Frank Bassill. Italian advisor: Maurice Lordi-Fe. Location assistants: Jacope Comin and Luis Luicidi. 1st assistant camera operator: R. Taylor. 2nd assistant camera operator: John Alcott. Loading: W. Law. Floor electrician: F. Elkins. Supervising art director: George Provis. Designs and art direction: Maurice Carter. Chief draughtsman: Lionel Couch. Scenic artist: Fred Manning. Set dresser: John Jarvis. Property master: A. Rumsey. Special effects: P. Guidobaldi and A. Whitlock. Dress designer: Elizabeth Haffenden. Wardrobe mistress: Dolly Smith. Wardrobe master: W. Neale. Assistant director: Don Weeks. 2nd assistant director: A. Pearl. 3rd assistant director: A. Bailey. Supervising film editor: Charles Knott. Film editor: James Needs. Assembly cutter: May Dennington. Assembly editor: E. Boita. 2nd assistant editor: D. Terrett. Make-up: W. T. Partleton. Hairdressing: E. Adler. Stills: John Jay and L. Turner. Continuity: Phil Ross. Music composed by Cedric Thorpe Davie, played by the London Symphony Orchestra directed by Muir Mathieson. Production controller: Arthur Alcott. Production manager: Anthony Nelson Keys. Sound supervisor: Brian Sewell. Sound recordists: L. Hammond and W. Salter. Sound camera: G. Sinnott. Boom operator: C. Hitchcock. Assistant boom operator: B. J. Salter. Associate producer: Alfred Roome. Producer: Aubrey Baring. Executive producer: Sydney Box. A Sydney Box Production, presented and released in the U.K. by J. Arthur Rank. A Gainsborough Picture, made at Lime Grove Studios, Shepherd's Bush.
Copyright 1949 by General Film Distributors. New York opening at the 72nd Street Trans-Lux: 19 March 1952. U.S. release through International Releasing Organization, Inc. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 18 April 1949. Australian release through Gaumont-British-Dominions/20th Century-Fox: 27 October 1950. 7,610 feet. 84½ minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Byron bad or Byron good? That is the question.
VIEWER'S GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: Beautifully photographed and often sumptuously set, but dull, repetitious, and fatally flawed by the ploddingly uninspired interpretation of Dennis Price who is about as Byronic as a poodle in a duck pond. David MacDonald's often pedestrian direction is little help. A wonderful cast of support players, although likewise hampered by the listlessly paced, verbose script and the lack of forceful direction, provide some much needed richness and variety to the otherwise dull proceedings.
One is tempted to describe the film as one of the dullest and most tedious ever made, but actually the first half is quite unintentionally funny. But alas, even this unintentional ludicrousness becomes tiresome after forty minutes or so and the sole saving grace of the next forty is half-a-minute in which Byron actually reads one of his own poems over montage silhouettes of Venetian waterways.
OTHER VIEWS: An excellent example of how to make a bad film. Take a screenplay by Terence Young (based on the two books by Quennell) and hand it over to a producer (Baring) and an especially untalented director (MacDonald) to melt down. Hand the resulting mutilation over to the story advisor for comments and suggestions and rewrite the script again. Throw away several treatments before finally settling on one, only to discover that the actress involved (the lovely Swedish star, Mai Zetterling) will be unable to complete the additional scenes owing to previous commitments. In this slough of despair, will grasp at any straws. Listen to a crack-brained radio play called "The Trial of Lord Byron" and hand the script over to a bright young man named Anthony Thorne to rewrite along these ludicrous lines. Then cast an actor who needs strong direction in the main role, and top off with the weakest, most untalented director one can find, and surround with second-rate technicians. Then spend a bit of money, but not too much, skimping on this and saving thousands on that. Then wonder why your film is a critical disaster and a boxoffice flop!
— John Howard Reid writing as George Addison.
Big-Hearted Arthur Askey, Richard "Stinker" Murdoch, Patricia Kirkwood, Jack Hylton and his Band, Freddy Schweitzer, Sherman Fisher Girls, Michael Standing, Mr Middleton (themselves), Moore Marriott (Jasper), Donald Calthrop (Hobday), Peter Gawthorne (Pilkington), Wally Patch (BBC commissionaire), Bruce Trent, Jasmine Bligh, Jonah Barrington, Paul Holt.
Director: MARCEL VARNEL. Screenplay: John Watt, Harry Pepper, Gordon Crier, Vernon Harris, J.O.C. Orton, Val Guest, Marriott Edgar, Bob Edmunds. Based on the BBC radio series. Photography: Arthur Crabtree. Film editor: R.E. Dearing. Cutting: Alfred Roome. Art director: Alex Vetchinsky. Camera operator: Henry Harris. Songs: "Melody Maker" (Hylton, Kirkwood), by Noel Gay and Frank Eyton; "The Only One Who's Difficult Is You" (Kirkwood, Murdoch, Askey) by Noel Gay and Clifford Grey; "After Dark" by Noel Gay; "Heaven Will Be Heavenly" (Kirkwood, Murdoch) by Harry Farr-Davies and others; "A Pretty Bird" (Askey) by Kenneth Blank; "Boomps-a-Daisy" (Kirkwood, Murdoch, Askey, Hylton) by Annette Mills. "Band Waggon" (Hylton and chorus); "Old King Cole" (Askey, Murdoch and glee trio); "Big-Hearted Arthur" (Askey); "Busy, Busy Bee" (Askey); "Underneath the Spreading Chestnut Tree" (Askey and Murdoch). Sound recording: Sid Wiles. British Acoustic Film Sound System. Producer: Edward Black. Executive producer: Maurice Ostrer. A Gainsborough Picture, presented by Gaumont British Picture Corp., Ltd. Made at Shepherd's Bush Studios, London. Presented by J. Arthur Rank.
Not copyrighted or released in the U.S.A. Registered in the U.K. on 29 January 1940. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 23 March 1940. Australian release through G-B-D/20th Century-Fox: 11 July 1940. Original running time: 7,693 feet. Cut to 7,163 feet (a shade under 80 minutes) for U.K. general release and to 5,937 feet for Australia. Current 2006 television print runs approx. 80 minutes.