Mr. Emmanuel

Last updated

Mr Emmanuel
Mr. Emmanuel (1944 film).jpg
Directed by Harold French
Written by Louis Golding
Gordon Wellesley
Produced by William Sistrom
Filippo Del Giudice
Starring Felix Aylmer
Greta Gynt
Walter Rilla
Ursula Jeans
Cinematography Otto Heller
Edited by Alan Jaggs
Music by Mischa Spoliansky
Production
company
Distributed by Eagle-Lion Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • 2 October 1944 (1944-10-02)(UK)
Running time
97 minutes (UK)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office$229,246 (US rentals) [1]

Mr Emmanuel is a 1944 British drama film directed by Harold French and starring Felix Aylmer, Greta Gynt and Walter Rilla. [2]

Contents

The film was made by Two Cities at Teddington Studios. It is based on a 1938 novel of the same title by Louis Golding, who adapted the novel for the screen. [3] [2]

Plot

Set in 1938, Isaac Emmanuel has retired from a Jewish welfare agency in Doomington, England, and is looking for something to do with his time. A letter arrives asking him to come to the aid of a friend who is caring for three German boys who are refugees from Nazi Germany. One of the three, a Jewish boy named Bruno Rosenheim, is very despondent over the recent death of his father and the disappearance of his mother. He waits to get a letter from her, but the letter never arrives. Mr. Emmanuel, a British citizen who himself is a former refugee from Russia, sympathises with the young man. After the lad attempts to take his life, Mr. Emmanuel promises to travel to Germany to find out what he can about Bruno's mother.

Once he arrives in Berlin, Emmanuel takes lodging at a boarding-house. He inquires of those around him, not realising how unusual and potentially dangerous it is to do so. Everyone he meets is too scared to give him information. The police and even refugee organisations are also unhelpful. Late one night the Gestapo arrive and take Mr. Emmanuel from his bed to a prison for questioning. The initial line of questioning is of being a spy and communist sympathiser. Mr. Emmanuel believes that his British citizenship will provide some measure of protection, but the police then accuse him of complicity in the assassination of a high-ranking party official, and the criminal charge places Mr. Emmanuel beyond the help of the British embassy. While incarcerated, Mr Emmanuel watches as fellow prisoners are tortured and led off to execution.

Elsie Silver, a half-Jewish nightclub singer and the toast of Berlin society, recognises Emmanuel from England, where she grew up. She tries to intervene, but gets nowhere. She convinces her social-climbing Nazi protector to assist, and Emmanuel is released, with twelve hours to leave Germany. Instead of leaving the country, he continues to search for Bruno's mother. He eventually finds her, but she is now married to a prominent Nazi and denies that she is Jewish or that she has a son.

Sadly, Mr Emmanuel returns to Britain and tells Bruno that his mother is dead.

Main cast

Critical reception

In contemporary reviews, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times , "we would venture the judgment that this simple and stirring little film is the sharpest damnation of Nazi "kultur" that the screen is likely to show for some time," before going on to praise Felix Aylmer's work in the title role, writing that he "gives a performance which might be unqualifiedly recommended as one of the best we have ever seen." Crowther proceeded to approve the acting of Greta Gynt, Walter Rilla and Peter Mullins, before concluding, "Harold French has directed the picture with a masterful use of his actors in straight scenes, and Two Cities has produced it perfectly, despite the exigencies of war. We confidently predict that this picture is one of the best that we will see this year." [4] whereas Variety wrote, "painstakingly produced and directed, Mr. Emmanuel moves along sturdily, but without inspiration...It sways back and forth with complete mechanical efficiency and is not likely to prove either a great success or the opposite. For the U.S., it may do as a mild secondary feature." [5]

Box Office

Harold French said the film "made a lot of money on the art house circuit in America; the Americans were very sympathetic towards the exiled Jew at the time." [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Exodus</i> (1960 film) 1960 film by Otto Preminger

Exodus is a 1960 American epic historical drama film about the founding of the State of Israel. Produced and directed by Otto Preminger, the screenplay was adapted by Dalton Trumbo from the 1958 novel of the same name by Leon Uris. The film stars an ensemble cast including Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, John Derek and George Maharis. The film's soundtrack music was written by Ernest Gold.

<i>Ivanhoe</i> (1952 film) 1952 film by Richard Thorpe

Ivanhoe is a 1952 British-American historical adventure epic film directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was shot in Technicolor, with a cast featuring Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie, and Felix Aylmer. The screenplay is written by Æneas MacKenzie, Marguerite Roberts, and Noel Langley, based on the 1819 historical novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott.

<i>Victoria the Great</i> 1937 British film

Victoria the Great is a 1937 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Anton Walbrook and Walter Rilla. When Laurence Housman's play Victoria Regina was banned by the Lord Chamberlain, its subsequent Broadway success prompted King Edward VIII to commission producer Herbert Wilcox to turn it into a film, commemorating the centenary of Victoria's reign. The film biography of Queen Victoria concentrates initially on the early years of her reign with her marriage to Prince Albert and her subsequent rule after Albert's death in 1861. It was released in the year of King George VI's coronation, which was also the centennial of Victoria's own accession to the throne. The movie was so successful that a sequel appeared the following year, Sixty Glorious Years.

<i>The Man Who Watched Trains Go By</i> 1952 film

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By (1952) is a crime drama film, based on the 1938 novel by Georges Simenon and directed by Harold French. It has an all-European cast, including Claude Rains in the lead role of Kees Popinga, who is infatuated with Michele Rozier. The film was released in the United States in 1953 under the title The Paris Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greta Gynt</span> Norwegian actress (1916–2000)

Greta Gynt was a Norwegian dancer and actress. She is remembered for her starring roles in the British classic films The Dark Eyes of London, Mr. Emmanuel, Take My Life, Dear Murderer and The Ringer.

<i>The October Man</i> 1947 British film

The October Man is a 1947 mystery film/film noir starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood, written by novelist Eric Ambler, who also produced. A man is suspected of murder, and the lingering effects of a brain injury he sustained in an earlier accident, as well as an intensive police investigation, make him begin to doubt whether he is innocent.

<i>Forbidden Cargo</i> (1954 film) 1954 film

Forbidden Cargo is a 1954 British crime film directed by Harold French and starring Nigel Patrick, Elizabeth Sellars and Jack Warner. It was shot at Pinewood Studios with sets designed by the art director John Howell. Location shooting took place in London and Cannes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Rilla</span> German actor (1894–1980)

Walter Rilla was a German film actor of Jewish descent. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1922 and 1977. He was born in Neunkirchen, Germany and died in Rosenheim, Germany.

<i>All Through the Night</i> (film) 1942 film

All Through the Night is a 1942 American comedy-gangster-spy thriller film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt and Kaaren Verne, and featuring many of the Warner Bros. company of character actors. It was released by Warner Brothers. The supporting cast features Peter Lorre, Frank McHugh, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Barton MacLane, and William Demarest.

I Accuse! is a British 1958 CinemaScope biographical drama film directed by and starring José Ferrer. The film is based on the true story of the Dreyfus affair, in which a Jewish captain in the French Army was falsely accused of treason.

<i>Ill Get You for This</i> 1951 film by Joseph M. Newman

I'll Get You for This is a 1951 British thriller film by Joseph M. Newman starring George Raft, Coleen Gray, and Enzo Staiola. It was made from an adaptation by George Callahan and William Rose of James Hadley Chase's 1946 book of the same name. The setting was shifted from Las Vegas in the novel to an Italian gambling resort.

<i>Sixty Glorious Years</i> 1938 British film

Sixty Glorious Years is a 1938 British colour film directed by Herbert Wilcox. The film is a sequel to the 1937 film Victoria the Great.

<i>The Chalk Garden</i> (film) 1964 film by Ronald Neame

The Chalk Garden is a 1964 British-American film directed by Ronald Neame. It stars Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills and is an adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name by Enid Bagnold.

<i>The Calendar</i> (1948 film) 1948 film

The Calendar is a black and white 1948 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Greta Gynt, John McCallum, Raymond Lovell and Leslie Dwyer. It is based on the 1929 play The Calendar and subsequent novel by Edgar Wallace. A previous version had been released in 1931.

<i>Bulldog Sees It Through</i> 1940 British film

Bulldog Sees it Through is a 1940 British, black-and-white, mystery war film directed by Harold Huth and starring Jack Buchanan, Greta Gynt, Googie Withers, Ronald Shiner as Pug and Sebastian Shaw.

<i>Star of India</i> (film) 1954 film

Star of India is a 1954 British-Italian swashbuckling adventure film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Herbert Lom, and Walter Rilla. It was shot at the Riverside Studios in London and on location in Aosta. The film's sets were designed by the art director Cedric Dawe. It was released in the United States in April 1956 by United Artists.

<i>The Shadow</i> (1933 film) 1933 British film

The Shadow is a 1933 British mystery film directed by George A. Cooper and starring Henry Kendall, Elizabeth Allan and Felix Aylmer.

<i>The Blue Peter</i> (1955 film) 1955 British film

The Blue Peter is a 1955 British film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Kieron Moore and Greta Gynt. The film was retitled Navy Heroes and released in the United States in December 1957. The film is about youth seamanship at the original Outward Bound in Aberdyfi, Wales, a program similar to Sea Scouting or Sea Cadets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaj Gynt</span> Swedish-American actress

Kaj (Kay) Gynt(pseudonym of Karin Sophia Matthiessen; néeKarin Sophia Cederstrand; 24 October 1885 – 1956) was a Swedish-turned-American actress and, for one notable 1927 Broadway musical, a book writer.

<i>The Song to Her</i> 1934 film

The Song to Her is a 1934 Swedish comedy film directed by Ivar Johansson and starring Martin Öhman, Sickan Carlsson and Åke Jensen. It marked the film debut of Kristina Söderbaum, who went on to be a star of German cinema in the Nazi era. It was also the first screen appearance of Norwegian actress Greta Gynt who went on to star in British films. The film was made at the Råsunda Studios in Stockholm and on location around the city including at the Royal Swedish Opera. The film's sets were designed by the art director Arne Åkermark.

References

  1. ↑ Geoffrey Macnab, J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry, London, Routledge (1993) p163
  2. 1 2 "Mr. Emmanuel (1944)".
  3. ↑ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   9783110951943.
  4. ↑ "Movie Reviews". The New York Times. 3 September 2021.
  5. ↑ Variety (14 September 2017). "Variety (September 1944)". New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company – via Internet Archive.
  6. ↑ mcFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. Metheun. p. 213. ISBN   9780413705204.
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.