Prelude to Fame

Last updated

Prelude to Fame
Prelude to Fame.jpg
Directed by Fergus McDonell
Written by Aldous Huxley (story "Young Archimedes")
Robert Westerby
Bridget Boland
Produced byDonald B. Wilson
Starring Guy Rolfe
Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Ryan
Cinematography George Stretton
Edited by Sidney Hayers
Music by Muir Mathieson
Production
company
Distributed by General Film Distributors
Release date
  • 2 May 1950 (1950-05-02)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Prelude to Fame is a 1950 British drama film set in Italy, directed by Fergus McDonell and starring Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron and Kathleen Ryan. It is based on the 1924 story "Young Archimides" by Aldous Huxley, about a mathematical prodigy who is also gifted in music.

Contents

Plot

While vacationing in Italy, Nick Morell, son of John Morell, a famous English philosopher and amateur musician and his wife Catherine, becomes friendly with young Guido. Morell discovers Guido has an extraordinary instinct for orchestration and a phenomenal music memory. A neighbouring couple, Signor and Signora Boudini, become aware of the boy's talents, and the Signora appeals to Guido's parents to let her educate him musically. Torn between their love for their son and the duty they feel to let the world hear his talent, they eventually consent.

Guido is tutored by Dr. Lorenzo. Signora Bondini denies the boy all contact with his parents and everyone else except her. She also neither sends his letters to his family, nor lets him see the ones they have sent to him. He becomes phenomenally successful and makes the grand tour of Europe, while Signora Bondini is enraptured by the acclaim given her through her "discovery" of the boy. She prepares to take him to America and also prepares adoption papers.

Cast

Production

It was made at Pinewood Studios with sets designed by the art director Frederick Pusey. This was the last film produced in the Rank Organisation's "Independent Frame" production system, an attempt to innovate filmmaking. [1] When 12 years old Jeremy Spenser was given the part, he spent many weeks before filming began being taught how to conduct an orchestra by Marcus Dods, who was, at that time, assistant to film composer / conductor Muir Mathieson, with the result that Jeremy's conducting scenes looked convincing.

Related Research Articles

<i>Summertime</i> (1955 film) 1955 film by David Lean

Summertime is a 1955 romantic comedy drama film directed by David Lean, and starring Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Darren McGavin, and Isa Miranda. It follows a lonely middle-aged American secretary and her experiences touring Venice alone for the first time, during which she falls in love with an Italian antiques dealer. Lean co-wrote the screenplay with H.E. Bates, based on the play The Time of the Cuckoo by Arthur Laurents.

<i>Young Bess</i> 1953 film by George Sidney

Young Bess is a 1953 Technicolor biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about the early life of Elizabeth I, from her turbulent childhood to the eve of her accession to the throne of England. It stars Jean Simmons as Elizabeth and Stewart Granger as Thomas Seymour, with Charles Laughton as Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, a part he had played 20 years before in The Private Life of Henry VIII. The film was directed by George Sidney and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by Jan Lustig and Arthur Wimperis based on the novel of the same title by Margaret Irwin (1944).

<i>The Winslow Boy</i> 1946 play by Terence Rattigan

The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.

<i>The Light in the Piazza</i> (musical) 2005 musical by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas

The Light in the Piazza is a musical with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, and a book by Craig Lucas.

<i>The Real Blonde</i> 1997 film by Tom DiCillo

The Real Blonde is a 1997 film directed and written by Tom DiCillo, and starring Matthew Modine, Catherine Keener and Maxwell Caulfield. It is a satire of New York's fashion and entertainment industries.

<i>The Peanut Butter Solution</i> 1985 Canadian film

The Peanut Butter Solution is a 1985 Canadian children's fantasy film directed by Michael Rubbo. The second installment in the Tales for All series of films by Les Productions La Fête, the film stars Mathew Mackay, Siluck Saysanasy, Alison Darcy, and Michael Hogan.

<i>Frankenstein Unbound</i> 1990 film by Roger Corman

Frankenstein Unbound is a 1990 science fiction horror film based on Brian Aldiss' 1973 novel of the same name, starring John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, Jason Patric, and Nick Brimble. The film is co-written and directed by Roger Corman, returning to the director's chair after a hiatus of almost twenty years. This is his final directorial effort to date, for which he was paid $1 million to direct.

<i>The Spider and the Fly</i> (1949 film) 1949 British film

The Spider and the Fly is a 1949 British crime film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Eric Portman, Guy Rolfe and Nadia Gray. The screenplay concerns an unusual love triangle that develops between two criminals and a policeman on the eve of the First World War. Hamer made it immediately after Kind Hearts and Coronets.

<i>Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper</i> 2004 Canadian film

Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is a 2004 computer-animated musical fantasy film. It was released to video on September 28, 2004, and made its television premiere on Nickelodeon on November 14, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Rolfe</span> British actor (1911–2003)

Guy Rolfe was a British actor.

<i>The Winslow Boy</i> (1999 film) 1999 film

The Winslow Boy is a 1999 American period drama film directed by David Mamet and starring Nigel Hawthorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Jeremy Northam and Gemma Jones. Set in London before World War I, it depicts a family defending the honour of its young son at all cost. The screenplay was adapted by Mamet based on Terence Rattigan's 1946 dramatic play The Winslow Boy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Oscar</span> English actor

Henry Wale, known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London. He appeared in a wide range of films, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), Fire Over England (1937), The Four Feathers (1939), Hatter's Castle (1942), Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948), Beau Brummell (1954), The Little Hut (1957), Beyond This Place (1959), Oscar Wilde (1960), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Long Ships (1963) and Murder Ahoy! (1964).

<i>Change of Heart</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by John G. Blystone

Change of Heart is a 1934 American pre-Code drama film starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell, James Dunn, and Ginger Rogers. The movie, about a quartet of college chums who all move to 1934 New York City, was written by James Gleason and Sonya Levien from Kathleen Norris's novel, Manhattan Love Song and directed by John G. Blystone.

<i>Light in the Piazza</i> (film) 1962 film by Guy Green

Light in the Piazza is a 1962 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Olivia de Havilland, Rossano Brazzi, Yvette Mimieux, George Hamilton, and Barry Sullivan. Based on the 1960 novel The Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer, the film is about a beautiful but mentally disabled young American woman traveling in Italy with her mother and the Italian man they meet during one leg of their trip.

<i>Dance Little Lady</i> 1954 film

Dance, Little Lady is a 1954 British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, Mai Zetterling, Guy Rolfe and Mandy Miller. The film was made by independent producer George Minter and distributed by his Renown Pictures. It was shot in Eastmancolor at the Walton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Frederick Pusey.

Jeremy Spenser is a British actor who is widely known for his work in film and television from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s. He made his screen debut aged 11 in Anna Karenina (1948).

<i>The Merchant of Venice</i> (1923 film) 1923 film by Peter Paul Felner

The Merchant of Venice is a 1923 German silent drama film directed by Peter Paul Felner and starring Werner Krauss, Henny Porten and Harry Liedtke. The film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. It was released in the United States in 1926 as The Jew of Mestri. The film was made on location in Venice, with scenes and characters added which were not in the original play. This is the surviving copy, being two reels shorter than the German version. The characters in the German retained Shakespeare's nomenclature, but in the American they were given new names sourced from the Italian work Il Pecorone, a 14th-century short story collection attributed to Giovanni Fiorentino, from which Shakespeare is believed to have drawn his idea. The film purports to be a return to the original, as an excuse for its differences from the play.

<i>Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie</i> 2014 American science fiction adventure comedy independent film

Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie is a 2014 American independent science-fiction adventure comedy film written and directed by James Rolfe and Kevin Finn. It is based on the web series of the same name, also created by Rolfe, with himself as the lead character alongside Jeremy Suarez, Sarah Glendening, Stephen Mendel, Time Winters, Helena Barrett, David Dastmalchian, Robbie Rist, and Eddie Pepitone.

<i>East of the River</i> 1940 American film

East of the River is a 1940 American drama film directed by Alfred E. Green and written by Fred Niblo, Jr. The film stars John Garfield, Brenda Marshall, Marjorie Rambeau, George Tobias, William Lundigan and Moroni Olsen. The film was released by Warner Bros. on November 9, 1940.

<i>The Human Jungle</i> (TV series) British drama (ITV, 1963–65)

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Weekend TV by Independent Artists.

References