Well, although this superb BBC dramatisation was well out of the fifties era as regards when it was shown, the actual play and West End production was in 1950.

It was the type of play I love – lovely setting with fascinating characters where not a lot happens but it is our getting to know the people involved and their interaction and eventually how the story works out that holds our interest the whole time. Absorbing.

Also at this time the BBC were very good at staging this type of production – I think of ‘Mary Rose’ around the same time which featured a small Scottish Island with water all around and a small boat – all Studio work

‘Waters of the Moon’ has the setting of a small Devon Hotel in Winter and again the Studio set was marvellous with a large outside formal garden covered in snow where a lot of the action later in the play takes place

ABOVE – Virginia McKenna

As the story starts we are introduced to the relatively the dull lives of a group of people in a residence hotel in Devonshire.

There’s the retired colonel (Richard Vernon) and an Austrian Jew (Ronald Pickup), and two women at opposite ends of the pole: Mrs. Whyte (Virginia McKenna), a brittle upper-class woman who has fallen on hard times financially , and Mrs, Ashmore (Joan Sims), a jolly type.

The hotel is run by the dour Mrs. Daly (Dilys Laye) and her adult children.

Then as if to upset the applecart – on a snowy night, in comes Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith) with husband and daughter who come to the Hotel after their car skidded off the road and they are stranded.

She immediately takes over the household, asking for rooms, hot soup, and a place by the fire.

As the storm rages and the days go by, Helen Lancaster is still there and disrupting the lives of the residents. She plays particular attention to the displaced Austrian and chats about Old Vienna and music and art. As New Year’s Eve approaches, she decides they must have a party.

The party does not go well. Mrs. Whyte becomes more and more resentful of the breezy Helen. Mrs. Daly’s daughter (Lesley Dunlop) also grows weary of the obvious wealth Helen displays, and the sickly son (Dean Allen) gets drawn into the talk about continental travel and skiing in Switzerland with Miss Lancaster (Clare Byam-Shaw).

On New Year’s Day, the weather changes and a thaw means the Lancasters may soon be leaving. As they pack up to leave it becomes obvious that Helen’s casual invitations to visit London are meaningless. The lives she has disrupted are already forgotten as she stresses about meeting city friends for lunch.

Ronald Pickup ( Mr Winterhalter) seems to have fallen for Helen Lancaster (Penelope Keith ) but on leaving she just casts him aside

All this time Mrs Daley’s daughter played by Lesley Dunlop has been in love with Mr Winterhalter the Austrian but nothing has ever materialsied between them – but maybe as the Play closes we realise that things could change in that direction

In this adaptation the whole cast are terrific. The outside set of terraced garden and house exterior is excellent as can be seen from these stills.

I just love this BBC TV play

A few days ago on Good Friday ‘The Robe’ was shown on BBC2 in the UK along with ‘King of Kings’ with Jeffrey Hunter, and so I thought it was appropriate that we should post pictures from the film on this site.

Below:  Victor Mature in a superb piece of acting in the film. My Dad loved this scene and the acting performance of Victor Mature – and so did his co-star Richard Burton who was also full of praise describing Victor as a ‘wonderful man’ after having played opposite him in The Robe

I have said before that producers loved Victor Mature because all the films he appeared in made money – and here is a classic example.

The Robe was the highest grossing film of 1953 – and the next one Demetrius and the Gladiators was 4th biggest of 1954. We must also remember that only a few years before in 1949 he had played Samson in Samson and Delilah which again was the biggest grossing film of that year.

This was a big film – and went equally big at the Box Office.   I remember my Father taking us to see it on the huge Cinemascope Screen – with Stereophonic Sound – and it did not disappoint in any way. Tremendous Film.

Richard Burton spoke very highly of Victor Mature calling him a ‘wonderful man’ – and I have to say that he lifted the acting honours with his convincing performance.

I have read that it was estimated that Victor Mature’s fee for the film would have been 100,000 US Dollars equating to 1.2 million now.

The follow up ‘Demetrius and the Gladiators’ he was estimated to have been paid 80,000 US Dollars and then of course ‘The Egyptian’ came very quickly after these two.