A Girl in a Million

Last updated

A Girl in a Million
"A Girl in a Million" (1946).jpg
Original trade ad
Directed by Francis Searle
Written by Muriel Box
Sydney Box
Produced bySydney Box
Starring Hugh Williams
Joan Greenwood
Basil Radford
Naunton Wayne
Cinematography Reginald H. Wyer
Music by Benjamin Frankel
Production
company
Distributed by Associated British-Pathé
Release date
  • 28 October 1946 (1946-10-28)(UK)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£138,510 [1]

A Girl in a Million is a 1946 British comedy film. [2] It is notable for featuring Joan Greenwood in an early starring role; [3] and Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne in their comedy double act as two cricket-obsessed Englishmen, this time called Fotheringham and Prendergast. [4]

Contents

Plot

Tony is an inventor who divorces a shrewish, nagging wife, and desiring to avoid all women, finds employment in a remote all-male department of the War Office. However, a woman soon arrives in the form of U.S. colonel's daughter, Gay, who is shell-shocked, and has lost the power of speech. Charmed by her and by the contrast with his former talkative wife, Tony soon falls in love and marries her. However, once wed, Gay suffers a further shock and recovers her speech, proving quite the match for Tony's first wife.

Cast

Reception

Box Office

It was the 24th most popular film at the British box office in 1946 after The Wicked Lady , The Bells of St Marys , Piccadilly Incident , The Captive Heart , Road to Utopia , Caravan , Anchors Away , The Corn is Green , Gilda , The House on 92nd Street , The Overlanders, Appointment with Crime , The Bandit of Sherwood Forest , Kitty, Spellbound, Scarlet Street, Men of Two Worlds , Courage of Lassie , Mildred Pierce, The Spiral Staircase' and Brief Encounter , The Years Between and The Dolly Sisters. [5]

Critical reception

Sandra Brennan wrote in Allmovie, "feminists beware! This blatantly sexist comedy may definitely raise a few hackles" ; [6] while David Parkinson in the Radio Times called it "an object lesson in how tastes change, this chauvinistic comedy was co-scripted (with producer-husband Sydney) by Muriel Box, who was one of the few female creatives with clout in postwar British cinema. Moreover, it made a star of Joan Greenwood in a role that basically dismisses women as blethering nuisances who should be seen and not heard...Talk about not standing the test of time." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Greenwood</span> English actress (1921–1987)

Joan Mary Waller Greenwood was an English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She played Sibella in the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, and also appeared in The Man in the White Suit (1951), Young Wives' Tale (1951), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Stage Struck (1958), Tom Jones (1963) and Little Dorrit (1987).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naunton Wayne</span> Welsh actor (1901–1970)

Naunton Wayne, was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll in 1933.

<i>Dead of Night</i> 1945 British film

Dead of Night is a 1945 black and white British anthology supernatural horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist's malevolent dummy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Radford</span> English film director and screenwriter

Michael James Radford is an English film director and screenwriter. He began his career as a documentary director and television comedy writer before transitioning into features in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basil Radford</span> English actor (1897–1952)

Arthur Basil Radford was an English character actor who featured in many British films of the 1930s and 1940s.

<i>Double Bunk</i> 1961 British film by C. M. Pennington-Richards

Double Bunk is a 1961 British black-and-white comedy film directred by C.M. Pennington-Richards and starring Ian Carmichael and Sid James.

<i>The Lady Vanishes</i> 1938 film by Alfred Hitchcock

The Lady Vanishes is a 1938 British mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. Written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, the film is about an English tourist travelling by train in continental Europe who discovers that her elderly travelling companion seems to have disappeared from the train. After her fellow passengers deny ever having seen the elderly lady, the young woman is helped by a young musicologist, the two proceeding to search the train for clues to the old lady's disappearance.

<i>Millions Like Us</i> 1943 film

Millions Like Us is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It stars Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Moore Marriott and Eric Portman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charters and Caldicott</span> Fictional characters

Charters and Caldicott started out as two supporting characters in the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film The Lady Vanishes. The pair of cricket-obsessed characters were played by Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford. The characters were created by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. The duo became very popular and were used as recurring characters in subsequent films and in BBC Radio productions. Charters and Caldicott have also been played by other actors, and they eventually had their own BBC television series.

<i>Crooks Tour</i> 1940 film by John Baxter

Crook's Tour is a 1940 British comedy spy film directed by John Baxter featuring Charters and Caldicott. It is adapted from a BBC radio serial of the same name.

The Huggetts are a fictional family who appear in a series of British films which were released in the late 1940s by Gainsborough Pictures. The films centre on the character of Joe Huggett, played by Jack Warner, the head of a working class London family. Along with the Gainsborough melodramas, the Huggett films proved popular and lucrative for the studio. All four films were directed by Ken Annakin and produced by Betty E. Box.

It's Not Cricket may refer to:

<i>Its Not Cricket</i> (1949 film) 1949 British film

It's Not Cricket is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Alfred Roome and starring Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, Susan Shaw and Maurice Denham. It is the second of two starring films for Radford and Wayne who appeared as supporting players in ten other films. It was also one of the final films made by Gainsborough Pictures before the studio was merged into the Rank Organisation.

<i>The Calendar</i> (1948 film) 1948 British film by Arthur Crabtree

The Calendar is a black and white 1948 British drama film directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Greta Gynt, John McCallum, Raymond Lovell and Leslie Dwyer. It is based on the 1929 play The Calendar and subsequent novel by Edgar Wallace. A previous version had been released in 1931.

<i>Treasure Hunt</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by John Paddy Carstairs

Treasure Hunt is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Martita Hunt, Jimmy Edwards, Naunton Wayne and Athene Seyler. It is based on the 1949 play Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane and John Perry.

<i>Stop Press Girl</i> 1949 British film

Stop Press Girl is a 1949 British fantasy comedy film directed by Michael Barry and starring Sally Ann Howes, Gordon Jackson, Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne; the latter two appearing in several different roles in the film. It marked an early screen appearance by Kenneth More, who later co-starred with Howes in The Admirable Crichton.

<i>Operation Bullshine</i> 1959 British film

Operation Bullshine is a 1959 British colour comedy film directed by Gilbert Gunn and starring Donald Sinden, Barbara Murray and Carole Lesley. The working title of the film was Girls in Arms that features as a marching song in the film. Gunn had filmed Girls at Sea the previous year. The new title, based on an American euphemism for a very British word with the same meaning (bullshite), comes from the frenzied activity preparing for their brigadier's surprise inspection. The film features 1956 Olympic gold medallist Judy Grinham as a physical training instructor.

<i>Made in Heaven</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

Made in Heaven is a 1952 British Technicolor comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs which stars David Tomlinson, Petula Clark and Sonja Ziemann. The screenplay was based on a story by William Douglas-Home. It was shot at Pinewood Studios outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Maurice Carter.

<i>Riverboat Rhythm</i> 1946 film by Leslie Goodwins

Riverboat Rhythm is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Leslie Goodwins and written by Charles E. Roberts. The film stars Leon Errol, Glenn Vernon, Walter Catlett, Joan Newton, Marc Cramer, and Jonathan Hale. The film was released on February 13, 1946, by RKO Radio Pictures.

For Love of You is a 1933 British musical comedy film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Arthur Riscoe, Naunton Wayne and Franco Foresta. It was made at British and Dominions Elstree Studios. It is the sequel to Going Gay.

References

  1. Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
  2. "A Girl in a Million (1946)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
  3. "A Girl In A Million". TVGuide.com.
  4. "Other Films". Charters and Caldicott. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015.
  5. "Hollywood Sneaks In 15 Films on '25 Best' List of Arty Britain". The Washington Post. 15 January 1947. p. 2.
  6. Sandra Brennan. "A Girl in a Million (1946) - Francis Searle - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  7. David Parkinson. "A Girl in a Million". RadioTimes.