Warning to Wantons

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Warning to Wantons
Warning to Wantons (1949 film).jpg
Directed by Donald Wilson
Written by James Laver
Donald Wilson
Based onnovel A Warning to Wantons by Mary Mitchell
Starring Harold Warrender
Anne Vernon
David Tomlinson
Cinematography George Stretton
Edited by Frederick Wilson
Sidney Hayers
Music by Hans May
Production
company
Aquila Film
Distributed by General Film Distributors (UK)
Release dates
  • 4 January 1949 (1949-01-04)(London, England)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£125,000 [1]

Warning to Wantons is a 1949 British romantic comedy film directed by Donald Wilson and starring Harold Warrender, Anne Vernon and David Tomlinson. [2] [3] The screenplay, written by art historian James Laver and the director, was based upon Mary Mitchell's 1934 novel A Warning to Wantons. [4]

Contents

Premise

A young woman escapes her strict convent school and enters high society, where she has the time of her life.

Cast

Credited

Uncredited

Production

It was the first of four films produced by Donald Wilson using prefabricated sets to keep costs down. Filming took six weeks. [1] The film was one of the four of David Rawnsley's films that used his "independent frame" technique, a form of back projection.

Reception

Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture compels its audience to take far too much on trust. The staging is spectacular, but this is insufficient compensation for the many inconsistencies in treatment and presentation. It is therefore small wonder that the players, try as they may, failto raise many laughs, touch thee heart or deliver its heavily veiled warning to wild young females. Almost completely baffled ourselves, we fear to contemplate ihe ninepennies' reactions." [5]

Picturegoer wrote: "I found it all highly diverting, if a bit slow after the first half. Sonia. Holm seems too stolidly English as Maria for the play's setting, but Harold Warrender is a delight as the man with a long list of amorous conquests to his credit – or discredit. As Max David Tomlinson is gauchely naive, as only he knows. I hope that during the year we shall have as many more comedies as amusing as this one." [6]

Picture Show wrote: "Heavy-handed handling of what should have been a gay, whimsical trifle, results in this being a pedestrian sort of warning. It is quite well acted, but the fanciful story is a little too confusing." [7]

Variety wrote: "First of the Independent Frame productions to be made for general exhibition, Warning to Wantons bears no obvious traces of this new factory-like method of film making, other than the introduction of new technical grades such as frame supervisor, transparency photographer and transparency projection. Although its production qualities are commendable, the novelettish theme and the limitations of the script make this a doubtful starter for American audiences. ...Plot itself is light and inconsequential but with a more polished script it might have been a scintillating comedy. As it is, only Anne Vernon, in the femme lead, really captures the spirit of the theme and comes to life. Neither Harold Warrender as the count, nor David Tomlinson as his erring son, appear happy in their parts and Sonia Holm tends to overdo the jealous wife who schemes to get her rival out of the way." [8]

TV Guide called the film a "A spirited romantic comedy," and rated it two out of four stars. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 "First of the 'prefabs'". Daily Mail. 5 January 1949. p. 4.
  2. ↑ "Warning to Wantons". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "BFI | Film & TV Database Warning To Wantons (1948)". ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 15 January 2009. Retrieved 17 August 2025.
  4. ↑ Mary Mitchell (1934). A Warning to Wantons. London: William Heinemann Ltd.
  5. ↑ "Warning to Wantons". Kine Weekly . 383 (2175): 16. 6 January 1949. ProQuest   2826314463.
  6. ↑ "Warning to Wantons". Picturegoer . 18: 14. 8 January 1949. ProQuest   1771138288.
  7. ↑ "Warning to Wantons". Picture Show . 53 (1361): 8. 19 February 1949. ProQuest   1880313441.
  8. ↑ "Warning to Wantons". Variety . 173 (5): 8. 12 January 1949. ProQuest   1285933202.
  9. ↑ "A Warning To Wantons". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020.
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