Madonna of the Seven Moons

Last updated

Madonna of the Seven Moons
Madonna7moonsposter..jpg
UK promotional poster
Directed by Arthur Crabtree
Screenplay by Roland Pertwee
Based onThe Madonna of Seven Moons
1931 novel
by Margery Lawrence
Produced by R. J. Minney
Starring
Cinematography Jack E. Cox
Edited by Lito Carruthers
Music by Hans May
Production
company
Distributed by Eagle-Lion Distributors
Release dates
22 January 1945
1947 (France)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£125,000 [1] [2]
Box officeover £1 million [3] or over £300,000 [2]
675,949 admissions (France) [4]

Madonna of the Seven Moons is a 1945 British drama film starring Phyllis Calvert, Stewart Granger and Patricia Roc. Directed by Arthur Crabtree for Gainsborough Pictures, the film was produced by Rubeigh James Minney, [5] with cinematography from Jack Cox and screenplay by Roland Pertwee. It was one of the Gainsborough melodramas of the mid-1940s popular with WW2-era female audiences.

Contents

Plot

A teenage rape of a convent student holds the key to her disappearance as a respectable married woman. Maddalena was left with a dual personality, which leads her to forsake her husband and daughter and flee her Florentine home in the house of the Seven Moons as the mistress of a gypsy jewel thief. [6]

Cast

Background

Film rights to the 1931 Margery Lawrence novel [7] were bought by Gaumont British in 1938, which wanted to turn it into a vehicle for Renée Saint-Cyr [8] [9] as part of an ambitious slate for Gainsborough in 1939. [10] However the advent of World War II disrupted these and plans, and Madonna was put on the backburner.

The project was re-activated in 1944 following the box office successes of The Man in Grey and Fanny by Gaslight . [11] Vernon Sewell said he was going to direct A Place of One's Own but was told to do Madonna of the Seven Moons instead and refused. [12] The movie wound up being the first film directed by Arthur Crabtree. He had spent many years previously working for Gainsborough as a cinematographer. Phyllis Calvert later recalled:

Arthur was a very good cinematographer, but there weren't enough directors, and so people who were scriptwriters or were behind the camera were suddenly made directors. It wasn't that Crabtree was an unsatisfactory director, just that we found ourselves very satisfactory – we did it ourselves. But the fact that he had been a lighting cameraman was wonderful for us, because he knew exactly how to photograph us. [13]

Academic Sue Harper later wrote an analysis of the film, where she attributed producer R.J. Minney as being the main creative force behind it. [14] The story, which is supposed to be based on a real case history, begins with a rather explicit suggestion of rape of a devout, convent-educated young woman that causes her to develop split personalities. Calvert, who played Patricia Roc’s mother, was only four months her senior in real life.

Filmink dubbed Jean Kent the "back up Margaret Lockwood". [15]

Reception

Box Office

The movie was very popular at the British box office, being one of the most seen films of its year. [16] [17] [18] [19] In 1946 readers of the Daily Mail voted the film their third most popular British movie from 1939 to 1945. [20]

It was the only British film among the ten most popular films of 1946 in Australia. [21]

In Latin America the film earned $282,367. [22]

Stewart Granger later called the film "terrible". [23]

US release

British films had not traditionally performed well in the US but screenings to US soldiers in Britain led J Arthur Rank to feel that Madonna of the Seven Moonswould do well there.[ clarify ] [24] It became the first of a series of Rank films distributed in the US by Universal. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Granger</span> British actor (1913-1993)

Stewart Granger was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Lockwood</span> British stage and film actress

Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE, was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included The Lady Vanishes (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), The Man in Grey (1943), and The Wicked Lady (1945). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the 1955 film Cast a Dark Shadow. She also starred in the television series Justice (1971–74).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gainsborough Pictures</span> Former British film studio

Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The company was initially based at Islington Studios, which were built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway and later converted to studios.

<i>The Wicked Lady</i> 1945 film

The Wicked Lady is a 1945 British costume drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Margaret Lockwood in the title role as a nobleman's wife who becomes a highwaywoman for the excitement. The film had one of the largest audiences for a film of its period, 18.4 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phyllis Calvert</span> British film actress (1915–2002)

Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill, known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as The Man in Grey (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s. She continued her acting career for another 50 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Kent</span> English actress

Jean Kent, born Joan Mildred Field was an English film and television actress.

<i>The Man in Grey</i> 1943 film by Leslie Arliss

The Man in Grey is a 1943 British film melodrama made by Gainsborough Pictures; it is considered to be the first of a series of period costume dramas now known as the "Gainsborough melodramas". It was directed by Leslie Arliss and produced by Edward Black from a screenplay by Arliss and Margaret Kennedy that was adapted by Doreen Montgomery from the 1941 novel The Man in Grey by Eleanor Smith. The film's sets were designed by Walter Murton.

Arthur Crabtree was a British cinematographer and film director. He directed films with comedians such as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey and several of the Gainsborough Melodramas.

Leslie Arliss was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady during the 1940s.

<i>Fanny by Gaslight</i> (film) 1944 British film starring James Mason

Fanny by Gaslight is a 1944 British drama film, directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a 1940 novel by Michael Sadleir.

Edward Black was a British film producer, best known for being head of production at Gainsborough Studios in the late 1930s and early 1940s, during which time he oversaw production of the Gainsborough melodramas. He also produced such classic films as The Lady Vanishes (1938). Black has been called "one of the unsung heroes of the British film industry" and "one of the greatest figures in British film history, the maker of stars like Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, John Mills and Stewart Granger. He was also one of the very few producers whose films, over a considerable period, made money." In 1946 Mason called Black "the one good production executive" that J. Arthur Rank had. Frank Launder called Black "a great showman and yet he had a great feeling for scripts and spent more time on them than anyone I have ever known. His experimental films used to come off as successful as his others."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Roc</span> British actress

Patricia Roc was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945), though she only made one film in Hollywood, Canyon Passage (1946). She also appeared in Millions Like Us (1943), Jassy (1945), The Brothers (1947) and When the Bough Breaks (1947).

<i>Caravan</i> (1946 film) 1946 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree

Caravan is a 1946 British black-and-white drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree. It was one of the Gainsborough melodramas and is based on the 1942 novel Caravan by Eleanor Smith.

The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures between 1943 and 1947 which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes that were usually developed by the same film crew and frequently recurring actors who played similar characters in each. They were mostly based on popular books by female novelists and they encompassed costume dramas, such as The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945), and modern-dress dramas, such as Love Story (1944) and They Were Sisters (1945). The popularity of the films with audiences peaked mid-1940s when cinema audiences consisted primarily of women. The influence of the films led to other British producers releasing similarly themed works, such as The Seventh Veil (1945), Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), Hungry Hill (1947), The White Unicorn (1947), Idol of Paris (1948), and The Reluctant Widow (1950) and often with the talent that made Gainsborough melodramas successful.

<i>The Magic Bow</i> 1946 film

The Magic Bow is a 1946 British musical film based on the life and loves of the Italian violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini. It was directed by Bernard Knowles. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harold Huth</span> British actor and film producer

Harold Huth was a British actor, film director and producer.

<i>Men of Two Worlds</i> 1946 British film

Men of Two Worlds is a 1946 British Technicolor drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring Robert Adams, Eric Portman and Phyllis Calvert. The screenplay concerns an African music student who returns home to battle a witch doctor for control over his tribe.

<i>They Were Sisters</i> 1945 British film

They Were Sisters is a 1945 British melodrama film directed by Arthur Crabtree for Gainsborough Pictures and starring James Mason and Phyllis Calvert. The film was produced by Harold Huth, with cinematography from Jack Cox and screenplay by Roland Pertwee. They Were Sisters is noted for its frank, unsparing depiction of marital abuse at a time when the subject was rarely discussed openly. It was one of the Gainsborough melodramas.

The Company of Youth was an acting school for young contract players for the Rank Organisation who were being groomed for stardom. It was commonly known as the Rank Charm School.

Rubeigh James Minney was a British film producer, journalist, playwright, editor and author. He was author of over 40 books including novels and biographies. As a film-maker and film producer, he worked with British film companies such as Gainsborough Pictures, and was invited to Hollywood by Darryl F. Zanuck. He was also a journalist in India and London, and editor of several newspapers.

References

  1. ↑ Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 By Robert Murphy p 55
  2. 1 2 Kinematograph Weekly. 19 April 1945.{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ "No title". Western Mail . Vol. 61, no. 3, 207. Western Australia. 14 February 1946. p. 26. Retrieved 9 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France at Box Office Story
  5. ↑ http://minney.org.uk
  6. ↑ "Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945)". explore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "NOVELS REVIEWED". The Chronicle . Adelaide. 10 December 1931. p. 84. Retrieved 13 June 2015– via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Miriam Hopkins Will Star in 'Trailer Romance'--James Ellinson Also in Cast PRISON BREAK' AT RIALTO Lloyd Confirms Reports That He Plans to Sponsor Films Starring W. C. Fields Of Local Origin Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.". New York Times. 12 July 1938. p. 15.
  9. ↑ "DAD & DAVE Come to Town". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 3 September 1938. p. 5. Retrieved 13 June 2015– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ "BRITISH FILMS OF 1939". Western Mail . Vol. 59, no. 2, 742. Western Australia. 15 September 1938. p. 30. Retrieved 9 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  11. ↑ C. A. LEJEUNE (16 July 1944). "LONDON'S MOVIE NEWS: Newsreels Prove Strongest Draw -- 'The Way Ahead' an Apt War Film". New York Times. p. X3.
  12. ↑ Fowler, Roy (8 July 1994). "Vernon Sewell". British Entertainment History Project.
  13. ↑ Brian MacFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Methuen 1997 p 110
  14. ↑ Madonna of the Seven Moons Harper, SueAuthor InformationView Profile. History Today; London45.8 (Aug 1995): 47.
  15. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (29 January 2020). "Why Stars Stop Being Stars: Margaret Lockwood". Filmink.
  16. ↑ "Britons Prefer Their Own Films To US Productions". The Argus . No. 31, 030. Melbourne. 12 February 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 9 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  17. ↑ "GAUMONT-BRITISH PICTURE: INCREASED NET PROFIT". The Observer. London (UK). 4 November 1945. p. 3.
  18. ↑ Robert Murphy, Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48, p 207
  19. ↑ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 232. [According to Kinematograph Weekly] the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1945 Britain were The Seventh Veil, with 'runners up' being (in release order), Madonna of the Seven Moons, Old Acquaintance, Frenchman's Creek, Mrs Parkington, Arsenic and Old Lace, Meet Me in St Louis, A Song to Remember, Since You Went Away, Here Come the Waves, Tonight and Every Night, Hollywood Canteen, They Were Sisters, The Princess and the Pirate, The Adventures of Susan, National Velvet, Mrs Skefflington, I Live in Grosvenor Square, Nob Hill, Perfect Strangers, Valley of Decision, Conflict and Duffy's Tavern. British 'runners up' were They Were Sisters, I Live in Grosvenor Square, Perfect Strangers, Madonna of the Seven Moons, Waterloo Road, Blithe Spirit, The Way to the Stars, I'll Be Your Sweetheart, Dead of Night, Waltz Time and Henry V.
  20. ↑ "BRITISH POLL". The West Australian . Perth. 26 April 1946. p. 13. Retrieved 4 March 2013– via National Library of Australia.
  21. ↑ "Australia's Favorite Stars And Movies of the Year". The Mail . Vol. 35, no. 1, 806. Adelaide. 4 January 1947. p. 9 (Sunday Magazine). Retrieved 9 September 2017– via National Library of Australia.
  22. ↑ "Rank's $1,000,000,000 a Yr from SA". Variety. 21 May 1947. p. 5.
  23. ↑ Brian MacFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Methuen 1997 p 230
  24. ↑ "Several Major British Films Ready for U.S. Audiences, Says Rank: Producer Says His Organization Has Tested Its Pictures on American Soldiers in England". Wall Street Journal. New York. 5 June 1945. p. 3.
  25. ↑ "IRENE DUNNE SET TO PORTRAY ANNA: Reconsiders Declining of Role in 'King of Slam' Picture-- Two Films Here Today Of Local Origin Universal, Rank Extend Deal, Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES". New York Times. 1 November 1945. p. 21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.