Made in Heaven (1952 film)

Last updated

Made in Heaven
"Made in Heaven" (1952).jpg
Original British 3-sheet poster
Directed by John Paddy Carstairs
Screenplay byGeorge H. Brown
William Douglas-Home
Produced byGeorge H. Brown
Starring David Tomlinson
Petula Clark
Sonja Ziemann
A. E. Matthews
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by John D. Guthridge
Music by Philip Martell (musical director)
Ronald Hanmer (composer)
Production
company
Fanfare Productions
Distributed by General Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • November 1952 (1952-11)
(UK)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Made in Heaven is a 1952 British Technicolor comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs which stars David Tomlinson, Petula Clark and Sonja Ziemann. [1] [2] The screenplay was based on a story by William Douglas-Home. It was shot at Pinewood Studios outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Maurice Carter.

Contents

Plot summary

Young married couple Basil (David Tomlinson) and Julie Topham (Petula Clark) enter the ancient annual Dunmow Flitch Trials (in which a married couple can win a side of bacon if at the end of one year, they have 'not wisht themselves unmarried again'). However, the Topham's happy household, and then an entire village is thrown into chaos with the arrival of an attractive Hungarian housemaid (Sonja Ziemann).

Cast

Critical reception

In 1952, Picturegoer wrote, ". . .when you get down to analysing the ingredients, it's just cream-puff comedy, really – and the least bit stale cream puff at that. The main thing though is not to analyse but to swallow it whole and enjoy it. It's well-tried and not always especially true British comedy, but the film has a happy air about it. Attractively grown-up Pet Clark turns in a sparkling performance as the doubting young wife. She manages to hold her own against the devastating eyelashes and flashing, wicked smiles of Sonja Ziemann as the hired help. But it's the old hands at this kind of comedy who really carry the fun along: David Tomlinson, Charles Victor and A. E. Matthews, as son, father and grandfather respectively, all stock characters. Yes it's all gay and merry. It has a springtime spirit – and a springtime look, too in its spruce, sunny Technicolour"; [3] while more recently, the Radio Times concluded, "Vicar Richard Wattis and his stern sister (Athene Seyler) add considerably to the fun, which is steadily directed in an amiably sitcom-like way by John Paddy Carstairs and glossily photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petula Clark</span> British actress and singer (born 1932)

Petula Clark CBE is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child performer and has had one of the longest careers of any British entertainer, spanning more than eight decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athene Seyler</span> English actress

Athene Seyler, CBE was an English actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Tomlinson</span> English actor (1917–2000)

David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson was an English stage, film, and television actor, singer and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles as authority figure George Banks in Mary Poppins, fraudulent magician Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and as hapless antagonist Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. Tomlinson was posthumously inducted as a Disney Legend in 2002.

<i>The Saint in London</i> 1939 film by John Paddy Carstairs

The Saint in London is a 1939 British crime film, the third of eight films in RKO's film series featuring the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wattis</span> English actor (1912–1975)

Richard Cameron Wattis was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Paddy Carstairs</span> British artist

John Paddy Carstairs was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and painter.

<i>Sleeping Car to Trieste</i> 1948 British film

Sleeping Car to Trieste is a 1948 British comedy thriller film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Jean Kent, Albert Lieven, Derrick De Marney and Rona Anderson. It was shot at Denham Studios outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ralph Brinton. It is a remake of the 1932 film Rome Express.

<i>Here Come the Huggetts</i> 1948 British film

Here Come the Huggetts is a 1948 British comedy film, the first of the Huggetts series, about a working class English family. All three films in the series were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough Pictures.

<i>Trouble in Store</i> 1953 film

Trouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his cinema debut. The film also featured Moira Lister, Margaret Rutherford, Jerry Desmonde and Lana Morris. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. Although it was shown at a West End venue, the film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was released by Rank's General Film Distributors and was later released in America by Republic Pictures. The film's success led to Wisdom appearing in a string of films for Rank beginning with One Good Turn.

<i>The Pickwick Papers</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

The Pickwick Papers is a 1952 British historical comedy drama film written and directed by Noel Langley and starring James Hayter, James Donald, Nigel Patrick and Joyce Grenfell. It is based on the Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel of the same name. It was made by Renown Pictures who had successfully released another Dickens adaptation Scrooge the previous year.

<i>A Yank in Ermine</i> 1955 British film

A Yank in Ermine is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Peter Thompson, Noelle Middleton, Harold Lloyd Jr. and Diana Decker, and featuring Jon Pertwee and Sid James. It was adapted by John Paddy Carstairs from his own novel Solid! Said the Earl. It was shot at Beaconsfield Studios and on location around Turville in Buckinghamshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director Ray Simm. The film includes the song "Honey, You Can't Love Two", sung by Decker and written by Eddie Pola and George Wyle.

<i>Castle in the Air</i> (film) 1952 British film

Castle in the Air is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry and Margaret Rutherford. It was based on the stage play of the same title by Alan Melville. Produced by ABPC, shooting took place at the company's Elstree Studios.

<i>Happy Is the Bride</i> 1958 British film

Happy Is the Bride is a 1958 black and white British comedy film written and directed by Roy Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, Cecil Parker, Terry-Thomas and Joyce Grenfell. It is based on the play Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken, previously filmed in 1941.

<i>Quiet Wedding</i> 1941 film by Anthony Asquith

Quiet Wedding is a 1941 British romantic comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr and Marjorie Fielding. The screenplay was written by Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald based on the play Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken. The film was remade in 1958 as Happy Is the Bride.

<i>Treasure Hunt</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

Treasure Hunt is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Martita Hunt, Jimmy Edwards, Naunton Wayne and Athene Seyler. It is based on the 1949 play Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane and John Perry.

<i>The Chiltern Hundreds</i> (film) 1949 British film

The Chiltern Hundreds is a 1949 British politically-themed comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, adapting William Douglas Home's 1947 play of the same name and starring Lana Morris, David Tomlinson and Cecil Parker.

Made in Heaven is a 1995 album by Queen.

<i>Dear Octopus</i> (film) 1943 British film

Dear Octopus is a 1943 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding and Celia Johnson. It is based on a 1938 play, Dear Octopus, written by Dodie Smith. It was also released as The Randolph Family.

<i>Its Love Again</i> 1936 film

It's Love Again is a 1936 British musical film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Robert Young and Sonnie Hale. In the film, a chorus girl masquerades as a big game hunter to try to boost her showbiz career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Gray (actress)</span>

Jennifer Gray was a British actress, frequently seen in the West End and on tour between 1934 and 1954. She made only two cinema films, but was often seen on BBC television in the late 1940s. Among the roles she created onstage were Daphne Stillington in Noël Coward's Present Laughter and Queenie Gibbons in his This Happy Breed, which premiered on successive nights in September 1942.

References

  1. "Made in Heaven (1952)". Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.
  2. "Comedy and color are behind new British film boom". The Australian Women's Weekly . 1 October 1952. p. 58. Retrieved 17 December 2015 via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Made in Heaven". www.petulaclark.net.
  4. "Made in Heaven – review - cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016.