Piccadilly Incident

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Piccadilly Incident
"Piccadilly Incident" (1946).jpg
Directed by Herbert Wilcox
Written by Nicholas Phipps
Based onan original story by Florence Tranter
Produced by Herbert Wilcox
Starring Anna Neagle
Michael Wilding
Cinematography Max Greene
Edited by Flora Newton
Music by Anthony Collins
Production
company
Distributed byPathé Pictures Ltd (UK)
Release date
30 September 1946 (UK)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£258,057 (UK) [1]

Piccadilly Incident is a 1946 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Coral Browne, Edward Rigby and Leslie Dwyer. [2]

Contents

Plot

During an air-raid on Piccadilly in World War II, Chief Wren Diana Fraser, who is on active duty with the Women's Royal Naval Service, meets Captain Alan Pearson, a Royal Marines officer on sick leave after the evacuation from Dunkirk. He invites her for a drink at his house. They dance and fall in love. Impulsively, he proposes to her and they marry.

Alan is posted to North Africa and Diana to Singapore. As Singapore falls to the Japanese, she is evacuated, but the ship in which she is travelling is attacked and she is presumed drowned. However, she and four other passengers survive, including Bill Weston, a Canadian sailor who loves her.

Two years later, they are rescued after their boat is spotted by an American aeroplane. Fraser returns home to find that her husband has remarried to an American Red Cross nurse, Joan, and they have a son. She is devastated and flees the house after meeting the wife.

Diana approaches Alan backstage at a Navy show. She pretends that the marriage meant little to her and that she has another man with whom she became involved when stranded on the island. The theatre is bombed; Alan is wounded but Diana dies in hospital. Before her death she confesses her lies and they both declare their love for each other. Later, a judge decides that Alan and Joan must remarry, but the son will be unable to inherit the family title.

Cast

Production

Herbert Wilcox made the film as a follow-up to I Live in Grosvenor Square (1945). He hoped to use the same leads, Anna Neagle and Rex Harrison, but the success of Grosvenor Square saw Harrison offered a contract with 20th Century Fox. Wilcox offered the role to John Mills, who turned it down. He accepted Michael Wilding reluctantly at the suggestion of Wilding's agent, but once he saw Wilding and Neagle play their first scene together, he put Wilding under a personal long-term contract. [3]

Wilcox teamed his wife Anna Neagle with Michael Wilding for the first time, establishing them as top box-office stars in five more films, ending with The Lady with a Lamp (1951). [4] Wilding was third choice for leading man after Rex Harrison and John Mills. [5]

Reception

Box office

It was the second most popular film at the British box office in 1946, after The Wicked Lady . [6] [7] [8]

Critical Reception

Though The New York Times thought the film demonstrated "the British are quite as capable as the Americans of unconvincing direction, ill-considered writing and tedious acting", critic Godfrey Winn wrote "In Piccadilly Incident is born the greatest team in British Films". [9]

Leonard Maltin wrote "good British cast gives life to oft-filmed plot". [10]

Allmovie called the film "a weeper deluxe". [5]

The Radio Times concluded that the film "effectively opens the tear ducts". [4]

Leslie Halliwell said: "The Enoch Arden theme again, and the first of the Wilcox-Neagle 'London' films, though untypically a melodrama with a sad ending." [11]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "A big box-office hit, it established the stars as one of Britain's most potent post-war teams." [12]

Accolades

It was voted the best British film of 1946 at Britain's National Film Awards. [13] Neagle's was voted Best Actress of the year by the readers of Picturegoer magazine. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Neagle</span> English stage and film actress and singer

Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox, known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Wilding</span> English actor

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950); and he guest starred on Hitchcock's TV show in 1963. He was married four times, including to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had two sons.

<i>Spring in Park Lane</i> 1948 British film

Spring in Park Lane is a 1948 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Tom Walls. It was part of a series of films partnering Neagle and Wilding. It was the top film at the British box office in 1948 and remains the most popular entirely British-made film ever in terms of all-time attendance. It was shot at the Elstree Studios of MGM British with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Some location shooting also took place in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Wilcox</span> Film producer and director from Britain

Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE was a British film producer and director.

<i>I Live in Grosvenor Square</i> 1945 British film

I Live in Grosvenor Square is a British comedy-drama romance war film directed and produced by Herbert Wilcox. It was the first of Wilcox's "London films" collaboration with his wife, actress Anna Neagle. Her co-stars were Dean Jagger and Rex Harrison. The plot is set in a context of US-British wartime co-operation, and displays icons of popular music with the purpose of harmonising relationships on both sides of the Atlantic. An edited version was distributed in the United States, with two additional scenes filmed in Hollywood, under the title A Yank in London.

<i>Derby Day</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier and Gordon Harker. An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously enjoyed on screen together. To promote the film, Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. In the United States, the film was released as Four Against Fate.

<i>The Man Who Wouldnt Talk</i> (1958 film) 1958 British film

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk is a 1958 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox. It starred Anna Neagle, Anthony Quayle, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Dora Bryan, John Le Mesurier and Lloyd Lamble.

The National Film Awards were the first ever national film awards held in Britain. They were sponsored by the Daily Mail newspaper with readers voting at cinemas across the country, for Best Actor, Actress, and Film. The inaugural event was held at the Dorchester Hotel, London in 1946.

<i>Nell Gwynn</i> (1934 film) 1934 British film

Nell Gwyn is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, Jeanne de Casalis, Miles Malleson and Moore Marriott. The film portrays the historical romance between Charles II of England and the actress Nell Gwyn. In the opening credits, the dialogue is credited to "King Charles II, Samuel Pepys and Nell Gwyn" with additional dialogue by Miles Malleson. It was also released as Mistress Nell Gwyn.

<i>Limelight</i> (1936 film) 1936 British film

Limelight is a 1936 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Arthur Tracy, Anna Neagle and Jane Winton. It was released in the U.S. as Backstage.

<i>Bitter Sweet</i> (1933 film) 1933 film

Bitter Sweet is a British musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and released by United Artists in 1933. It was the first film adaptation of Noël Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet. It starred Anna Neagle and Fernand Gravey, with Ivy St. Helier reviving her stage role as Manon. It was made at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios and was part of a boom in operetta films during the 1930s.

<i>Maytime in Mayfair</i> 1949 British film

Maytime in Mayfair is a 1949 British musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Nicholas Phipps, and Tom Walls. It was a follow-up to Spring in Park Lane.

<i>Trents Last Case</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

Trent's Last Case is a 1952 British detective film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Michael Wilding, Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles and John McCallum. It was produced by Wilcox as part of a distribution agreement with Republic Pictures. It was based on the 1913 novel Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley, and had been filmed previously in the UK with Clive Brook in 1920, and in a 1929 US version.

<i>Just My Luck</i> (1957 film) 1957 British film

Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom, Margaret Rutherford, Jill Dixon and Leslie Phillips.

<i>Kings Rhapsody</i> (film) 1955 film by Herbert Wilcox

King's Rhapsody is a 1955 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn and Patrice Wymore. Wymore was Errol Flynn's wife at the time of filming. It was based on the successful stage musical King's Rhapsody by Ivor Novello.

<i>No Time for Tears</i> (film) 1957 British film

No Time for Tears is a 1957 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel in CinemaScope and Eastman Color and starring Anna Neagle, George Baker, Sylvia Syms and Anthony Quayle. The staff at a children's hospital struggle with their workload.

<i>Hindle Wakes</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by Arthur Crabtree

Hindle Wakes is a 1952 British drama film, directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Lisa Daniely, Brian Worth, Leslie Dwyer and Sandra Dorne. It was the fourth screen adaptation of the Stanley Houghton play of the same name (1912), dealing with a young woman engaging in a holiday sexual flirtation, regardless of the disapproval of her parents or wider society.

<i>The Lady with a Lamp</i> 1951 film by Herbert Wilcox

The Lady with a Lamp is a 1951 British historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Felix Aylmer. The film depicts the life of Florence Nightingale and her work with wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War. It was shot at Shepperton Studios outside London. Location shooting took place at Cole Green railway station in Hertfordshire and at Lea Hurst, the Nightingale family home, near Matlock in Derbyshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director William C. Andrews. It is based on the 1929 play The Lady with a Lamp by Reginald Berkeley.

<i>My Teenage Daughter</i> 1956 film

My Teenage Daughter, later Teenage Bad Girl, is a 1956 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms and Norman Wooland. The screenplay concerns a mother who tries to deal with her teenage daughter's descent into delinquency. It was intended as a British response to Rebel Without a Cause. It was the last commercially successful film made by Wilcox.

<i>Lilacs in the Spring</i> 1954 film

Lilacs in the Spring is a 1954 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn and David Farrar. The film was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Shot in Trucolor it was distributed in Britain by Republic Pictures. It was the first of two films Neagle and Flynn made together, the other being King's Rhapsody. It was released in the United States as Let's Make Up.

References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p483
  2. ↑ "Piccadilly Incident". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Wilcox, Herbert (1967). Twenty Five Thousand Sunsets. South Brunswick. p. 144.
  4. 1 2 "Piccadilly Incident - Film from RadioTimes".
  5. 1 2 "Piccadilly Incident (1948) - Herbert Wilcox - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  6. ↑ "Personality Parade". The Mail . Adelaide. 25 January 1947. p. 9 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Robert Murphy, Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 2003 p. 209
  8. ↑ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
  9. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Piccadilly Incident (1946)".
  10. ↑ "Piccadilly Incident (1946) - Overview - TCM.com".
  11. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 796. ISBN   0586088946.
  12. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 240. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  13. ↑ "BRITAIN'S FAVORITE STARS FOR 1946". The Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 14 April 1947. p. 3. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  14. ↑ "ANNA NEAGLE GETS A TROPHY". The West Australian . Perth: National Library of Australia. 5 September 1947. p. 25. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
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