Tudor Rose (film)

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Tudor Rose
Tudor Rose 1936.jpg
Nova Pilbeam and John Mills
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Written by Miles Malleson (dialogue)
Robert Stevenson (screenplay)
Produced by Hubert Bath
Starring Cedric Hardwicke
Nova Pilbeam
Cinematography Mutz Greenbaum
Edited by Terence Fisher
Music by Hubert Bath (composer)
Louis Levy
(music director & additional music)
Production
company
Distributed by Gaumont British
Release date
  • 1 September 1936 (1936-09-01)
Running time
78 min
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£30,000-£40,000 [1]

Tudor Rose (U.S. title: Nine Days a Queen) is a 1936 British film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Cedric Hardwicke and Nova Pilbeam.

Contents

The film is a dramatization of Lady Jane Grey's brief reign as the queen of England. It opens with King Henry VIII on his deathbed stating the order of succession and ends with Jane's beheading. The story deviates from the historical record somewhat, including a fictional Earl of Warwick character who is similar to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland.

The title refers to the Tudor rose. The story of Lady Jane Grey was also the basis for the film Lady Jane (1986).

Plot

Cast

Production

Robert Stevenson wrote the script while recovering in hospital from an operation. He submitted it to Gaumont British under Michael Balcon. Stevenson worked for the studio several years, writing synopses, and graduating to script writing and assistant producing and directing. He was given chance to direct with Tudor Rose. [2]

The film was one of the earliest production efforts from Ted Black. [3] It was supervised by Black and Sidney Gilliat during the six month period when Michael Balcon was in Hollywood. [4]

Roy Ward Baker was second assistant director.

Reception

The film was given a gala premiere in London in May 1936. [5] [6]

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene offered a negative review, noting that he had "seldom listened to more inchoate rubbish than in Tudor Rose." Green described Robert Stevenson's direction as "smooth, competent, if rather banal" and criticised the film's historicity, dialogue, writing and scenes. Greene wrote: "There is not a character, not an incident in which history has not been altered for the cheapest of reasons," concluding that the historical-drama genre had reached "the Dark Age of scholarship and civilization." [7]

Variety praised the "marvellous adherance to detail" and "From every angle, it is one of the mo.st interesting pictures ever produced on either side of the ocean. Experienced picture men here think the film will be a huge success In America. Perhaps. But they must not forget that the names In the cast are of relatively; small value in the U. S. and that it will require careful publicity to get moving." [8]

The film was voted the second best British picture of 1936 by readers of Film Weekly magazine, trailing only The Ghost Goes West . Nova Pilbeam won the magazine's Best Acting award, besting Robert Donat for his performance in The Ghost Goes West. [9]

Balcon said he showed the picture to Louis B. Mayer who was so impressed by the quality of the film on its budget he wanted to sign up everyone who worked on it until MGM. However, Balcon says that although Mayer sent a cable, and this was responded to by the filmmakers, Mayer did nothing further. [1]

Nova Pilmbeam later said after she made the film "nothing happened for something like eighteen months. I longed to do something in the theatre but I wasn’t allowed." [10]

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References

  1. 1 2 Balcon, Michael (1969). Michael Balcon presents ... a lifetime of films. Hutchison. p. 128. ISBN   978-0-09-095500-8.
  2. ↑ "Their Private Lives". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 11 July 1936. p. 13 (SPORTS FINAL). Retrieved 2 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black". Filmink. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  4. ↑ Brown, Geoff; Kardish, Laurence (1984). Michael Balcon : the pursuit of British cinema. Museum of Modern Art. p. 85. ISBN   978-0-87070-249-5.
  5. ↑ ""TUDOR ROSE" BRIDGES TIME". The Sun. No. 8232. New South Wales, Australia. 22 May 1936. p. 16 (COUNTRY EDITION). Retrieved 2 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  6. ↑ "CLEVER CHILDREN". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 30, 730. New South Wales, Australia. 30 June 1936. p. 8 (Women's Supplement). Retrieved 2 December 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Greene, Graham (8 May 1936). "Anne-Marie/Tudor Rose". The Spectator . (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome . pp.  73–74. ISBN   0192812866.)
  8. ↑ "Tudor Rose". Variety. 13 May 1936. p. 15.
  9. ↑ "BEST FILM PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR". The Examiner . Launceston, Tasmania. 9 July 1937. p. 8 Edition: LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY. Retrieved 4 March 2013– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ McFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. Methuen. p. 454. ISBN   978-0-413-70520-4.
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