Dangerous Exile | |
---|---|
Directed by | Brian Desmond Hurst |
Written by | Robin Estridge additional dialogue Patrick Kirwan |
Based on | A King Reluctant by Vaughan Wilkins |
Produced by | George H. Brown 'executive' Earl St. John |
Starring | Louis Jourdan Keith Michell Belinda Lee Richard O'Sullivan |
Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
Edited by | Peter Bezencenet |
Music by | Georges Auric |
Production company | Rank Organisation Film Productions |
Distributed by | J. Arthur Rank |
Release dates | 12 December 1957 (UK) 10 October 1958 (US) |
Running time | 91 minutes |
Country | England |
Language | English |
Dangerous Exile is a 1957 British historical drama film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Louis Jourdan, Belinda Lee, Anne Heywood and Richard O'Sullivan. It concerns the fate of Louis XVII, who died in 1795 as a boy, yet was popularly believed to have escaped from his French revolutionary captors. [1]
In 1795, the Duke Philippe de Beauvais smuggles his own son into the prison cell where Louis XVII is kept. Thus Louis XVII can escape unnoticed to England. Unfortunately the aerostat, steered by Duke Philippe de Beauvais, lands accidentally on a remote island. There an American spinster, Virginia Traill, takes care of the strange child. She finds the dauphin profoundly traumatised and not interested in becoming a king. Meanwhile, Louis' uncle Louis XVIII in Vienna has declared himself the new French king. In order to safeguard his claim on the throne, he sends assassins who shall murder the dauphin.
Being unaware of the exchange, he has Richard de Beauvais killed. But now the dauphin's torturers recognise that they have been deceived. Informed by a message of an English spy they send a ship to the island where the real dauphin hides. They attack the house of Virginia Traill and stop at nothing to detect the dauphin's hiding-place.
The film was based on the novel A King Reluctant by Vaughan Wilkins, which was published in 1952. [2] The New York Times called it "a rousing, colourful tale and historically convincing." [3]
In February 1956 Rank announced A King Reluctant would be their expensive historical picture for the year with location filming to be done in Italy, Spain and the West Indies. Sir John Davis of Rank said "We cannot copy Hollywood's spectacular epics but we can provide good stories well-made - that is the answer to television competition." [4]
Pat Jackson said he was offered the film to direct but turned it down as "I thought it was absolutely terrible" and claims it turned out to be a "ghastly flop". [5]
The female lead went to Belinda Lee. [6]
The film was shot in Pinewood Studios and on location in Cornwall in April 1957. [7] Lee was injured when her hair caught fire during a scene. [8] Vyvyan Holland, son of Oscar Wilde, worked on the film as a historical adviser. [9]
The Manchester Guardian called the film "monstrous twaddle" with "just one merit - its beautifully colored photography". [10]
Variety called it "a historical, cloak and dagger meller with all the typical excitements, absurdities, confusions, flashbacks, swordplay and general trimmings which invariably rear their cliche-ridden heads in such pictures. It won’t stand out in the memory of patrons as one of the best pix this year, but it will provide safe entertain¬ment at most British cinemas." [11]
The New York Times called it "a beautifully mounted tale" which "rarely comes to life, except in the superb, effectively colored period settings... Under Brian Desmond Hurst's rather unimaginative direction, the action simply lacks sustained suspense, instead of crawling with it... The lavish, meticulous castle interiors, the sweeping, azure-tinted coastal landscapes, and the murkiness of the Paris dungeons — all these have been woven into a striking background tapestry by Jack Maxsted, the art director." [12]
Louis XVII was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a month before the start of the French Revolution. At his brother's death he became the new Dauphin, a title he held until 1791, when the new constitution accorded the heir apparent the title of Prince Royal.
Louis XVIII, known as the Desired, was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in exile: during the French Revolution and the First French Empire (1804–1814), and during the Hundred Days.
Dauphin of France, originally Dauphin of Viennois, was the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830. The word dauphin is French for dolphin and was the hereditary title of the ruler of the Dauphiné of Viennois. While early heirs were granted these lands to rule, eventually only the title was granted.
Louis Philippe I, nicknamed "The Citizen King" was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.
Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, was a French prince, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is referred to in French as le Régent. He was the son of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, and Madame Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchess of Orleans. Born at his father's palace at Saint-Cloud, he was known from birth by the title of Duke of Chartres.
Duke of Orléans was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives, or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his younger son Philip, the title was recreated by King Charles VI for his younger brother Louis, who passed the title on to his son and then to his grandson, the latter becoming King Louis XII. The title was created and recreated six times in total, until 1661, when Louis XIV bestowed it upon his younger brother Philippe, who passed it on to his male descendants, who became known as the "Orléans branch" of the Bourbons.
The Jacquerie was a popular revolt by peasants that took place in northern France in the early summer of 1358 during the Hundred Years' War. The revolt was centred in the valley of the Oise north of Paris and was suppressed after over two months of violence. This rebellion became known as "the Jacquerie" because the nobles derided peasants as "Jacques" or "Jacques Bonhomme" for their padded surplice, called a "jacque". The aristocratic chronicler Jean Froissart and his source, the chronicle of Jean le Bel, referred to the leader of the revolt as Jacque Bonhomme, though in fact the Jacquerie 'great captain' was named Guillaume Cale. The word jacquerie became a synonym of peasant uprisings in general in both English and French.
Louis Jourdan was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947), Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Gigi (1958), The Best of Everything (1959), The V.I.P.s (1963) and Octopussy (1983). He played Dracula in the 1977 BBC television production Count Dracula.
The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. The house was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King".
Monseigneur is an honorific in the French language, abbreviated Mgr., Msgr. In English use it is a title before the name of a French prelate, a member of a royal family or other dignitary.
Belinda Lee was an English actress.
Louis is the French form of the Old Frankish given name Chlodowig and one of two English forms, the other being Lewis.
Marie Joséphine of Savoy was a princess of France and countess of Provence by marriage to the future King Louis XVIII of France. She was regarded by Bourbon Royalist Legitimists as the titular 'queen of France' when her husband assumed the title of king in 1795 upon the death of his nephew, the titular King Louis XVII of France, until her death. She was never practically queen, as she died before her husband actually became king in 1814.
Agathe de Rambaud was born in Versailles as Agathe-Rosalie Mottet and was baptized in the future cathedral Saint-Louis of Versailles, on 10 December 1764. She died in Aramon, in the département of Gard, on 19 October 1853. She was the official nurse of the royal children, and particularly in charge of the Dauphin from 1785 to 1792.
Brian Desmond Hurst was a Belfast-born film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst was hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director by BBC film critic Mike Catto. He is perhaps best known for the 1951 A Christmas Carol adaptation Scrooge.
The Beautiful Adventure is a 1942 French romantic comedy film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Claude Dauphin, Micheline Presle and Louis Jourdan. It is based on 1913 play of the same name by Gaston Arman de Caillavet, Robert de Flers and Étienne Rey.
Twilight is a 1944 French drama film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Claude Dauphin, Micheline Presle and Louis Jourdan.
Marie of the Isles is a 1959 French-Italian historical adventure film directed by Georges Combret and starring Belinda Lee, Alain Saury and Darío Moreno.
A King Reluctant is a 1952 historical adventure novel by the British writer Vaughan Wilkins. The plot revolves around the idea that the young Louis XVII, successor to his executed father, survived the French Revolution and turns up at Tenby on the Welsh coast.