Golden Lion |
Despite all the nitpicking by critics this film is a lovely thing to watch. The negative seems to have faded and could do with refreshing but the lovely dresses and decor of this story is fine as is the singing.
With Stafford Cripps currently Chancellor of the Exchequor audiences needed a break from rationing and austerity and lapped this nonsense up in 1950. But despite the trappings of Technicolor and occasional sunlit Austrian locations this tinny big screen version of Ivor Novello's long-running West End hit of 1939 (originally directed on stage by Leontine Sagan) feels drab and cheap, with many of the exteriors obviously shot in the studio.
Dennis Price didn't do anything likes this again.It is positively antediluvan.
I have no idea if Ivor Novello would have liked this film. The fact that a great slab of his Operetta was cut out does not inspire confidence that he did.
Both my mother and grandmother were avid Novello fans - a great-aunt even made soft furnishings for his London flat above The Strand Theatre. Therefore all my life I have been totally prejudiced against his sickly-sweet tunes and dated 'Ruritanian' fantasies.
I was so pleasantly surprised by this made-for-TV film that I just had to offer a comment. Although written around late 1930's, I found the dialogue to be honest and meaningful, giving an unexpected realism to the music and to the emotional effect of the overall story.
