I'm a sucker for any film which portrays wonderful skill at pianoforte (I even liked dear old Cornel Wilde playing Frederic Chopin!) and better still with the deliciously beautiful, raven haired Margaret Lockwood - I've been a fan of hers ever since she portrayed the Gainsborogh Films, "Wicked Lady (1945)".Add to that her co star in that film, the attractive Patricia Roc and Gainsborough stalwart, Stewart Grainger then add a delightful Cornish location setting with empty roads you can remember as a kid, driving down to that county from London in the mid 1950s; and for me that is a recipe for a great film.
I was not disappointed having bought this rare film (not generally seen today on tv networks) by successfully bidding on "EBay.com".The music played by Harriet Cohen to Hubert Bath's score was a major enjoyable feature.What is it about these beautiful actresses of the 1940s I find so appealing?It certainly is not the way they keep lighting up on screen but my mother told me that during WWII virtually everyone she knew smoked.I suppose your life expectancy could be short when you began to realise any day could be your last before a German bomb landed on you.Considering I was born in 1946, I personally find brunette actresses such as Margaret Lockwood, Jennifer Jones, Hedy Lamarr, Gene Tierney etc. a hundred times more sexy than todays obvious sirens.
As this is rather a rare film, I will provide a plot so readers may judge for themeselves whether to investigate it further.Sorry for the spoiler:
Margaret Lockwood plays Lissa a talented and successful concert pianist based in London.Lissa feels she should apply to the WRAF to help the war effort before her agent is about to arrange another international tour.However Lissa fails her statutory medical and is then alarmed to discover by illicitly reading her confidential medical file that she has only three months to live!As she has spent too much time on her art but not enough enjoying a holiday, she arranges a break for herself in Cornwall (for non-cognoscenti it is a county in the extreme south west of England, famous as an internal holiday resort - remember this is war time).She checks into a hotel and there meets an avuncular guest who is a wealthy retired industrialist who befriends her and agrees to finance the play to be produced there.Whilst there, Patricia Roc (who plays a London professional actress) comes down to Cornwall to stay with the intention of producing the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".Also there is Patricia's friend, an ex miner cum archaeologist called Kit, (Stewart Grainger) who is cynical about the world as only these two know his sight is failing and an operation is too risky to contemplate.He practices in secret for the time he will become blind.
Whilst out on the cliffs looking at an old mine shaft Kit meets Lissa and they initially become friends.Kit however keeps reciting the song of the "Miller of Dee" (Musically) "I care for nobody, no not me and nobody cares for me"; meaning he does not want any serious emotional entanglement as he does not think it fair he should inflict a cripple on any future partner.Lissa however finds she is falling in love with him and tries but just cannot keep to the "only fun" agenda.On the music front, Cornwall (the sound of the sea, seagulls crying overhead etc.) inspire her to write "Cornish Rhapsody" for pianoforte.Kit even announces his engagement to Patricia Roc but really they are just platonic friends who grew up together.Realising her romance is apparantly doomed from the outset, Lissa plans a return to London but not before she gives her debut of "Cornish Rhapsody" before the play can start as Patricia first has serious emotional problens to contend with and cannot go onto the improvised exterior stage which has views of the sea and where the audience sits on the rocks and cliffs.
Kit then suddenly appears at the London debut (The Royal Albert Hall) of "Cornish Rhapsody" after he and Patricia both realise they would merely be going through the motions if they married.He discloses to Lissa his infirmity and is comforted by her belief that although the odds are against it, he should have the corrective op.Mercifully it is a success but then Lissa has her own health problem to disclose to Kit.The film ends on a hopeful note.We all want Lissa to live happily with Kit but fate must be tested first.I always think whether the producers of films between 1939-1945 are trying to tell us the viewer an allegorical story of struggle of good against an implacable foe in such cases.
Highly enjoyable for me 8/10.
I was not disappointed having bought this rare film (not generally seen today on tv networks) by successfully bidding on "EBay.com".The music played by Harriet Cohen to Hubert Bath's score was a major enjoyable feature.What is it about these beautiful actresses of the 1940s I find so appealing?It certainly is not the way they keep lighting up on screen but my mother told me that during WWII virtually everyone she knew smoked.I suppose your life expectancy could be short when you began to realise any day could be your last before a German bomb landed on you.Considering I was born in 1946, I personally find brunette actresses such as Margaret Lockwood, Jennifer Jones, Hedy Lamarr, Gene Tierney etc. a hundred times more sexy than todays obvious sirens.
As this is rather a rare film, I will provide a plot so readers may judge for themeselves whether to investigate it further.Sorry for the spoiler:
Margaret Lockwood plays Lissa a talented and successful concert pianist based in London.Lissa feels she should apply to the WRAF to help the war effort before her agent is about to arrange another international tour.However Lissa fails her statutory medical and is then alarmed to discover by illicitly reading her confidential medical file that she has only three months to live!As she has spent too much time on her art but not enough enjoying a holiday, she arranges a break for herself in Cornwall (for non-cognoscenti it is a county in the extreme south west of England, famous as an internal holiday resort - remember this is war time).She checks into a hotel and there meets an avuncular guest who is a wealthy retired industrialist who befriends her and agrees to finance the play to be produced there.Whilst there, Patricia Roc (who plays a London professional actress) comes down to Cornwall to stay with the intention of producing the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".Also there is Patricia's friend, an ex miner cum archaeologist called Kit, (Stewart Grainger) who is cynical about the world as only these two know his sight is failing and an operation is too risky to contemplate.He practices in secret for the time he will become blind.
Whilst out on the cliffs looking at an old mine shaft Kit meets Lissa and they initially become friends.Kit however keeps reciting the song of the "Miller of Dee" (Musically) "I care for nobody, no not me and nobody cares for me"; meaning he does not want any serious emotional entanglement as he does not think it fair he should inflict a cripple on any future partner.Lissa however finds she is falling in love with him and tries but just cannot keep to the "only fun" agenda.On the music front, Cornwall (the sound of the sea, seagulls crying overhead etc.) inspire her to write "Cornish Rhapsody" for pianoforte.Kit even announces his engagement to Patricia Roc but really they are just platonic friends who grew up together.Realising her romance is apparantly doomed from the outset, Lissa plans a return to London but not before she gives her debut of "Cornish Rhapsody" before the play can start as Patricia first has serious emotional problens to contend with and cannot go onto the improvised exterior stage which has views of the sea and where the audience sits on the rocks and cliffs.
Kit then suddenly appears at the London debut (The Royal Albert Hall) of "Cornish Rhapsody" after he and Patricia both realise they would merely be going through the motions if they married.He discloses to Lissa his infirmity and is comforted by her belief that although the odds are against it, he should have the corrective op.Mercifully it is a success but then Lissa has her own health problem to disclose to Kit.The film ends on a hopeful note.We all want Lissa to live happily with Kit but fate must be tested first.I always think whether the producers of films between 1939-1945 are trying to tell us the viewer an allegorical story of struggle of good against an implacable foe in such cases.
Highly enjoyable for me 8/10.