English Without Tears

Last updated

English Without Tears
English Without Tears (1944 film).jpg
Opening title card
Directed by Harold French
Written by Terence Rattigan
Anatole de Grunwald
Produced byAnatole de Grunwald
Starring Michael Wilding
Penelope Dudley-Ward
Lilli Palmer
Cinematography Bernard Knowles
Edited by Alan Jaggs
Music by Nicholas Brodszky
Production
company
Distributed by General Film Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • 28 July 1944 (1944-07-28)(London, UK)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

English Without Tears is a 1944 British romantic comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. [1] It was released in the U.S. under the title Her Man Gilbey, as a reference to the classic Screwball comedy, My Man Godfrey (1936). [2] [3]

Contents

The film depicts the romance between a young English aristocrat and her family's butler. During World War II, the butler becomes an officer of the Royal Army Service Corps and the girl joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Their change in status and her maturity affect their relationship. The world around them is also transformed.

Plot

In July 1939, the top-hatted deliveryman from a Fortune and Weedon [4] carriage takes a basket of quail to the tradesman's entrance of Beauclerk House. [5] An elaborate process brings the birds to the dinner plates of Lady Christabel Beauclerk (Margaret Rutherford) and her nephew, Sir Cosmo Brandon (Roland Culver). a British delegate to the League of Nations in Geneva. A fanatical bird expert, Lady Christobel identifies the ”quail” as a thrush and sends the “tortured friend” away in horror. She commands third-generation butler Tom Gilbey (Michael Wilding) to join them in Geneva, where she will propose sanctuaries for British birds. The xenophobic Gilbey almost quits, but his father and grandfather tell him it is his duty. Home from school, Lady Christobel's niece, Joan Heseltine (Penelope Dudley-Ward), talks about equality with the butler, on whom she has a longstanding crush.

In Geneva, the party meets Polish political cartoonist Felix Dembowski (Albert Lieven) and French romantic novelist François de Freycinet (Claude Dauphin). The session and Norwegian interpreter Brigid Knudsen's (Lilli Palmer) translations provide a dose of dark humour.

Lady Christabel's outraged demands for sanctuaries and control of oil pollution are perceived as an attempt at British imperial expansion. One delegate engages Knudsen to find out more by vamping an oblivious Gilbey. A “romantic” row on the lake ends with Gilbey's appearance carrying a soaking Bridgid. The family speculates but ignores the issue. Joan springs to his defense—and tells them that she will love him forever.

2 October 1939. War has begun. Gilbey leaves to join the Territorial Army. Misled by Bonnie, Joan declares her love in a nearby tea shop. Citing her youth and class distinctions, he tells her it is hopeless. She refuses to give up. In May 1940, refugee Knudsen serendipitously encounters De Freycinet at the train station. Beauclerk House is The Sanctuary, housing European Allied officers. Gilbey, now a second lieutenant in the RASC, returns home to find Lady Christabel happily occupying his old room. He asks, hopefully after the rest of the family, and finds a mature, confident Joan teaching English to a large class of officers. At the tea shop, he explains how he has changed. He is now in love with her… Joan no longer loves him. He was “cold and inhuman and godlike”, and she knows hundreds of second lieutenants just like him.

Meanwhile, De Freycinet asks Brandon to get Knudsen a legitimate passport. Brandon assists, assuming, wrongly, that De Freycinet and Knudsen are lovers. At The Sanctuary, Gilbey gets advice on seduction from several officers, but he makes an awkward mess of putting it to use. De Freycinet and Dembowski vie for Joan's affections by trying to be her top pupil, taking extra lessons from Knudsen. Lady Christobel approves of De Freycinet's suit.

De Freycinet asks Brandon for another endorsement so Knudsen can join the Free Norwegian Forces. Brandon sends Gilbey to her apartment to confirm his belief that De Freycinet is her lover. Dembowski, De Freycinet and Joan arrive; the misunderstanding escalates; and Joan storms out. The three men plan to confront her, but cowardice prevails and at The Sanctuary's bar they drunkenly make up their differences and swear off women. Joan overhears and gives up on men. On 18 September 1940, she joins the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In December 1942 she is assigned to a notorious RASC major who ran through 6 typists in a month. It is Gilbey, now brusque, rude, demanding and intolerant, insisting that a staff member who has just given birth return to work. He tells an aide to get Joan a job she can do. In tears, she tells a sympathetic corporal that he is “wonderful”.

On his bicycle, a top-hatted Fortune and Weedon man delivers a basket of canned spam to Beauclerk House for the New Year's Eve United Nations Dance, where several of the film's couples come together. Tom and Joan “argue” about his being “out of reach.” He presses her against a pillar, and they kiss. Cut to the just-married couple running down the steps to the cheers of friends and family. Joan's new job: Gilbey's driver. “I endeavor to give every satisfaction,” she declares, saluting him.

Cast

Production

Harold French had directed the successful stage production of French without Tears starring Rex Harrison. He later called the film:

A bit of wickedness on Tolly de Grunwald’s part because it wasn’t good and made no real sense. Tolly, who was a lovely old villain, had found a backer and her persuaded Terry to lend his name to it. And of course Terry, who was then in the Air Force, needed the money. By the time we were shooting, I knew it wasn’t Terry’s dialogue. Penelope Dudley Ward was in it and she had a lovely comedy sense with a very light touch. [6]

Critical reception

In contemporary reviews, The Glasgow Herald felt the film suffered in comparison to Rattigan and de Grunwald's previous success, French Without Tears , and regretted the absence of director Anthony Asquith's "light, witty touch”. Wilding, "(is) pleasant as the embodiment of the joke and Penelope Ward is charming as the trimmings to it. Roland Culver is beautifully suave in a small part, and Margaret Rutherford has a nice bit of philanthropic lunacy to do"; [3] Across the pond, Variety wrote that despite "admirable direction and excellent photography, the story ambles along to no definite denouement. Therefore it's not a strong candidate for the American market. Smart dialog and witticisms galore are not sufficient to sustain so elemental a love story." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Tudor, Queen of France</span> Duchess of Suffolk

Mary Tudor was an English princess who was briefly Queen of France as the third wife of King Louis XII. Louis was more than 30 years her senior. Mary was the fifth child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the youngest to survive infancy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Katherine Grey</span> British noblewoman (1540–1568)

Katherine Seymour, Countess of Hertford was a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey.

<i>Valiant Is the Word for Carrie</i> 1936 film directed by Wesley Ruggles

Valiant Is the Word for Carrie is a 1936 American drama film directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Claude Binyon, based on the 1935 novel of the same name by Barry Benefield. The film stars Gladys George, Arline Judge, John Howard, Dudley Digges, Harry Carey, and Isabel Jewell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lettice Knollys</span> British aristocrat

Lettice Knollys, Countess of Essex and Countess of Leicester, was an English noblewoman and mother to the courtiers Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lady Penelope Rich. By her second marriage to Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, she incurred the Queen's unrelenting displeasure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Blount, Countess of Devonshire</span> English noblewoman (1563–1607)

Penelope Rich, Lady Rich, later styled Penelope Blount was an English court office holder. She served as lady-in-waiting to the English queen Anne of Denmark. She was the sister of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and is traditionally thought to be the inspiration for "Stella" of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella sonnet sequence. She was married to Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich and had a public liaison with Charles Blount, Baron Mountjoy, whom she married in an unlicensed ceremony following her divorce from Rich. She died in 1607.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk</span> English duchess (1517–1559)

Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, was an English noblewoman. She was the second child - and eldest daughter - of King Henry VIII's younger sister, Princess Mary, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. She was the mother of Lady Jane Grey, de facto Queen of England and Ireland for nine days, as well as Lady Katherine Grey and Lady Mary Grey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penelope Dudley-Ward</span> English actress (1914–1982)

Penelope Ann Rachel, Lady Reed, known as Penelope Dudley-Ward, was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Reed (English actress)</span> English actress

Tracy Reed was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freda Dudley Ward</span> English socialite (1894–1983)

Winifred May, Marquesa de Casa Maury, universally known by her first married name as Freda Dudley Ward, was an English socialite best known for being a married paramour of the Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward</span> Fictional character

Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward is a fictional character introduced in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series Thunderbirds, which was produced by AP Films (APF) for ITC Entertainment. The character also appears in the film sequels Thunderbirds Are Go (1966) and Thunderbird 6 (1968), the 2004 live-action film Thunderbirds and the CGI remake series Thunderbirds Are Go. In the world of Thunderbirds, Penelope is employed by the secret organisation International Rescue as its London field agent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Grey of Powis</span>

The title Baron Grey of Powis (1482–1552) was created for the great-grandson of Joan Charleton, co-heiress and 6th Lady of Powis (Powys) and her husband, Sir John Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville (1384–1421) after the death of Joan's father, Edward Charleton, 5th Baron Cherleton (1370–1421) left the title in abeyance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam</span> British politician

William "Billy" Charles de Meuron Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 7th Earl Fitzwilliam,, styled Viscount Milton from 1877 to 1902, was a British Army officer, nobleman, politician, and aristocrat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Diana Beauclerk</span>

Lady Diana Beauclerk was an English noblewoman and artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgina Ward, Countess of Dudley</span>

Georgina Elizabeth Ward, Countess of Dudley was a British noblewoman and a noted beauty of the Victorian era.

<i>Born to Be Bad</i> (1950 film) 1950 film by Nicholas Ray

Born to Be Bad is a 1950 American film noir melodrama directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan and Zachary Scott. It features Fontaine as a manipulative young woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. It is based on the bestselling novel All Kneeling by Anne Parrish (1928).

<i>The Case of the Frightened Lady</i> (film) 1940 British film

The Case of the Frightened Lady is a 1940 British, black-and-white, crime, drama, mystery thriller, directed by George King and starring Marius Goring as Lord Lebanon, Helen Haye as Lady Lebanon, Penelope Dudley Ward as Isla Crane, George Merritt (actor) as Detective Inspector Tanner, Ronald Shiner as Detective Sergeant Totty and Felix Aylmer as Dr Amersham. It was produced by Pennant Picture Productions and presented by British Lion Film Corporation. The film is based on the 1931 play by Edgar Wallace.

<i>Moscow Nights</i> (1935 film) 1935 British film

Moscow Nights is a 1935 British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Laurence Olivier, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Harry Baur. The screenplay concerns a wounded officer who falls in love with his nurse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maureen Swanson</span> British actress

Maureen Ward, Countess of Dudley, was a British actress. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Lady Dudley was the daughter of James Swanson. As Maureen Swanson, she featured in British pictures during the 1950s and retired from acting in 1961, following her marriage to Viscount Ednam.

<i>Escape Me Never</i> (1935 film) 1935 British film

Escape Me Never is a 1935 British drama film directed by Paul Czinner, produced by Herbert Wilcox, and starring Elisabeth Bergner, Hugh Sinclair and Griffith Jones. The score is by William Walton with orchestration by Hyam Greenbaum. Bergner was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance, but lost to Bette Davis. British readers of Film Weekly magazine voted the 1935 Best Performance in a British Movie to her. The film is an adaptation of the play Escape Me Never by Margaret Kennedy, which was based upon her 1930 novel The Fool of the Family. That book was a sequel to The Constant Nymph, which was also about the Sanger family of musical geniuses, but there is a disjunct among the books and the films: the Sanger brothers are never mentioned in the 1943 movie version of The Constant Nymph. Another film adaptation of Escape Me Never was made in 1947 by Warner Bros.

<i>But the Flesh Is Weak</i> 1932 film

But the Flesh Is Weak is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film directed by Jack Conway and written by Ivor Novello based on his 1928 play The Truth Game. The film stars Robert Montgomery, Nora Gregor, Heather Thatcher, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey Smith and Nils Asther. The film was released on April 9, 1932, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But the Flesh Is Weak was remade in 1941 as Free and Easy.

References

  1. "English without Tears". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
  2. "English without Tears (1944) - Harold French - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  3. 1 2 "English Without Tears". Turner Classic Movies.
  4. An allusion to the iconic Fortnum & Mason provisioners.
  5. Townhouse
  6. mcFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. Metheun. p. 213.
  7. "Variety (August 1944)". archive.org.