This film has reached the status of a classic among classics and is well remembered by all film fans the World over

I can’t add any more than has been said many times before but I did come across this Colorised publicity shot which is just so good

The film was not thought, at the time of filming, to be anything special and came with few expectations of the enormous success it would have over decades.

It is difficult to know why there was so little confidence in it when you look at the array of actors in the cast

Even though it featured a stellar cast and top writers, nobody working on the film expected it to be anything special — just one of dozens of films to come out of Hollywood each year.

But favourable reviews and Academy Awards for outstanding motion picture, best director and best screenplay propelled the film into the limelight. 

As exotic as it looks, the entire film was shot at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California. There was one exception: the opening scene, which sees Nazi villain Heinrich Strasser flying past an airplane hangar, was shot at Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, Los Angeles. The final farewell tarmac scene, however, was filmed at Warner studios in Burbank.

Playwright Murray Burnett co-created expat café owner Rick Blaine, piano player Sam, Czech resistance fighter Victor Lazlo and fresh-faced Ilsa Lund when he and his writing partner Joan Alison penned a play called ”Everybody Comes to Rick’s” in 1940. Having watched the political change that was sweeping across Europe, the pair intended it as a cautionary tale about the perils of fascism.

The play was meant for Broadway, but never made it — reportedly in part because of the implication that Ilsa had slept with Rick in order to get letters of transit. But Warner Brothers certainly saw its potential: they purchased the script and all rights for a record $20,000.

What a treat to have this shown on Talking Pictures yesterday. I thought afterwards that to have a storyline with virtually only two people in it, to hold the audience for 100 minutes means that you have to have a good story, a good script, a good director and two leading actors ‘out of the top drawer’. This film had all those attributes.

It was also beautifully filmed and so, visually it was stunning and a big production in Colour and Cinemascope

In 1957 when this film was released, few of us had ever seen such paradise islands and there was no likelihood that we would, coupled with the fact that even if we saw such locations on Television it would be in Black and White – and on a 14 inch screen maybe.

During WWW II in a Pacific tropical island that might be a paradise in another time , American Marine : Robert Mitchum is shipwrecked there and to his astonishment he finds a nun Deborah Kerr’s living alone on the island – they form an unlikely friendship and eventually falling in love .

Later the island is invaded when a Japanese detachment overrun the lonely place and the two hide out during the day and forage for food by night , gradually revealing their pasts to each other .

They struggle to survive until USA forces invade the island.

This is an enjoyable film with plenty of action , entertainment , high pathos, excitement and tenderness . Perfectly cast Deborah Kerr as kind nun and Robert Mitchum as Marine Sergeant Allison , both of whom providing top-notch performances .

The story is based on the novel by Charles Shaw with the film script from John Lee Mahin and John Huston himself .

In many ways it reminds me of The African Queen made a few years earlier

Colourful cinematography from Oswald Morris conveying to us the humid and lush atmosphere of a small tropical island.

John Huston said that when his films are discussed this one rarely gets a mention, but he felt that it was one of his best

BELOW – Scenes filmed on Tobago in the West Indies, standing in for the South Seas island in the Pacific

Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr loved working together; you can see that in in “The Sundowners,” and you can see it here again

Robert Mitchum is a capable but a not-very-bright marine who is washed up on a deserted South Pacific island – Deborah Kerr is a nun who’s been living there alone since the recent death of her aged priest.

John Huston’s direction is, as always, just right

This is a film that I really like – a real good action adventure and set in India which is an added bonus.

Not sure that I would have cast Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall in these roles though, but I imagine that she was cast to give the distributors in the USA a lift although I wouldn’t have thought that, by then, she would have had that much appeal at the Box Office. If the film were to have been concentrated on a romantic link between these two then it wouldn’t have worked either, as there seemed little spark there.

Still the action, colour and adventure was what we were treated to – and that certainly worked.

Herbert Lom was great in this film as he seemed to be in all the films he made – I always remember Ken Annakin directed him in ‘Third Man on the Mountain’ and during the shooting of scenes for the film in the Alps, he refused to venture up any height or put himself in any dangerous situation on the mountain which the other actors did. Herbert Lom said that he was an actor and told Ken Annakin that whatever he did or didn’t do, he would do his job and be as realistic on screen as anyone. Ken later agreed when he saw the ‘rushes’ and later the film, that Herbert Lom came over as the most convincing of them all in these scenes. Maybe that is the art of an actor

ABOVE – Lauren Bacall was in the film and this would be about three years after her husband Humphrey Bogart had died.

The top picture looks to be in India with Lauren Bacall and Kenneth More fooling around when not ‘in action on set’

Much of the film was made out in India although some filming was done in Spain

It was a big Cinemascope picture – something that sold the picture at the Box Office. That enormous wide screen presentation gave these films a dimension that , when now viewed on Television, they do not have. In my view it takes a lot away from them.

We couldn’t not mention another star name in the film –  I.S. Johar as Gupta in a brilliant portrayal as the Indian Train driver who takes us on a thrilling rail ride through India pursued by rebels who want to capture the young prince they are helping escape.

He was brilliant.

Lauren Bacall said of the film that it was a good little picture with a silly title – that referred to the American release title ‘Flame over India

We go back to the summer of 1951, when a young and very pretty actress who was only just 20 years old was cast by Walt Disney in one of the leading roles as Maid Marian in ‘The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men’ which was to be made at the legendary Denham Film Studios over that summer – and it was a big Technicolor production

Her name was Joan Rice. Here was a young actress who had made a few films but came from a poor background in Derby where she had been in care due to a violent and abusive father. She had gone to London and got a waitress job there at one of the Lyons Corner House Restaurants – and it is there that a talent scout spotted her good looks and poise.

She made a film with Dirk Bogarde who treated her very well and this led to a contract with the Rank Organisation.

However it came about, there seems little information, but it seems that Walt Disney must have seen her and in his eyes she fitted perfectly the part of Maid Marian. So he chose her and insisted on her being cast which she was.

His judgement was perfect here because the public worldwide just loved her and still do to this day, she is voted as their favourite Maid Marian.

Now we come to the making of the film – initially she was welcomed on set by everyone – Richard Todd dined with her in the studio canteen for instance but as things progressed Richard Todd playing Robin Hood turned against her and treated her with disinterest and disdain throughout. He was a public school type and as such was confident and self assured and I am sure that he looked down on her – she also was so young and not at all confident and her feelings were easily bruised.

The Films’s Director Ken Annakin was not quite as bad although in his Autobiography he makes cruel remarks about her – and we hear of incidents where things were said to her that should never have been tolerated.

The ABOVE pictures were taken at the very early stages of the filming and maybe at the screen testing stage – and I am pretty sure that this was done at Elstree and not Denham

How I wish that Joan Rice been able to stand up for herself during that time, these two would have backed off.

Even years later. when she came on as the special guest on his ‘This is Your Life’ Television Programme, he was very cool towards her and at the end when the credits rolled, she could be seen shuffling awkwardly at the back – possibly keeping out of the way. How sad that is

Maybe I am being hard on these two because these were – as a friend of mine used to say – different days and some women were not well treated then.

Another actor in the film James Robertson Justice in fact, left his wife maybe around this time and even though he earned well from this time until his death, he did not support her. She was eventually successful not long before he died, in an action to receive such finance and this was back-dated so it was a tough one for him to take. In my view he wasn’t much of an actor but he was very self confident and able to bluster his way through in a way that the young Joan Rice could not.

Anyway, maybe things evened up when Joan was cast opposite Joan Rice in ‘His Majesty O Keefe’ for which she travelled to Fiji and starred alongside Burt Lancaster – and the American Director Byron Haskin had no problems with her at all – in fact he later said that this film made much more money than most because it did well at the Box Office and later very well on Television. Against that the disinterested and disdainful Richard Todd, went to the South of France after Robin Hood to film’ 24 Hours in a Woman’s Life’ which ‘sank without trace’

On a slightly different note – I have just come across this – almost 70 years ago to the day. BELOW

Jan. 01, 1953 – New Romance for Joan Rice. Miss Joan Rice, 22-year old waitress turned film star photographed last night with her fiance, 19-year old Mr.David Green. When she returned from the Fiji Islands two months ago she denied that she had broken her engagement to Mr. Martin Boyce – but last night she revealed her engagement to Mr. Green whom she met at a Christmas party. He was public schools heavy weight champion before leaving Harrow, and is now a film salesman traveling for a Hollywood company in England.

I have just watched this excellent murder mystery and found it intriguing and a film that held your attention the whole time.

It was one made at Merton Park Studios and starred Gordon Jackson and Barbara Murray with Gordon Jackson playing the Police Inspector who along with his sidekick Sam Kydd, investigate the murder of a teacher at a private All Girls School – and eventually find the killer.

Each of the female teachers there, including Barbara Murray, are suspects and during the interviewing we discover that the staff members are all quite different and in many cases don’t get on particularly well and we learn things about each of them – some good things and some not so good. However this leads to an absorbing Who Dunit – the one thing that really pleased me was the sheer amount of dialogue for each of them throughout the film

Sam Kydd ABOVE in another of his many many roles – this time as the witty assistant to the Chief

Imogen Moynihan who played Miss Essex appeared only in this film and quite a bit later married Charles Vance who was a Film and Theatrical Director as well as Theatre Producer who with his own group of actors toured the country – here he is below

They had one child – a daughter Jacqueline – and remained together until Charles died in 2012

In fact Imogen and her husband Charles played together in their Theatre Productions – later they regularly put on shows in Sidmouth Devon among so many other places.

At this time of year, Pantomime was a big and successful part of their work.

I can find a reference to Imogen Directing a Theatrical Production of ‘The Corn is Green’ in Leas Theatre Folkestone – I am fairly sure that they lived in this area

Charles Vance – December 6, 1929 –  January 13, 2012

Charles Vance, a self styled anarchronism and a leading champion of rep theatre giving  hundreds of actors, stage managers and designers their first opportunities in the world of the professional theatre. He enjoyed his role as the last of the old-time actor managers, often seen at first nights with a silver-topped cane, once owned by the redoubtable Victorian actor Henry Irving, and wearing a  green velvet jacket. There was always something raffish about Vance, who was proud of his origins as an Irish Jew, the son of a dealer in leather goods and the nephew of Harold Goldblatt, who founded the Ulster Group Players. At the age of seven, he was heard on BBC Radio’s Children’s Hour. At Queen’s University, Belfast,  where he read law, he joined its amateur dramatic club, which he found mediocre. He first appeared onstage at the city’s Grand Opera House. After university, he joined a theatre company that toured Ireland with the plays of Shakespeare. There followed a spell at the Gate, in Dublin, which he described as “like going to heaven”.

​

After a prolific career as an actor, Vance launched his own production company in 1960 with his wife Imogen Moynihan, the daughter of the distinguished Liberal peer, the second Lord Moynihan. Their first production was Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, which was staged at the Empire Theatre, now the Little, in the Norfolk resort of Sheringham.

​

Their first full season followed a year later at the new Civic Theatre in Chelmsford. There were further seasons in Torquay, Cambridge, Eastbourne, Hastings, Weston-super-Mare, Whitby, Wolverhampton and at the Leas Pavilion, Folkestone, which Vance bought in 1976. In 1987, he instituted the Summer Play Festival at the Manor Pavilion, Sidmouth, which continued every year until last year, when seat prices forced him to abandon the enterprise.

​

A typical Sidmouth season was a clever mix of 13 plays, offering something for everyone, including two Rattigan plays – Vance knew the dramatist well – two Ayckbourns, Jane Eyre and Private Lives. Work by Francis Durbridge took the place of Agatha Christie after an international media production company took control of the latter author’s copyright. Throughout a career that lasted nearly 50 years, Vance mounted hundreds of touring productions, ranging from Stop the World –I Want to Get Off to The Merchant of Venice. He produced 180 pantomimes all over Britain, and in the latter part of his life he became known for his world premieres of stage adaptations of Ealing comedies, starting with Kind Hearts and Coronets in 1998.

As a publisher and editor, he founded the British Theatre Directory and was, uniquely, twice president of the Theatrical Management Association.

Charles Vance, who was born on December 6, 1929, died on January 13 at the age of 83.

A classic Western with Errol Flynn

Released just after the War had ended, WarnerBrothers pulled out all the stops when they made this one. Both the colour cinematography, photographed by Bert Glennon and overseen by Technicolor Corporation’s top adviser Natalie Kalmus.

Instead of just using the standard Western Town set, Warners made it look like old San Antonio.

Errol Flynn’s leading lady is Alexis Smith the topping the cast with support from John Litel and the very funny couple played by Cuddles Sakall and Florence Bates.

This is one of the most extravagant Westerns made – certainly of that era – and it did well at the Box Office both in the USA and Worldwide

SAN ANTONIO. Warner Brothers, 1945.Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, “Cuddles” Sakall, Victor Franken, John Litel, Paul Kelly and Tom Tyler. Written by Alan Le May and W. R. Burnett. Music by Max Steiner. Directed by David Butler, Robert Florey (uncredited) and Raoul Walsh (uncredited).

Errol  Flynn plays Clay Hardin, a South Texas rancher shot to pieces sometime before the film starts – he is recovering from his wounds in Mexico and gathering evidence against Paul Kelly, who heads up a gang of organised rustlers preying on honest cattlemen.

As the film opens, Errol Flynn has managed to get hold of vital evidence that will convict Kelly, and means to make his way to San Antonio through outlaw-infested territory to get his man — and along the way time to romance itinerant singer Alexis Smith.

Paul Kelly owns the nightclub saloon where Alexis Smith performs and he has a treacherous partner in Victor Franken.

There is a saloon-wrecking brawl and shoot-out which is well staged

There are also as couple of quieter moments – with Errol Flynn looking visibly shaken after killing Tom Tyler in the street. Well acted by Errol Flynn

All in all, a pretty good Western

I keep coming back to these Film Studios built by Alexander Korda in the mid 30s on a vast scale with the thought that we could produce the big films on a large scale and more than compete with Hollywood. This could well have worked out and very nearly did, but the War came and after that the Post War years of hardship here, which dealt a blow to such plans

I have not seen this particular aerial view before and it really intrigues me. Someone did ask where the old house close to the lake that Alexander Korda used as his office and I am sure that it is visible here.

SEE BELOW

On the top right and across the river there seems to be some film sets and even what looks like a railway line on one of these sets.

I wonder what film this could be with the railway and the little town – I must investigate and report back. It must have been in the late 1940 s I would think

I would like to wish all readers of filmsofthefifties a Very Happy Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

This is a year in which we said our goodbyes to The Queen someone loved by all who had given a lifetime of service to this country – and was herself a film fan particularly of the era we cover.

The Queen delivering her much awaited Christmas Message.

A ‘must see’ event each year and very much part of Christmas

He was in so many films before and after the War and into the 70 s and he is instantly recognisable.

Another of my memories of him – in fact one I have only recently discovered – is the Radio Drama Series that he starred in as ‘Dr. Morelle’ which ran for 13 episodes in the late 1950’s – I wish they had made many more as I just love them and listen to them over and over again. This also starred Sheila Sim as Miss Frayle his sidekick

The Parker Family History

Tim Parker has written a book about the extraordinary life history of Cecil Parker and his family. Tim, now 84, lives in Brighton, only found out his real family name was Schwabe at the age of 43. “I was driving through London listening to Radio 3 when there was an announcement of Cecil Parker’s death,” he recalled. “It was an appreciation of him as an actor and mentioned that his real surname was Schwabe. I thought they had got it wrong but my mother told me it was true. I asked why she hadn’t told me and she said because it had all been so difficult.”

“I like to think it’s an extraordinary story,” he said. “I feel the honour of what my two uncles did. Not only did the first generation fight through the First World War but the second generation then fought in the Second World War. Yet people threw bricks through their hotel windows because of anti-German feeling during the First World War.”

The change of name became a family secret for decades but now the full remarkable story has been told in a new book, A Question Of Identity, by historian Tim Parker, the nephew of actor Cecil Parker.

The Parker family saga began when Charles August Schwabe was born near Frankfurt in 1860, the illegitimate son of Dorothea and a man described as “a hunter”. He arrived in England in 1890 and fell in love with church organist Kate Parker. She was 19 and he was 30, and after they married, they settled in Hastings to run The Albany hotel. They had 11 children, including sons Charles, the oldest, Sydney, Cecil and Tim’s father Eric.

In 1908 August was “proud” to become a British citizen but when war was declared in 1914, he was visited by Hastings police. They declared him a loyal subject but he suffered “shock and humiliation” by their visit.

His sons Charles, Sydney and Cecil signed up, Charles joining the Royal Fusiliers and the others joining the Royal Sussex Regiment, a battalion of local men raised for the army by Colonel Claude Lowther, the owner of Herstmonceux Castle. Sydney and Cecil spent 18 months training there.

“Cecil… was a shy and rather diffident soldier,” writes Mr Parker. “He did not like Army life but did his best and his great sense of humour carried him through, together with the joy of having his older brother Sydney with him.”

In 1915, August died of stomach cancer, leaving 45-year-old Kate alone, her youngest child just five, and now in charge of The Albany. She sold it and took over management of The Alexandra hotel in St Leonards, telling the children they had to change their surname to her maiden name and that “none of them were to talk about it”.

In 1916, Charles, now a captain with the Royal Fusiliers, was deployed on the Western Front, where he was injured and gassed before he simply disappeared for two and a half years.

The family later discovered he had been recruited by MI6 as a Secret Service intelligence officer and sent to revolutionary Russia.

Charles, a chemist, worked on ways gas could be used to defend Russia but also enjoyed partying in St Petersburg where author Arthur Ransome, a left-wing socialist, was among his friends.

A year after the Russian Revolution of 1917, militant Bolsheviks, the leaders of the country’s revolutionary working class, attacked the British Embassy in Petrograd and its staff, including Captain Schwabe, were incarcerated in medieval dungeons in the decaying Peter and Paul Fortress on an island on the Neva River. In just three weeks, 500 political prisoners were executed but Captain Schwabe escaped, jumping into the freezing Neva and swimming to the river bank before making his way to the American Embassy. Two days later, he left the embassy by night and made his way to Finland by swimming the frontier stream between the two countries. He was reunited with his colleagues and in 1919 returned to Britain, where he received the OBE.

Meanwhile, in 1916 Sydney and Cecil sailed for France with three Royal Sussex Battalions and fought in the infamous Battle of Boar’s Head.

Sydney was badly injured and sent home. After he recovered, he returned to France in 1918 and was killed, aged 23.

Cecil was also injured and when he had recovered was given the job of dispatch rider. He had never ridden a motorcycle before and crashed during his first lesson, dislocating his neck.

He was sent back to Britain to be nursed back to health by his mother, who gave him a plot of land where he raised chickens. He had refused to change his name from Schwabe “to make quite sure the Army pays my dues”. Now, in 1919, aged 21, he became a song and dance man with an amateur dramatic group in Hastings. He made his professional debut at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne in 1922 and his West End debut three years later, falling in love with his leading lady, Muriel Brown. They were married in 1927, their daughter, Angela, born the following year.

Cecil Parker’s career took off and he became one of the great character actors of cinema’s golden age, with an ability to appear menacing, authoritative or stuffy. He appeared in 91 films between 1933 and his last film, Richard Attenborough’s Oh, What A Lovely War!, which was filmed in Brighton in 1969. He made his first real mark in films as nervous would-be adulterer Mr Todhunter in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 thriller The Lady Vanishes, starring alongside Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, and he went on to appear in Carol Reed’s 1939 film The Stars Look Down.

Perhaps his biggest films were Caesar and Cleopatra, the 1945 Hollywood adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play, where he played Britannus opposite Claude Rains as Caesar, Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra and Douglas Fairbanks as Antony, and the 1958 romantic comedy Indiscreet with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant.

He also had fun in the 1955 British classic comedy The Ladykillers and as a professor in The Pure Hell of St Trinian’s in 1960.

“My memories are of a gentle, courteous man, a little shy, but with a great sense of humour,” said Tim. “He was fun to be with and everybody who knew him liked him.”

Cecil and Muriel retired to Brighton after he shot his last movie and for the last two years of his life was in and out of the Royal Sussex County Hospital with bronchitis and a heart problem. He died in 1972.

Tim said: “It has taken me some 60 odd years to find out who the Schwabes are. This is the story of what I’ve discovered.”

Now to film lovers this place was on the map well before the recent arrival of Harry and Megan.

Back in the early thirties film actor Ronald Colman the legendary film actor along with his Business Partner Al Weingand purchased the San Y Sydro Ranch in Montecito which was a hotel complex set in extensive grounds which had individual bungalows set in there. It became very popular with the Stars and anyone famous – and it was seen to be – and was – very upmarket.

It is still marketed as one of the the finest hotels in the World

Verdant gardens, groves of olive and citrus trees, and an array of California guest bungalows distinguish the San Ysidro Ranch in Santa Barbara, California. A couple of years ago it was restored following mudslides exacerbated by the Thomas Fire at that time

Just prior to purchasing San Ysidro Ronald Colman and Al Weingand had visited and inspected the vast site and found it to be in pretty good shape although maybe in need of some renovation

RONALD COLMAN – THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS

• 1925 – Sam Goldwyn brings Ronald Colman to Hollywood.
• 1927 – 1935 – 2092 MOUND STREET – HOLLYWOOD HILLS – Colman bought his first home, a Spanish – style, patioed house with a tennis court. It was on a winding road and secluded behind walls and gardens.
• 1929 – 1935 – In 1929 he leased a small beach cottage in Malibu. It was near Warner Baxter’s beach house. Colman sold it in 1935.
• 1935 – 1953 – 1003 SUMMIT DRIVE
• 1935 – 1958 – SAN YSIDRO RANCH,  SAN YSIDRO, CALIFORNIA
• In 1935 Colman and hotel manager, Al Weingard decided to get into the hotel business and had been shopping around for the perfect property when they heard about the 525 acre property south of Santa Barbara and nestled against the coastal mountain range. It even had it’s own beach facilities several miles away.
  • The ranch had been turned into a vacation resort in 1895 and private cottages were scattered around the grounds. Colman and Weingard toured the property and found it in better shape than they had expected. Though some minor repairs were needed, both men agreed that it was what they were looking for.
  • The Colman’s property, which they called “VERBOIS” and their house was set apart from the guest cottages,and had a private drive way. Overlooking the house was a barn and garage.
  • At the time Ronald Colman and actress Benita Hume and been together for four years. They would later get married at the ranch.
  • In the beginning Ronnie and Benita used the ranch for weekend get aways and vacations while they continued to use the Summit Drive house as their full time residence.
  • In 1942 “VERBOIS” was renamed “Random House” after one of Colman’s films.
  • In 1953 they sold the Summit Drive mansion and made the ranch their permanent home.
  • On May 19, 1958 Ronald Colman passed away. He is buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Several weeks later Benita sold the ranch and moved back to England. She later married actor George Sanders. They remained together until her death in 1967 from bone cancer.

The San Ysidro Ranch, located high in the Montecito hills, is today one of the area’s most exclusive resorts. It boasts a history that may be traced back to the earliest days of Santa Barbara.

San Ysidro was a working ranch throughout the 1800s.

The Johnston family sold the ranch to Ronald Colman and Alvin Weingand for $50,000 in 1935.Al Weingand was an experienced hotelier. Ronald Colman’s connections and Weingand’s managerial skills combined to produce the ranch’s most famous and elegant period.

San Ysidro soon became a favourite hideaway for the members of California’s film colony. William Powell, Jean Harlow, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Benny, Fred Astaire, and Bing Crosby were just a few of the guests. John Huston sought out the tranquil peace of the ranch to finish the script for The African Queen. Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh married here in 1940; John and Jacqueline Kennedy honeymooned here in 1953. Discretion was an iron rule at San Ysidro.

Ronald Colman died in 1958, and Al Weingand carried on alone. A lifelong Democrat, he became deeply involved in California state politics and was a member of the state legislature for six years. He found juggling the demands of a political career and managing the ranch too difficult, and he sold the ranch in 1965. Financial troubles and litigation followed until the ranch was sold to James Lavenson in 1976, who restored it to its former glory.

Ty Warner bought the ranch in 2000. It continues to enjoy a glittering reputation for its natural beauty, its impeccable accommodations, and its wonderful cuisine. It is still a destination for many Hollywood film people who need to get away from it all.