An Englishman's Home (film)

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An Englishman's Home
An Englishman's Home (film).jpg
Directed by Albert de Courville
Written by Rodney Ackland
Ian Hay
Edward Knoblock
Dennis Wheatley
Based on An Englishman's Home by Guy du Maurier
Produced byNeville E. Neville
Starring Edmund Gwenn
Mary Maguire
Paul Henreid
Cinematography Mutz Greenbaum
Cyril J. Knowles
Edited by Lister Laurance
Music by Louis Levy
Production
company
Aldwych Films
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • 27 January 1940 (1940-01-27)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

An Englishman's Home (U.S. title Mad Men of Europe; also known as Amour D'espion) is a 1940 British drama film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Edmund Gwenn, Mary Maguire and Paul Henreid. [1] It was written by Rodney Ackland, Ian Hay, Edward Knoblock and Dennis Wheatley, adapted from the 1909 play An Englishman's Home by Guy du Maurier. [2]

Contents

Cast

Production

It was filmed at Denham Studios outside London with production commencing in May 1939. [3] The film's sets were designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.

Release

Originally released in the UK in January 19040, was picked up for distribution in the United States by Columbia Pictures who released it in June 1940 under the alternative title Mad Men of Europe. [4]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The story is no more than an adventure serial for schoolboys, and even they will despise the film for its technical inadequacies and for the meagre material used, particularly in the final sequences when the same shot of aeroplanes in flight, and one with nothing intrinsic to recommend it, is used four times. The photography is uninspired, with entirely flat lighting all through, and the direction is: nothing more than straight-forward. It would, however, be impossible to enliven the story, short of resorting to burlesque." [5]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Paul von Hernried acts with restraint as spy Brandt; he invites a little sympathy, put Mary Maguire is a colourless Betty. ... Here is a picture that is for the most part a victim of circumstances. A month or so ago its portrait of invasion, highly coloured as it s, would have served as propaganda, but there is no use for its spectacular speculations to-day. Points of Appeal. – None." [6]

Picturegoer wrote: "There is not a great deal of realism in the aerial sequences and, indeed, the whole story strikes one as fantastic and novelettish." [7]

References

  1. ↑ "An Englishman's Home". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 18 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Goble, Alan (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 750. ISBN   9783598114922.
  3. ↑ Wood, Linda (1986). British Films, 1927–1939 (PDF). British Film Institute. p. 100. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 October 2022.
  4. ↑ Shull, Michael S.; Wilt, David Edward (2006). Hollywood War Films, 1937–1945: An Exhaustive Filmography of American Feature-Length Motion Pictures Relating to World War II. McFarland. p. 147. ISBN   978-0786428540.
  5. ↑ "An Englishman's Home". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 6 (61): 185. 1 January 1939. ProQuest   1305801776.
  6. ↑ "An Englishman's Home". Kine Weekly . 271 (1693): 17. 28 September 1939. ProQuest   2339769741.
  7. ↑ "An Englishman's Home". Picturegoer . 9: 22. 8 October 1939. ProQuest   1771171168.
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