Edmund Gwenn Movies
The son of a traveling British civil servant, Edmund Gwenn was ordered to leave his home at age 17 when he announced his intention to become an actor. Working throughout the British empire in a variety of theatrical troupes, Gwenn finally settled in London in 1902 when he was personally selected by playwright George Bernard Shaw for a role in Shaw's Man and Superman. Thanks to Shaw's sponsorship, Gwenn rapidly established himself as one of London's foremost character stars, his career interrupted only by military service during World War I. Gwenn's film career, officially launched in 1916, took a back seat to his theatrical work for most of his life; still, he was a favorite of both American and British audiences for his portrayals of blustery old men, both comic and villainous. At age 71, Gwenn was cast as Kris Kringle, a lovable old eccentric who imagined that he was Santa Claus, in the comedy classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947); his brilliant portrayal was honored with an Academy Award and transformed the veteran actor into an "overnight" movie star. Edmund Gwenn died shortly after making his final film, an oddball Mexican comedy titled The Rocket From Calabuch (1958); one of his surviving family members his cousin Cecil Kellaway, was a respected character actor in his own right. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1950
A Woman of Distinction serves as a tailor-made vehicle for Rosalind Russell. The star is cast as Susan Middlecott, a highly respected college dean. As can be expected, Susan is too busy for romance -- at least until handsome professor Alec Stevenson (Ray Milland) enters the picture. At first, the dean and the prof are thrown together by the overzealous machinations of a press agent, and they're none too pleased about it. No matter how hard they try to keep their distance from each other, Susan and Alec constantly find themselves in embarrassing situations in full view of the public. It takes the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of Susan's puckish papa (Edmund Gwenn) to straighten things out. Appearing in unbilled cameos are Lucille Ball as herself, and Ball's future TV cohort Gale Gordon as a railroad ticket agent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Rosalind Russell, (more)
- 1942
MGM's A Yank at Eton follows the same basic formula as the 1938 Robert Taylor starrer A Yank at Oxford, with a wartime angle thrown in. This time it's Mickey Rooney as the cocky young American who is shipped off to England to complete his education. Upon his arrival in the hallowed halls of Eton, Timothy Daniels (Rooney), bereft of common courtesy or a sense of tradition, wastes no time alienating the rest of the students. Eventually of course, Timothy knocks the chip off his own shoulder and becomes a model student and top athlete. Freddie Bartholomew, Rooney's costar in so many MGM classics of the 1940s, plays Timothy's upper-classman half-brother Peter Carlton, who applies a little "tough love" to bring our headstrong hero into line; also seen as the school bully is new MGM contractee Peter Lawford, who in 1938 had made his American film debut in the Rooney-Bartholomew starrer Lord Jeff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rooney, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1938
A Yank at Oxford was filmed in England at MGM's "sister studio", Elstree. Robert Taylor plays Lee Sheridan, an arrogant young American scholar/athlete who intends to show the "Brits" a thing or two while attending Oxford University. His abrasive attitude grates against the Oxonian students, who retaliate by subjecting Sheridan to a rather humiliating hazing. Romance enters the picture in the form of Molly Beaumont (Maureen O'Sullivan), the sister of Sheridan's chief academic rival Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones). When Paul faces disgrace over a breach of student ethics, Sheridan nobly shoulders the blame, simultaneously endangering his own future at Oxford and proving that he's really a "right guy" underneath. All is forgiven during the annual rowing competition against Cambridge, with Sheridan coming through in jolly good fashion. Cast as campus vamp Elsa Craddock is the stunningly beautiful Vivien Leigh, still two years away from Gone With the Wind. A Yank at Oxford was remade in 1984 as Oxford Blues, and mercilessly lampooned by Laurel & Hardy in 1940's A Chump at Oxford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, (more)
- 1957
London, 1912: Sam Saunders (Charles Davis), wastrel son of kindly pawnbroker Joe Saunders (Edmund Gwenn), thinks nothing of taking advantage of his father's generosity. After nearly exhausting the senior Saunders' bank account, the shameless Sam schemes to increase his wealth by turning Joe in to the police for aiding and abetting a fugitive named Gus (Frederick Worlock). Will Joe finally give his son his comeuppance, or will Sam collect the reward money on his dad and live happily ever after? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Bucolic Elmer Lamb (Stuart Erwin), who only wants to raise dairy cattle, is a mathematical prodigy; he's even a whiz at playing bridge. Circus pitchman Bill (Robert Armstrong) and circus owner Jeffrey Crane (Edmund Gwenn) want to make money off Elmer, but Jeff's daughter Kitty (Betty Furness) finds herself drawn to him. Eventually, Elmer is pitted against the reigning bridge champion (E.E. Clive) -- whom he's already beaten in an informal match -- which involves shady Pudgy (Edward S. Brophy) and gangster Al (Dewey Robinson). ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stuart Erwin, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1936
When David O. Selznick produced the film version of the 1000-plus page novel Gone with the Wind, he declared he could not make a film running any less than 222 minutes. When Warner Bros. adapted the even longer Hervey Allen best-seller Anthony Adverse, the studio managed to pack everything--except the most censorable passages, which had made Allen's novel a best-seller in the first place--into 139 minutes. Surprisingly, the film version of Anthony Adverse moves rather smoothly, though it is nowhere near as involving (or as much fun) as Gone with the Wind. Fredric March stars as Anthony Adverse, the illegitimate offspring of Anita Louise, the wife of Spanish nobleman Claude Rains. When Adverse comes of age, he inherits the prosperous business run by his kindly foster father Edmund Gwenn, which he abandons for an aimless trip around the world after his heart is broken by childhood sweetheart Olivia De Havilland. Sinking deeper into the morass of alcohol and degeneracy in the West Indies, Adverse is regenerated when he is reunited with De Havilland, now the mistress of Napoleon Bonaparte. Suddenly enervated, Adverse battles the efforts of Claude Rains and Gwenn's duplicitous former assistant Gale Sondergaard to take over Gwenn's business. Along the way, he learns that Gwenn was actually his grandfather and that De Havilland has born him a son (Scotty Beckett). Instead of dying, as he does in the novel, Anthony Adverse takes his son to America to start life anew. Whew! Though no award winner itself, Anthony Adverse enabled Gale Sondergaard to win the first-ever "best supporting actress" Oscar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fredric March, Olivia de Havilland, (more)
- 1948
Jason (William Holden) is a World War II veteran going to college on the GI Bill in the hope of bettering himself. He has recently married his sweetheart, Peggy (Jeanne Crain), who has learned that they're having a baby. However, money is tight for the young couple, and inexpensive housing is at a premium in the post-war boom times. Peggy meets Professor Henry Barnes (Edmund Gwenn), an instructor at the college who lives alone in a huge house. Barnes is convinced that the best years of his life are over, that he has no purpose in life, and that our culture has sacrificed its highest ideals. But Peggy convinces Prof. Barnes to let her and Jason stay in his attic. As the newlyweds try to turn the cobwebbed space into a home, the professor gets to know his tenants better, and their enthusiastic optimism rubs off on him, giving him a sense that there are things left to be accomplished and reasons to go on. Apartment for Peggy reunited director George Seaton with actor Edmund Gwenn, who had clicked the previous year in the classic Miracle on 34th Street. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn, Jeanne Crain, (more)
- 1933
Polish opera star Jan Kiepura makes a rare film appearance in the British Be Mine Tonight. Kiepura plays an opera star who is besieged by his eager female fans. He heads to a tiny village where no one knows who he is. The peace and quiet rapidly drives him crazy, but at least he finds romance in the form of Magda Schneider. Be Mine Tonight was filmed simultaneously in English and German versions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jan Kiepura, Sonnie Hale, (more)
- 1944
In this remake of Outward Bound, which updated the story to include topical refences to the war still raging in Europe, Henry (Paul Henreid) and Ann (Eleanor Parker) are a couple from Austria hoping to escape Nazi bombings. They are en route to a ship leaving Europe when an explosion throws them from their car and leaves many passersby dead. Despondent and unable to meet the ship, the couple return to their apartment and decide to commit suicide by turning on the gas. They awake to find themselves on a ship shrouded in fog and carrying many passengers, among them Tom Prior (John Garfield), a wisecracking reporter who was also a witness to the earlier bombing. Henry and Ann discover that the ship is actually Limbo, a waiting station between Heaven and Hell, where Mr. Thompson (Sydney Greenstreet) will determine their final destination for eternity. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Paul Henreid, (more)
- 1945
Radio legend and 3-D pioneer Arch Oboler brings his story, Alter Ego, to the screen in a low-budget yarn that benefits from a strong cast and direction. Joan Ellis (Phyllis Thaxter) hears a voice in her head (in flashbacks) shortly before she is to be married. She flees to another city and even takes up with another man to rid herself of the voice, but random words bring it back at unexpected moments. The voice ultimately tells her to kill her husband-to-be, and when a psychiatrist (Edmund Gwenn) determines on the eve of her execution that Joan is possessed by a split personality, a struggle ensues to see which one will survive. Oboler uses radio techniques and tense scripting to bring his thriller to visual life. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Thaxter, Edmund Gwenn, (more)
- 1947
Often mistakenly identified as a sequel to My Friend Flicka, Thunder in the Valley actually has more in common with the Lassie saga. Lon McAllister plays the son of truculent Scottish sheepherder Edmund Gwenn. Though he has no time for people, Gwenn is quite fond of his collie dog. Partly as a means of defying his intractible father, McAllister raises his own dog and beats Gwenn at an annual contest. Father and son are brought closer together when Gwenn is forced to do away with his collie, who has gone mad. Breathtakingly photographed in Technicolor (those nocturnal Highlands scenes are terrific!), Thunder in the Valley is based on the popular Alfred Ollivant novel Bob, Son of Battle. Lending excellent support to stars Gwenn and McAllister are Peggy Ann Garner and Reginald Owen; reportedly, perennial Laurel and Hardy foil James Finlayson also appears in the role of a judge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harry Allen, James Finlayson, (more)
- 1952
Bonzo Goes to College is the one that Ronald Reagan isn't in. The focus, of course, is on brainy chimpanzee Bonzo, who escapes a seedy sideshow and hides out on a college campus. Here he is adopted by Betsy Drew (Gigi Perreau), the daughter of nonplused professor Malcolm Drew (Charles Drake). Eventually, Bonzo joins the football team, and becomes the star player. A pair of bad guys kidnap Bonzo on the eve of the Big Game, but it isn't difficult to guess how things will turn out. More gimmicky than its predecessor Bedtime for Bonzo, Bonzo Goes to College is constructed more along the lines of Universal's "Francis" pictures (except that Bonzo doesn't talk). Outside of the chimp, there are a few good supporting performances by Maureen O'Sullivan as Drew's wife, Gene Lockhart and Edmund Gwenn as Betsy's feuding grandfathers, and young Jerry Paris as one of the crooks. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Sullivan, Charles Drake, (more)
- 1956
The Spanish/Italian Rocket From Calabuch is significant only as the last film of beloved character actor Edmund Gwenn. The 78-year-old star plays a retired atomic scientist who settles in a peaceful Spanish village. But he can't remain sedentary for long, and soon he's off and about developing a new kind of rocket. So much for his retirement, and so much for the peace and quiet in his village, which is soon overrun with reporters and spies. Rocket From Calabuch was originally released in Spain as simply Calabuch; the film didn't make it to the states until after Edmund Gwenn's death in 1959. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn
- 1949
A "new" Lassie (once again, a male collie in drag) starred in A Challenge to Lassie, MGM's fourth entry in their series based on characters created by Eric Knight. This time, Lassie is plunked into the plotline of William Ludwig's novel Greyfriars Bobby (remade by Disney under its original title in 1963). In 19th-century Edinburgh, crusty sheepherder Jock Gray (Donald Crisp) rescues a puppy and raises it into a champion sheep dog. When Gray is murdered by rustlers, his faithful collie keeps a night-and-day watch over his late master's grave, despite local laws banning the presence of unleashed canines. The rest of the film is a battle of wills between kindly innkeeper John Traill (Edmund Gwenn) and by-the-book constable Davie (Reginald Owen) over the dog's well-being. A romantic subplot is capably handled by Geraldine Brooks and Ross Ford, both of whom went on to healthy character-actor careers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp, (more)
- 1934
In this drama a rich banker loses his fortune in the stock market. His secretary's lover finds out that the banker has been using fake bonds to make a deal. The opportunistic young lout then begins threatening to blackmail the financier. In a panic, the banker tosses the extortionist overboard. When he learns that his secretary loved the creep, the boat captain launches a search party and the man is all wet, but saved. The repentant banker then kills himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matheson Lang, Constance Cummings, (more)
Jack Benny brings his own distinctive touch to Brandon Thomas' venerable (and oft-filmed) stage farce Charley's Aunt. Utilizing a gloriously unconvincing broad-A English accent, Benny is cast as Lord Fancourt Babberly, a somewhat overaged undergraduate at Oxford University. Babbs' roommates Jack Chesney (James Ellison) and Charley Wyckeham (Richard Haydn, in his film debut) are desirous of inviting their lady friends Kitty Verdun (Arleen Whelan) and Amy Spettigue (Anne Baxter) to their quarters, but first they must secure the services of a proper escort. When Charley's aunt Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez (Kay Francis) is detained, Jack and Charley coerce Babbs, who has dressed up as an old lady for a school play, to pose as the absent Donna Lucia. The fun really begins when, for reasons far too complicated to detail here, both Jack's father Sir Francis Chesney (Laird Cregar) and Amy's uncle Stephen Spettigue (Edmund Gwenn) romantically pursue the bogus aunt. The third-act arrival of the real Donna Lucia only adds to the comic confusion-but at least poor Babbs has finally found a lady friend closer to his own age. The female-impersonation angle in Charley's Aunt has been known to descend into vulgarity, but Jack Benny remains both hilarious and tasteful throughout. Understandably, the film was one of Benny's favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Benny, Kay Francis, (more)
- 1939
Cheer Boys Cheer is a provincial British comedy with slight Romeo and Juliet undertones. Edmund Gwenn and Moore Marriott play rival brewery owners who detest the sight of one another. Not so their children--the son of one man, the daughter of the other--who fall in love. One glance at the film's title, and the viewer knows that boy and girl will not take poison in the end. For so modest an endeavor, Cheer Boys Cheer has a remarkable talent lineup: Edmund Gwenn, Moore Marriott, Jimmy O'Dea, Nova Pilbeam and Alexander Knox in front of the cameras, and Walter Forde and Ronald Neame on the production end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Something of a distaff Mr. Chips, schoolteacher Ella Bishop (Martha Scott) devotes her life to her work, ageing 50 years (from 19 to 69) in the course of the film. At a testimonial dinner on the occasion of her retirement, Miss Bishop's former students wonder why their beloved teacher never married. In flashback, the audience learns that town grocer Sam (William Gargan) has carried a torch for her for five decades, while she obliviously pursued unfortunate romantic relationships with weak-willed Delbert Thompson (Donald Douglas) and unhappily married John Stevens (Sidney Blackmer). Adapted by Stephen Vincent Benet from the melancholy novel by Bess Streeter Aldrich, Cheers for Miss Bishop was not only a tour de force for Scott, but also represented the screen debut of another young character actress, Rosemary De Camp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martha Scott, William Gargan, (more)
- 1932
On the surface just another quota quickie, Condemned to Death turned out to be quite a gem for those lucky enough to see it back in 1932. Taking a respite from his duties as moviedom's Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Wontner plays an incorruptible judge who sentences a criminal genius to the gallows. The villain then proceeds to hypnotize Wontner into murdering the jurors responsible for his convictions! Unaware of his crimes, Wontner is confronted with the evidence by Scotland Yard inspector Cyril Raymond, who has the decency to permit the good gray judge to commit suicide rather than face public disgrace and humiliation. Condemned to Death was based on Jack o' Lantern, a play by George Goodchild. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gillian Lind, Jane Welsh, (more)
- 1945
In this a briefcase containing four wills is found next to the unconscious body of a man. He lies beside a plane crash. Each of the wills is made out to the man. Meanwhile a recent widow and a man work together to get the money her husband died for. They almost get it when they are accosted by the man who was found lying beside the planed. He claims to be a Nazi spy who is trying to get the money and use it to escape to Germany. The couple captures the spy and donates the money to their government. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Craig, Signe Hasso, (more)
- 1933
This musical tells the love story of a manicurist and a night waiter who discover that they are sharing the same apartment. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1934
The father in Father and Son is played by Edmund Gwenn; the son is played by Esmond Knight. Dad is an ex-convict who, once sprung, seemingly can't shake his larcenous instincts. The son gallantly shoulders the blame for the father's latest misdeed. All is well when it turns out that Dad was innocent all along. Father and Son was based on Barber John's Boy, a novel by Ben Ames Williams (of Leave Her to Heaven fame). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
When the continual bickering of a married couple threatens to tear them apart, an angel is sent to help them get back together and start making babies in this fantasy. The husband is a busy producer for theatrical shows so the angel disguises himself as a wealthy Westerner looking to invest in a show. He meets the couple at a casino where the angel discovers a special gift for gambling. He is so good that the IRS threatens to intervene and he must be rescued by another angel. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Joan Bennett, (more)
Fourteen scriptwriters spent five years toiling over a movie adaptation of war correspondent Vincent Sheehan's Personal History before producer Walter Wanger brought the property to the screen as Foreign Correspondent. What emerged was approximately 2 parts Sheehan and 8 parts director Alfred Hitchcock--and what's wrong with that? Joel McCrea stars as an American journalist sent by his newspaper to cover the volatile war scene in Europe in the years 1938 to 1940. He has barely arrived in Holland before he witnesses the assassination of Dutch diplomat Albert Basserman: at least, that's what he thinks he sees. McCrea makes the acquaintance of peace-activist Herbert Marshall, his like-minded daughter Laraine Day, and cheeky British secret agent George Sanders. A wild chase through the streets of Amsterdam, with McCrea dodging bullets, leads to the classic "alternating windmills" scene, which tips Our Hero to the existence of a formidable subversive organization. McCrea returns to England, where he nearly falls victim to the machinations of jovial hired-killer Edmund Gwenn. The leader of the spy ring is revealed during the climactic plane-crash sequence--which, like the aforementioned windmill scene, is a cinematic tour de force for director Hitchcock and cinematographer Rudolph Mate. Producer Wanger kept abreast of breaking news events all through the filming of Foreign Correspondent, enabling him to keep the picture as "hot" as possible: the final scene, with McCrea broadcasting to a "sleeping" America from London while Nazi bombs drop all around him, was filmed only a short time after the actual London blitz. The script was co-written by Robert Benchley, who has a wonderful supporting role as an eternally tippling newsman. Foreign Correspondent was Alfred Hitchcock's second American film, and remained one of his (and his fans') personal favorites. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, (more)
- 1943
The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old manor house in London, built in 1804 by a British admiral (C. Aubrey Smith) and blitzed in 1940 by one Adolf Hitler. Through the portals of this house pass a vast array of Britons, from high-born to low. The earliest scenes involve gay blade Lt. William Trimble (Ray Milland), wronged country-girl Susan (Anna Neagle), and wicked landowner Ambrose Pomfret (Claude Rains). We move on to a comic interlude involving dotty Mr. Simpson (Reginald Owen), eternally drunken butler Bellamy (Charles Laughton), and cockney plumbers Mr. Dabb (Cedric Hardwicke) and Wilkins (Buster Keaton). Maidservant Jenny (Ida Lupino) takes over the plot during the Boer War era, while the World War I sequence finds the house converted into a way-station for soldiers (including Robert Cummings) and anxious families (including Roland Young and Gladys Cooper). Finally we arrive in 1940, with American Gates Pomfret (Kent Smith) and lady-of-the-house Lesley Trimble (Ruth Warrick) surveying the bombed-out manor, and exulting over the fact that the portrait of the home's founder, Adm. Eustace Trimble (Smith), has remained intact -- symbolic proof of England's durability in its darkest hours. The huge cast includes Dame May Whitty, Edward Everett Horton, Wendy Barrie, Merle Oberon, Nigel Bruce, Richard Haydn, Donald Crisp, and a host of others -- some appearing in sizeable roles, others (like Arthur Treacher and Patric Knowles) willingly accepting one-scene bits, simply to participate in the undertaking. Seven directors and 21 writers were also swept up in the project. Forever and a Day was supposed to have been withdrawn from circulation after the war and its prints destroyed so that no one could profit from what was supposed to have been an act of industry charity. Happily for future generations, prints have survived and are now safely preserved. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, (more)
