The Perfect Woman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Bernard Knowles |
Written by | George Black Bernard Knowles add. dialogue Basil Boothroyd |
Based on | play by Wallace Geoffrey Basil Mitchell |
Produced by | Alfred Black George Black |
Starring | Patricia Roc Stanley Holloway Nigel Patrick Miles Malleson |
Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
Edited by | Peter Graham Scott |
Music by | Arthur Wilkinson |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors (UK) Eagle Lion (UK) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £100,000 [1] |
The Perfect Woman is a 1949 British farce comedy film directed by Bernard Knowles and written by George Black, Jr and J. B. Boothroyd, based upon a play by Wallace Geoffrey and Basil Mitchell. The screenplay concerns a scientist who creates a robotic woman in his lab.
Ramshead, a butler, tells his lazy and currently broke master, Roger Cavendish, that he is broke. They search the newspaper for potential work.
Professor Ernest Belman has placed an advert in the Times seeking help. They phone and arrange to meet.
The professor has created a woman robot in his lab based on his niece, Penelope.
Cavendish appears for interview (with his butler). They are tasked with looking after his robot, Olga, for a week but are told they must never say the word "love" in front of it.
When Penelope's date cancels, the housekeeper Buttercup suggests she pretend to be the robot. Cavendish and Ramshead take her to a hotel and stay in the bridal suite, sparking many rumours amongst the staff. Cavendish's rich aunt arrives and thinks he has married. The robot is sent to help to explain things.
The original play debuted on 11 September 1948 and ran for 224 performances. [2]
Producers George and Alfred Black were sons of a famous producer. [3]
Roc made the film after spending several months in Paris, where she made Retour and The Man on the Eiffel Tower . [4] Roc was under contract to J. Arthur Rank at the time. [5] Filming took place in January 1949. The film was shot in 38 days at only three-quarters of its budgeted cost. [6] It was made at Denham Studios with sets designed by James Elder Wills.
Pamela Devis was cast as the robot because of her resemblance to Roc. [7]
Roc left the Rank organisation before the film was released. The film was released on a double bill, and given a West End screening. [8] However it proved popular and made a profit. [1]
Two Cities' executive producer Earl St John hoped to reunite Holloway, Patrick and Roc for a sequel, The Perfect Man. [9] However no film resulted.
The BBC broadcast a live adaptation of the Geoffrey and Mitchell play in the Sunday Night Theatre slot on 6 May 1956.
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.
The Blue Lagoon is a 1949 British coming-of-age romance and adventure film directed and co-produced by Frank Launder and starring Jean Simmons and Donald Houston. The screenplay was adapted by John Baines, Michael Hogan, and Frank Launder from the 1908 novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The original music score was composed by Clifton Parker and the cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth.
Nigel Patrick was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family.
Anthony Maitland Steel was a British actor and singer who appeared in British war films of the 1950s such as The Wooden Horse (1950) and Where No Vultures Fly. He was also known for his tumultuous marriage to Anita Ekberg.
Penne Hackforth-Jones was an American-born Australian actress and biographer.
Lotus Thompson was an Australian actress of silent and sound films. Her film career began in Australia in 1921 and ended in California in 1949, during which time she appeared in 35 motion pictures. She died in California in 1963.
London Belongs to Me is a British film released in 1948, directed by Sidney Gilliat, and starring Richard Attenborough and Alastair Sim. It was based on the novel London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins, which was also the basis for a seven-part series made by Thames Television shown in 1977.
Bernard Knowles was an English film director, producer, cinematographer and screenwriter. Born in Manchester, Knowles worked with Alfred Hitchcock on numerous occasions before the director emigrated to Hollywood.
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).
The Brothers is a British film melodrama of 1947, starring Patricia Roc, Will Fyffe and Maxwell Reed, from a novel of the same name by L. A. G. Strong.
When the Bough Breaks is a 1947 film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Patricia Roc and Rosamund John. It is an adaptation of an original storyline by Herbert Victor on adoption and the competing ties of one child's birth and foster family.
The Bad Lord Byron is a 1949 British historical drama film about the life of Lord Byron. It was directed by David MacDonald and starred Dennis Price as Byron with Mai Zetterling, Linden Travers and Joan Greenwood.
Sons of Matthew is a 1949 Australian film directed and produced and co-written by Charles Chauvel. The film was shot in 1947 on location in Queensland, Australia, and the studio sequences in Sydney. Sons of Matthew took 18 months to complete, but it was a great success with Australian audiences when it finally opened in December 1949.
Diamond City is a 1949 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar, Honor Blackman, Diana Dors and Niall MacGinnis.
Dear Murderer is a 1947 British film noir crime, drama, thriller, directed by Arthur Crabtree for Gainsborough Pictures, and starring Eric Portman and Greta Gynt.
Cardboard Cavalier is a 1948 British historical comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Sid Field, Margaret Lockwood and Jerry Desmonde.
Gambler's Gold is a 1911 Australian film based on the 1911 novel by Arthur Wright. It is considered a lost film.
Nigel Tasman Lovell was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama.
Frank Harvey was the nom de plume of John Ainsworth Hilton, born Jean François de Soissons de Latanac, actor and playwright, who was born and died in Manchester, England. His plays were popular in Australia.
Charles Darrell was an English playwright who specialized in melodrama.