Dirk Bogarde and Margaret Lockwood “Cast a Dark Shadow”

Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) is a British suspense film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Dirk Bogarde and Margaret Lockwood. Other cast members include Kay Walsh, Kathleen Harrison, and Robert Flemying.

Edward “Teddy” Bare (Bogarde) has been married to a rich older woman Monica (Mona Washbourme) for a year. When he learns that she is planning to change her will, he murders her, making it look like an accidental death. After her death, he inherits the house but not her money which has gone to her sister Dora (Walsh).

After Monica‘s death, Teddy meets Freda Jeffries (Margaret Lockwood) at a seaside resort. He charms Freda and they marry.

Will Teddy murder again?

Lewis Gilbert (1920 – 2018) was an English film director. Gilbert was a child actor, but decided he wanted to direct. He went on to work with Alfred Hitchcock on Jamaica Inn (1939). During the Second World War, he worked with the Royal Air Force’s film unit, eventually working with U.S. Army Air Force motion picture unit where his commanding officer was William Keighley (The Man Who Came to Dinner), an American film director. Gilber went on the direct Sink the Bismark! (1961), Alfie (1966), and three James Bond movies: You Only Live Twice (1967), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and Moonraker (1979).

Dirk Bogarde (1921 – 1999) was an English actor who was a matinee idol early in his career with films such as So Long at the Fair (1950),  Doctor in the House (1954), The Spanish Gardener (1956), and Song Without End (1960). Later in his career he co-starred with Judy Garland in I Could Go On Singing (1963) and made The Servant (1963), Darling (1965) co-starring Julie Christie and Laurence Harvey, and A Bridge Too Far (1977).

Margaret Lockwood (1916 – 1990) was an English actress who began her career on the stage but gained fame as one of Britain’s most popular movie stars during the 1930s and 1940s. She had a starring role in Bank Holiday (1938), directed by Carol Reed. The movie was a huge success and made Lockwood a star. Next up would be The Lady Vanishes (1938), which brought her to the attention of Hollywood. Lockwood didn’t take to Hollywood and soon returned to England where she made a series of popular costume dramas including The Wicked Lady (1945) co-starring James Mason.

 

Cast a Dark Shadow trivia

• Charlotte’s automobile repaired by Edward is a 1950 Jaguar Mark V.
• The 200 pounds left Emmie is approximately $8,000 today.
• Margaret Lockwood had hoped her role in the film would revive her movie career.
• Dirk Bogarde persuaded Lockwood to co-star with him.
• The film was a modest success but it failed to revive Lockwood’s film career. Her next move was in 1976.

 

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube

Click HERE for to join the online discussion. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Would you classify this movie as a film noir? If yes, why?
2. What did you make of Dirk Bogarde’s characterization? Was he believable?
3. The film had a few plot twists. Did they surprise you?
4. Margaret Lockwood generally performed upper class characters. Her role as Freda was a woman of the lower classes. Was she convincing?
5. The supporting cast was strong. Did you have a favorite?
6. What do you make of the magazine Teddy was ready when he met Freda?
7. Did the ending surprise you? Was it satisfying?

 

John Mills is “The October Man”

The October Man (1947) is a British mystery film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring John Mills and Joan Greenwood. The screenplay was written by novelist Eric Ambler who also served as producer.

Jim Ackland (Mills) sustains a brain injury in a bus accident and a young girl in his care is killed. The guilt, combined with the brain injury has Jim filled with guilt. His guilt led him to attempt suicide twice while he was in recovery.

Once out of the hospital, Jim gets a job as a chemist and lives in a boarding house with an assortment of interesting characters, to say the least. He meets a young woman, Jenny Carden (Joan Greenwood) the sister of a work colleague, and the relationship becomes serious.

One of the rooming house residents, Molly Newman (Kay Walsh) asks Jim if she can borrow 30 pounds, a considerable sum. Jim writes her a check and she is found murdered the next day.

Because of Jim’s hospitalization for a brain injury, he immediately becomes the prime suspect. Jenny tries to convince Jim that he couldn’t have murdered Molly, but Jim isn’t so sure. He wonders if he might have murdered her in some kind of trance.

Is Jim a murderer? Or is there another murderer out there who could murder again?

Roy Ward Baker (1916 – 2010) was an English film director. When Baker was 17, he worked in menial jobs in the British film industry. He rose through the ranks and was appointed assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on The Lady Vanishes. He served in the Army during World War II, where one of his superiors was novelist Eric Ambler. Ambler gave Baker his first big break with The October Man (1947).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office success. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

Joan Greenwood (1921 – 1987) was an English actress. She had a successful film and stage career in her native country. She may be most famous for her role as Sibella in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Other films she starred in include The Man in the White Suit (1951), Stage Struck (1958) co-starring Henry Fonda, and Tom Jones (1963).

The October Man trivia

• The little girl on the bus with Jim Ackland is Juliet Mills, John Mills’s real-life daughter.
• This was the first feature-length movie by Roy Ward Baker who may be best known for directing A Night to Remember (1958).
• Roy Ward Baker directed John Mill in six movies. This was the first.
• Roy Ward Baker was the assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938).
• He directed several films in America including Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) starring Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe.

To watch the film on YouTube, click here.

 

 

Click here to join the discussion on November 20, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of John Mill’s performance? Was he believable as a man who had doubts about his own sanity?
2. When the murderer was revealed, were you surprised or did you guess who it was?
3. If you were Jenny, would you have been convinced that Jim was innocent?
4. As a first-time feature-length director, were you impressed with Baker’s skill?
5. Did this film remind you of any others you’ve seen?
6. Knowing that he worked with Hitchcock, do you see any similarities with the Master of Suspense?

 

 

Robert Newton and Celia Johnson head the cast in David Lean’s “This Happy Breed”

This Happy Breed (1944) is a British drama directed by David Lean and starring Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, Stanley Holloway, and John Mills. The screenplay is by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, and Ronald Neame. The screenplay is based on the play This Happy Breed (1939) by Noel Coward.

The story dramatizes the life of a suburban London family from 1919 to the early years of World War II.

Robert Newton and Celia Johnson

David Lean (1908 - 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He is considered one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time. Lean started out working in silent films where he worked his way up from teaboy to film editor. He made the transition to talking pictures and in directed his first feature In Which We Serve in 1942 which was made in collaboration with Noel Coward. Lean collaborated with Coward on This Happy Breed (1944), Blithe Spirit (1945), and Brief Encounter (1945) widely considered one of the greatest British films ever made. Today Lean is best known in America for his epic productions of films like The Bride on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago (1965), and A Passage to India (1984).

Robert Newton (1905 – 1956) was a popular English actor and is probably best remembered for his role as Long John Silver in the Walt Disney version of Treasure Island (1950). His exaggerated accent in that role is credited with what we consider the “pirate voice.” Newton was a popular player in London’s West End and he also appeared on Broadway, replacing Laurence Olivier in Private Lives. He made several films in Hollywood including The Desert Rats (1953), Les Miserables (1952), Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), and The High and the Mighty (1954).

Celia Johnson (1908 - 1982) was an English actress who was a star on the stage, film, and television. She was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Brief Encounter. Other films Johnson starred in include This Happy Breed (1944) and Captain's Paradise (1953). Later in her career, Johnson won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

This Happy Breed trivia

• Laurence Olivier is the narrator during the film’s opening.
• David Lean’s first Technicolor movie and first solo directing credit.
• John Mills was the only cast member to reprise his role for the film.
• Robert Donat was offered the role of Frank Gibbons but turned it down.
• Celia Johnson plays John Mills’s mother-in-law but they were both the same age in real life.

 

To watch the film on YouTube, click here or the link below.

 

Discussion questions

1. Do you think Lean had an underlying message in the telling of the story of the Gibbons family?
2. Did Newton and Johnson make a believable married couple?
3. Were the family situations realistic? Could you relate to any of them?
4. Did the situation with Queenie (Kay Walsh) ring true?
5. Did you have a favorite character or scene?
6. Were you surprised that the film was in Technicolor? Was color a plus?

 

To join the discussion on August 7, 2023, at 6 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.