Production
Joseph Losey had been offered a three-picture deal with Rank at the recommendation of Dirk Bogarde; the director was also admired by James Archibald who was a Rank executive. Losey was going to make a film with Bogarde, Bird of Paradise based on The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo. He was sent a number of scripts which he rejected, eventually settling on The Gypsy and the Gentleman. "I didn't like it much, but I thought well, I can’t go on turning down scripts," said Losey. "I’ve got to work — and I can make something out of this." [6] [7]
It was Losey's idea to cast Melinda Mercouri, who he remembered from Stella. [8] Mercouri later wrote she was "scraping the bottom of the barrel when" offered the job and during filming "knew I was giving a poor performance, but" Losey "never stopped trying... But I just couldn’t make it. I couldn’t connect with the character." [9] [10]
Michael Craig declined the lead, and was replaced by Keith Michell, who was also under contract to Rank. [11]
Muriel Pavlow, who was under contract to Rank, was offered a role but turned it down "foolishly because, although it was a rubbishy film, it was directed by Joseph Losey.", [12]
Losey said "I had decided that we should make an extravagant melodrama and at the same time try and present something of the real feeling of the Regency period where there were no toilets, and people bathed once a week if they were lucky, in a tub, and the gentlemen, when they got drunk, pissed in the fireplace. Of a period that was cruel and dirty and not just lovely and elegant — with brutal boxing matches and all the rest." [13]
Filming took place from 11 June to September 1957 at Pinewood Studios and on location at Oxhey. Losey did not enjoy filming, calling produced Maurice Cowan a "monster" although he felt with the cinematographer, Mercouri, the designer and editor " we were really able to make something." Losey said he "had no artistic control, but it had been agreed that I would control the cutting of the picture, the music and the general finishing. The studio in general wasn’t very happy. They didn’t understand what I was doing; they didn’t understand what Melina’s virtues were — and she has many, chiefly enormous energy." [14]
Losey says that when the film finished "it became subject to horrible executive interferences from all kinds of sources". He fell out with John Davis and Rank insisted on a score by Hans May which the director said "changed the mood and the pace to such a degree, that for the first and only time in my life I left the picture before it was finished." [15]
Reception
Variety magazine wrote:
Harking, back to the British film days of such successful pix as “The Wicked Lady" and “The Man in Grey,” there Is genuine reason to believe that “Gypsy” may make an equal financial sweep in Britain. Nevertheless; this is a dusty, sprawling, no-holds-barred costume melodrama, which utilizes every possible cliche in the romantic “meller” hook. Yet it has appeal because of its simple attack on b.o. potentiality; It gets away with it because. a good cast plays it for more than it is worth. The slightest case of “tongue-in-cheek” and this old-fashioned drama would have fallen flat, on its face. [16]
Losey said the film failed in at the box office. "I think it could have been a success, with very little differences: just a proper score, proper cutting, and proper handling of it. I think the images are very satisfying, but otherwise I don’t like it." [17]
“I think it’s largely a piece of junk, and I’d just as soon nobody saw it again.”—Josey Losey in a 1971 interview with critic Gordon Gow [18] [19] [20]
John Davis, managing director of Rank, then cancelled the rest of Losey's contract. "He settled it, as I recall, for one-tenth of what they contractually owed me," said Lopsey. "And everybody in England knew that I had, in effect, been fired. So there again, it didn’t establish me in England." [21] [22]
Theme
The film marks the first film in which Losey approaches the class themes that would become central to his subsequent work, particularly in The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971) [23] An American by birth and upbringing (he was born to a wealthy and politically conservative family in La Crosse, Wisconsin), Losey adopted leftist and class-oriented views during the 1930s. [24] [25]
Arriving in England in 1951, age 42, he was “impressed by the powerful hold of the class system over English society.” Losey attempted to fully examine aspects of class hierarchy in The Gypsy and the Gentleman, but was cautioned not to do so by the studio. Biographer Foster Hirsch observes that nonetheless, “Losey’s tentative reading of the class theme gives the film whatever interest it has.” [26]
Notably, Losey maintains an “ironic distance” from both the proletarian and aristocratic figures in this historical romance. [27]
Joseph Walton Losey III was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blacklisted by Hollywood in the 1950s, he moved to Europe where he made the remainder of his films, mostly in the United Kingdom. Among the most critically and commercially successful were the films with screenplays by Harold Pinter: The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971).
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as Doctor in the House (1954) for the Rank Organisation, he later acted in art house films, evolving from "heartthrob to icon of edginess".
Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a political family that was prominent over multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the film Never on Sunday (1960). Mercouri was also nominated for one Tony Award, three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards in her acting career. In 1987 she was awarded a special prize in the first edition of the Europe Theatre Prize.
Accident is a 1967 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Written by Harold Pinter, it is an adaptation of the 1965 novel Accident by Nicholas Mosley. It is the second of three Losey–Pinter collaborations; the others being The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971). At the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Accident won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury award. It also won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.
The Servant is a 1963 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey. It was written by Harold Pinter, who adapted Robin Maugham's 1948 novella of the same name. The film stars Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig and James Fox.
M is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey. It is a remake of Fritz Lang's 1931 German film of the same title about a child murderer. This version shifts the location of action from Berlin to Los Angeles and changes the killer's name from Hans Beckert to Martin W. Harrow. Both versions of M were produced by Seymour Nebenzal, whose son, Harold, was associate producer of the 1951 version.
Secret Ceremony is a 1968 British drama-thriller film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum.
Keith Joseph Michell was an Australian actor who worked primarily in the United Kingdom, and was best known for his television and film portrayals of King Henry VIII. He appeared extensively in Shakespeare and other classics and musicals in Britain, and was also in several Broadway productions. He was an artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in the 1970s and later had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote as the charming thief Dennis Stanton. He was also known for illustrating a collection of Jeremy Lloyd's poems Captain Beaky, and singing the title song from the associated album.
The Big Night is a 1951 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey, that features John Drew Barrymore, Preston Foster and Joan Lorring. The feature is based on a script written by Joseph Losey and Stanley Ellin, based on Ellin's 1948 novel Dreadful Summit. Hugo Butler and Ring Lardner, Jr. also contributed to the screenplay, but were uncredited when the film was first released owing to his Hollywood Ten conviction.
Modesty Blaise is a 1966 British spy-fi comedy film directed by Joseph Losey, produced by Joseph Janni, and loosely based on the popular comic strip Modesty Blaise by Peter O'Donnell, who co-wrote the original story upon which Evan Jones and Harold Pinter based their screenplay. It stars Monica Vitti as "Modesty", opposite Terence Stamp as Willie Garvin and Dirk Bogarde as her nemesis Gabriel. The cast also includes Harry Andrews, Michael Craig, Alexander Knox, Rossella Falk, Clive Revill, and Tina Aumont. The film's music was composed by Johnny Dankworth and the theme song, Modesty, sung by pop duo David and Jonathan. It was Vitti's first English-speaking role.
Boom! is a 1968 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noël Coward. It was adapted by Tennessee Williams from his own play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
The Go-Between is a 1971 British historical drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Its screenplay by Harold Pinter is an adaptation of the 1953 novel The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley. The film stars Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Michael Redgrave and Dominic Guard.
The Criminal is a 1960 British neo-noir crime film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Stanley Baker, Sam Wanamaker, Grégoire Aslan, Jill Bennett, and Margit Saad. Baker plays Johnny Bannion, a recently-paroled gangster who is sent back to prison after robbing a racetrack, with both the authorities and the criminal underworld looking for the money.
A Doll's House is a 1973 drama film directed by Joseph Losey, based on the 1879 play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen. It stars Jane Fonda in the role of Nora Helmer and David Warner as her domineering husband, Torvald.
Eva, released in the United Kingdom as Eve, and in the United States as The Devil’s Woman a 1962 Italian-French co-production drama film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Jeanne Moreau, Stanley Baker, and Virna Lisi. Its screenplay is adapted from James Hadley Chase's 1945 novel Eve.
The Assassination of Trotsky is a 1972 British historical drama film directed by Joseph Losey with a screenplay by Nicholas Mosley. It stars Richard Burton, Romy Schneider and Alain Delon.
Figures in a Landscape is a 1970 British film directed by Joseph Losey and written by star Robert Shaw, based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Barry England.
June Laverick is an English film, television and stage actress.
King and Country is a 1964 British war film directed by Joseph Losey, shot in black and white, and starring Dirk Bogarde and Tom Courtenay. The film was adapted for the screen by British screenwriter Evan Jones based on the play Hamp by John Wilson and a 1955 novel by James Lansdale Hodson.
The Lawless is a 1950 American film noir directed by Joseph Losey and featuring Macdonald Carey, Gail Russell and Johnny Sands.
