The Woman in the Hall | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jack Lee |
Written by | Ian Dalrymple G.B. Stern Jack Lee |
Based on | The Woman in the Hall by G.B. Stern |
Produced by | Ian Dalrymple |
Starring | Ursula Jeans Jean Simmons Cecil Parker |
Cinematography | C.M. Pennington-Richards |
Edited by | John Krish |
Music by | Temple Abady |
Production company | Wessex Film Productions |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date | 28 October 1947 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £201,200 [1] |
Box office | £117,800 [1] |
The Woman in the Hall is a 1947 British drama film directed by Jack Lee and starring Ursula Jeans, Jean Simmons, Cecil Parker. The screenplay was written by Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple and Gladys Bronwyn Stern, from Stern's 1939 novel of the same title.
It was made by Wessex Film Productions at Pinewood Studios, with sets designed by Peter Proud.
It was the film debut of actress Susan Hampshire, as a young child.
Lorna Blake (Ursula Jeans) is a widow with two daughters. She augments her slender income by using her children to extort money, visiting the houses of the rich to tell a pathetic story and beg for help.
Lorna makes a rich capture when Sir Halmar Bernard (Cecil Parker) proposes marriage to her. She tells him that she has only one daughter, Molly (Jill Raymond). When her other daughter, Jay (Jean Simmons), is arrested for forging a cheque, Lorna refuses to help her.
Jack Lee later recalled the experience of working for Wessex "revolted me" because "it reminded me of when I was a child and my mother would send me out on begging expeditions because she never had any money. It was a bloody awful novel and a terrible film." [2]
The producer's receipts in the UK were £97,900 and £19,900 overseas. [1]
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