Bitter Sweet (1933 film)

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Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet (1933 film) poster.JPG
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Herbert Wilcox
Screenplay by Lydia Hayward
Monckton Hoffe
Herbert Wilcox
Based on Bitter Sweet
1929 operetta
by Noël Coward
Produced byHerbert Wilcox
Starring Anna Neagle
Fernand Gravey
Esme Percy
Clifford Heatherley
Ivy St. Helier
Cinematography Freddie Young
Edited byMichael Hankinson
Music byRoy Robertson
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
31 August 1933 (1933-08-31)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£500,000 [1]

Bitter Sweet is a British musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and released by United Artists in 1933. It was the first film adaptation of Noël Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet . It starred Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey, with Ivy St. Helier reviving her stage role as Manon. It was made at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios and was part of a boom in operetta films during the 1930s.

Contents

It tells the story of Sarah Linden's romance. Sarah, now a gray-haired old woman, tells her story to a girl who is on the eve of marrying an obnoxious man when she is really in love with a musician. [2]

The operetta was remade in 1940 as a film of the same name with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy; however, it was less faithful to the original story than the less censored 1933 version. [3]

Plot summary

Cast

Reception

According to Wilcox the film made no profits. He later wrote "it must have been my fault, for surely a better musical play has never been written... perhaps, however, the story is rather too sad for a film." [4]

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<i>Wonderful Things!</i> 1958 British film

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Nell Gwyn is a 1926 British silent romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Dorothy Gish, Randle Ayrton and Juliette Compton. It was based on the 1926 novel Mistress Nell Gwyn by Marjorie Bowen and follows the life of Nell Gwynne, the mistress of Charles II. Wilcox later made a second version of the film in 1934, Nell Gwynn which starred Anna Neagle.

<i>Lilacs in the Spring</i> 1954 film

Lilacs in the Spring is a 1954 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn and David Farrar. The film was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Shot in Trucolor it was distributed in Britain by Republic Pictures. It was the first of two films Neagle and Flynn made together, the other being King's Rhapsody. It was released in the United States as Let's Make Up.

This is a summary of 1933 in music in the United Kingdom.

References

  1. Elstree Versus Hollywood Film Citadel Challenged By Recent British Productions The Times of India (1861-current) [New Delhi, India] 18 November 1933: pg 18.
  2. Hall, Mordaunt (24 August 1933). "Movie Review – Bitter Sweet – Many Stars of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Firmament In the Film Version of "Dinner at Eight"". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  3. "Bitter Sweet (1940)". Jeanettemacdonaldandnelsoneddy.com. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  4. Herbert Wilcox, Twenty Five Thousand Sunsets, 1967 p 96