Displaying items by tag: Eileen Herlie

FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE

UK, 1954, 85 minutes, Colour.

Dirk Bogarde, Susan Stephen, Cecil Parker, Eileen Herlie, Athene Seyler, Dennis Price, Pia Teri, James Hayter, Thora Hird, George Woodbridge, Charles Victor, Sidney James, Robin Bailey.

Directed by J. Lee Thompson.

British domestic story from the mid-1950s – and, on the evidence of this film, it would seem a long time ago.

It was something of a prestige film at its time, written and directed by J. Lee Thompson who was to go on to international success with many films, especially The Guns of Navarone and a number of Charles Bronson thrillers. At this time Dirk Bogarde was emerging as a comedian, after many thrillers, especially with Doctor in the House. Susan Stephen was a regular star of this period. Cecil Parker was a very popular character actor – and there are so many more character actors in the supporting roles in this film which makes it so much more enjoyable as we recognise them.

Dirk Bogarde, playing 10 years younger than he actually was, earnestly wants to marry Susan Stephen. The film opens as they watch a romance on screen, then a proposal, then the meeting with her mother, Eileen Herlie, who becomes almost immediately sympathetic, and then the meeting with her father, Cecil Parker, demanding but far less pompously aristocratic than in many of his roles.

There is the issue of getting a job which he eventually does with the government but is it enough to live on? And what about a house? They go to a one-room flat, managed by Dennis Price, there are arguments for and against but their placing the deposit.

One of the main sections, especially for some comedy, has Susan Stephen preparing a dinner for her parents – and the elderly neighbour who is always coming in to use the phone, interfering, but ultimately nice; the local cleaner, played by Thora Hird, who is helpful in preparing the dinner; James Hayter as the plumber who is at the end of an attack by the husband. The other big scene is the arrival of so much furniture, with Charles Victor and George Woodbridge as the sympathetic carriers – and then a glimpse of Sidney James, not so sympathetic.

If this appeals, with its mid-1950s British style, beliefs about the working husband, the wife staying at home…, Then this may be an appealing pastime. (And, for distribution in the US, as with many British the time, very strange title changes – and this one was called, of all things, Cocktails in the Kitchen.)

THE STORY OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN

UK, 1953, 109 minutes, Colour.

Robert Morley, Maurice Evans, Eileen Herlieh, Peter Finch, Martyn Green, Dina Sheridan, Isabel Dean, Wilfred Hyde-White, Muriel Aked, Michael Ripper.

Directed by Sidney Gilliat.

From a 21^st-century perspective, it is surprising to discover that this film was not successful at the box office on its release in the early 1950s. Yet, the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan continued to be very, very popular.

This is quite a lavish production, sets and costumes, theatrical design, English society in the latter part of the 19^th century.

For audiences interested in Gilbert and Sullivan, Robert Morley gives a variation on his enjoyably pompous performances as the self-confident Gilbert, master of words and witty lines, yet dreading opening nights, avoiding them, returning to hear applause and go happily on stage. Maurice Evans is Sullivan, classical composer of oratorios, eventually an Opera, teaming up with Gilbert, challenged by friends and a potential fiancee played by Dinah Sheridan, to honour his talent for high art. However, he is carried away and has composed many wonderful melodies, songs to accompany Gilbert’s words, but the music having a stand alone and entertainment value.

The screenplay follows the various productions, reproducing scenes from some of the most famous and well known. The film starts with an extensive excerpt from Trial By Jury, then moves into such favourites as HMS Pinafore, the Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, The Gondoliers and Yeomen of the Guard, Iolanthe. And references to other creations like The Sorcerer.

Peter Finch appears as D’Oyley Carte, the manager of the company, the builder of the Savoy Theatre, involved in the building of the Opera house. There are quite a number of British character actors in support, Eileen Herlie as Helen D’Oyley Carte, a successful business partner with her husband, Isabel Dean as Gilbert’s wife and an entertaining cameo from Wilfred Hyde-who is to who enjoys the performances unlike his snobbish daughter.

There is some pathos at the end after Gilbert and Sullivan’s falling out, not speaking for some years, a possible reconciliation, the turn-of-the-century performance of the Yeomen of the Guard and the news of Sullivan’s death. Gilbert continued and was knighted by Queen Victoria, the culmination of the film.

In 1999, writer-director, Mike Leigh, did more than justice to Gilbert and Sullivan and their creations in his lavish and engaging film, Topsy Turvey.