Anna Neagle Movies
Dame Anna Neagle was a theatrical and cinematic institution in England, and one of the most popular screen actresses of the mid-20th century. As the wife of producer/director Herbert Wilcox, she was also personally close to the centers of power in 1930s British cinema. Born Florence Marjorie Robertson at Forest Gate (near London) in 1904 to a merchant navy captain and his wife, Neagle took up dancing as a child. As early as age 13, she was getting offers of professional engagements, and made her formal debut when she was 20 as a member of the chorus in two 1925 Charlot revues. She moved up the pecking order of theaters and productions, emerging in London in the work of producer Charles B. Cochran as a Cochran Young Lady, and graduated from dancer to actress in 1929. Using the name Anna Neagle (the surname from her mother's family), she played opposite Jack Buchanan in Stand Up and Sing, which ended up running a then huge 604 performances.Photographing extremely well, Neagle was a natural for the screen, and following two minor film appearances early in the sound era, she won the lead in Goodnight Vienna (1932), produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox. After her starring role in The Flag Lieutenant that same year, directed by (and starring) Henry Edwards, she worked exclusively under Wilcox's direction in film for the remainder of her career. It was a winning and happy partnership, yielding an enviable string of popular dramas -- both contemporary (Bitter Sweet) and period (Nell Gwyn) -- that endeared Neagle to British filmgoers throughout the 1930s and '40s. She also proved her stagecraft in 1934, when she took on the roles of Rosalind in As You Like It and Olivia in Twelfth Night; working under director Robert Atkins, she earned critical accolades in both productions, despite the fact that she had never before done any Shakespeare. Neagle's career during the '30s was concentrated on the screen, however, and she moved from success to success, reaching the pinnacle of her film career portraying Queen Victoria in a pair of historical epics. The first of these, Victoria the Great (1937), shot in color, enjoyed an unprecedented run of nearly a year in London, and, along with its companion film, Sixty Glorious Years (a reference to Victoria's reign that, as it turned out, very nearly could have applied equally well to Neagle's own career), proved unusually popular in America, as well. At the same time that those movies were spreading an image of Neagle (under heavy makeup to portray her character's aging) as the renowned British queen, she was delighting audiences in London with her portrayal of the title role in Peter Pan.
The two Queen Victoria biographies were successful enough to get Wilcox and Neagle a contract with RKO Radio Pictures, and they moved to Hollywood at the end of the '30s. There they made a trio of notable screen versions of musicals -- Irene, No, No, Nanette, and Sunny -- as well as the biographical drama Nurse Edith Cavell. Their professional relationship was transposed to the personal in 1943, when Neagle and Wilcox returned to England and were married. They resumed their screen work after World War II, and, over the next five years, enjoyed a string of movie successes that made their money almost exclusively in England: I Live in Grosvenor Square, Piccadilly Incident, The Courtneys of Curzon Street, Spring in Park Lane, Elizabeth of Ladymead, and Maytime in Mayfair, most of which starred Michael Wilding, a promising young leading man who achieved stardom working opposite Neagle. In 1950, she broke with her string of light romantic comedies by playing the title role in Odette, a serious, fact-based drama about a woman who sacrifices her life as a spy for the British during World War II; it, too, was a success and only added to Neagle's professional renown. She played Florence Nightingale in The Lady With a Lamp (1951) and returned to theatrical work in 1953 with The Glorious Days, which had a run of 476 performances, a major success by the standard of the day.
Neagle's fortunes declined during the mid-'50s, along with the popularity of her films, although she did enjoy some success as a producer in her own right with a trio of movies starring Frankie Vaughan. Her career in the early '60s was blighted by Wilcox's bankruptcy in 1964, but she made a comeback the following year in the West End musical Charlie Girl, which ran for six years and 2,047 performances. It was casting from life, with Neagle playing the role of a former Cochran Young Lady who marries a peer of the realm. It earned the actress an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for her enduring popularity and was a fitting capstone to the first 40 years of her career, though she continued working for another two decades. During the show's six-year run, Neagle was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1970 in recognition of her work. Two years after Charlie Girl -- which she also brought to Australia and New Zealand -- Neagle was asked to appear in a revival of No, No, Nanette, which she'd done onscreen three decades earlier. Replacing Celia Johnson in The Dame of Sark, she was again on-stage in 1975, and the year after her husband's death in 1977, she was acting in Most Gracious Lady, which was written for the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Neagle was still working in 1986, just a few weeks before her death at the age of 81. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1945
I Live in Grosvenor Square is better known by its American release title, A Yank in London. Anna Neagle, whose husband Herbert Wilcox produced and directed the film, stars as Lady Patricia Fairfax, who enters into a brief wartime romance with American air force sergeant John Patterson (Dean Jagger). The plot proper is based on a true WW II incident, wherein an Air Corps crew deliberately sacrificed their lives to save an English village of no strategic importance. The multinational supporting cast includes Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Jane Darwell, and real-life American PFC Elliot Arluck. At the time of its release, I Live in Grosvenor Square was praised for the authenticity of its settings and characterizations. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Dean Jagger, (more)
- 1937
Backstage is more flavorful fluff from the star/director combo of Anna Neagle and Herbert Wilcox Neagle. Neagle plays a likeable chorine who hears tenor Arthur Tracy singing on streets. No surprises here: before he left for England, Tracy had gained fame in the US as radio's "Street Singer". But back to the plot: Neagle tries to find work for Tracy, but he doesn't get his Big Break until a major star comes down with laryngitis. Nope, still no surprises here. Once he becomes a star himself, Tracy grows swell-headed. What does down-to-earth Neagle do about this? Well, let's leave at least one surprise wrapped up. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Arthur Tracy, (more)
- 1933
The first of two film versions of Noel Coward's operetta, 1933's Bitter Sweet stars British favorite Anna Neagle and continental star Fernand Graavey (who spelled his name "Gravet" in Hollywood). The wisp of a plot finds Victorian Neagle persuading Graavey to march her to the altar. A brilliant musician, Graavey is unfortunately also a chronic gambler. He is killed in a duel of honor, but his legacy lives on in his music. The already obscure 1933 Bitter Sweet was all but confined to oblivion by Hollywood's 1940 Nelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald version. The earlier film was produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox, whose long professional association with his star Anna Neagle culminated in marriage in 1943. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Fernand Gravey, (more)
- 1957
This British drama chronicles the exploits of a brutal Liverpudlian gang leader/would-be rock star who finds himself inducted into the army. The troubled youth undergoes basic training and emerges a man. Later his best friend from boot camp is killed by the camp bully. Courageously, he stands up to the bully and wounds him. Fearing retribution, he flees the barracks. Time passes and he eventually rights the wrong, matures, and marries his singing partner. Songs include: "Isn't It a Lovely Evening?" "These Dangerous Years," and "Cold, Cold Shower." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Baker, Thora Hird, (more)
- 1952
Derby Day is a typically British omnibus feature, delineating the fates of several different people during a single day at the racetrack. Peter Graves (not the American actor of the same name) plays a superficial movie star who has been won in a fan-magazine raffle by housemaid Suzanne Cloutier. Michael Wilding and Anna Neagle play a pair of disconsolates who have recently lost their respective mates in a plane crash. And Googie Withers and John McCallum (who were married in real life) portray a furtive couple whose horrible secret is revealed when they head to the window to collect their winnings. Though we count at least six principle characters in Derby Day, the film was released in the US as Four Against Fate. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1948
Fans of British film star Anna Neagle had a field day with her bravura Technicolor vehicle Elizabeth of Ladymead--though not enough fans showed up back in 1948 to make the film a success. Neagle portrays four different characters from four different historical periods, each named Elizabeth. The first, Beth, lives in 1854 London, as the Crimean War rages thousands of miles away. The second, Elizabeth, lives in 1903, just after the Boer war. The third, Betty, is a girl of 1919, the year after World War I. And the fourth, Liz, is a contemporary lass of post-World War II London. We watch as each of the four Elizabeths emerges as a woman of independence while the menfolk are off to war. Whenever the film becomes too repetitious, Elizabeth of Ladymead scores on the charm of Anna Neagle and her attractive deportment while wearing period costumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Hugh Williams, (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)
- 1937
In this romance, a street performer gets into an argument with an ambassador's chauffeur and ends up falling in love with the diplomat. Unfortunately, when government secrets are revealed, the finger of blame is pointed directly at her. But she is innocent. The real culprit is her ex-fiance whom the diplomat trusted with his secrets. The jilted lover told the secrets to get revenge upon her. With his political life in shambles the ambassador resigns. Fortunately, the devoted street singer stays right by his side. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
In this remake of the 1926 silent hit (which was in turn based on a hit musical from 1919), Anna Neagle stars as Irene O'Dare, an Irish girl of humble beginnings who comes to New York in search of work. She finds a place as a shopgirl at a fashionable and expensive boutique managed by Mr. Smith (Roland Young). Irene does well at her new job and soon finds that two wealthy men are vying for her affections. Don Marshall (Ray Milland), the owner of the store, is much attracted to Irene, but so is socialite Bob Vincent (Alan Marshal), which does not come as a pleasant surprise to Eleanor Worth (Marsha Hunt), Bob's sweetheart. Irene features several (but not all) of the songs from the original stage production, including "Castle of Dreams", "Worthy of You", "You've Got Me out on a Limb", and "There's Something in the Air". The "Alice Blue Gown" number was shot in Technicolor, while the remainder of the film is in black and white. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Ray Milland, (more)
- 1955
King's Rhapsody was the second screen teaming of beloved British star Anna Neagle and Hollywood's "bad boy" Errol Flynn. Based on a musical play by Ivor Novello, the film casts Flynn as a European prince who falls in love with commoner Neagle. The prince pulls an "Edward VIII" and goes into exile so he may set up house with the woman he loves. When the King dies, Flynn is obliged to return to his throne and marry a hand-picked princess (Patrice Wymore, who was Mrs. Flynn at the time). Years later, the prince, finally free to marry, seeks out Neagle. She still loves him, but sends him on his way, realizing that his true place is with his people. Although Anna Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox was producer-director of King's Rhapsody, her songs were cut from the final release print, leaving her with literally nothing to do but stand around and look radiant. Perhaps as a result, King's Rhapsody was one of the few Neagle/Wilcox failures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn, (more)
- 1939
Originally designed for exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair, Land of Liberty is a 137-minute compendium of filmclips from past American historical epics. The project was sponsored by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc. and supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, who also edited the film with the assistance of his crack Paramount production staff. The narration was written by old DeMille hands Jeannie MacPherson and Jesse Lasky Jr. and spoken by a talented team of uncredited announcers (one of whom sounded suspiciously like old C. B. himself). Clips from such Hollywood productions as America (1924), Abraham Lincoln (1930), Alexander Hamilton (1931), Show Boat (1936), Man of Conquest (1939) and DeMille's own The Plainsman (1936), The Buccaneer (1938) and Union Pacific (1939) are woven together into a chronological continuity, tracing American history from the Revolutionary War to the "present," which is largely represented by newsreel footage of President Roosevelt, the TVA project, and other current personalities and events. In later years, Land of Liberty was redistributed on the classroom circuit, with new footage added from historical dramas of the 1940s and 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1954
Anna Neagle is so overpoweringly good in Lilacs in the Spring (aka Let's Make Up!) that a times it's easy to forget that her co-star is Errol Flynn! Based on Glorious Days, a play by Robert Nesbitt, the film offers Neagle in four different characterizations. Suffering a concussion while serving in WW II, service performer Catherine Beaumont (Neagle) imagines herself to be Nell Gwynn, and still later fancies herself to be Queen Victoria (both of these historical personages had been played by Neagle in previous films). Finally, Catherine conjures up memories of her own mother Lillian Grey (also Neagle), who married song-and-dance man John Beaumont (Errol Flynn) during WW I, then nearly lost him when he "went Hollywood." Though he'd been having an overabundance of personal problems, Errol Flynn conducted himself with utmost professionalism throughout Lilacs in the Spring, delighting co-workers and movie audiences alike. The film was a hit, prompting a second, less-successful Anna Neagle-Errol Flynn pairing, King's Rhapsody. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn, (more)
- 1937
No relation to the same-named Charlie Chaplin production, Limelight is a joint vehicle for British movie favorite Anna Neagle and radio celebrity Arthur Tracy, aka "The Street Singer." Neagle plays chorus girl Marjorie Kaye, who discovers tenor Bob Grant (Tracy) as he sings in the streets for pennies. When the star of the show in which Marjorie is appearing develops laryngitis, she talks the producer into giving Bob a chance. Sure enough, he becomes an overnight sensation -- and surer enougher, success goes right to his head. After a brief dalliance with a society deb (Ellis Jeffreys), however, Bob realizes that he's still in love with Marjorie. In addition to the two stars, Limelight is enlivened by the dancing prowess of the legendary Tilly Losch; also showing up for an uncredited cameo is stage and screen luminary Jack Buchanan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Arthur Tracy, (more)
- 1937
One of several Anna Neagle-Tulio Carminatti vehicles of the 1930's, London Melody was one of five films directed in 1937 by Neagle's future husband Herbert Wilcox. This time around, Carminatti is cast as Marius Andreani, a cultured Italian diplomat. While in London on business, Marius makes the chance acquaintance of boisterous cockney street entertainer Jacqueline (Neagle). It's love at first sight, but hero and heroine must undergo a dizzying series of roadblocks and misunderstandings before the climactic clinch. Meanwhile, Jacqueline rises to the top of show-business success, never dreaming (until the end, at least) that it's all the secret handiwork of faithful Marius. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Tullio Carminatti, (more)
- 1932
A general's son, Buchanan, calls off his engagement to countess Bland when he falls in love with flower girl Neagle who becomes an opera singer. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Buchanan, Clive Currie, (more)
- 1949
Maytime in Mayfair is concerned with England's high-fashion set, especially those creatures whose designs set the tone for London's upper crust. Two of the leading emporia are located directly across the street from each other, one run by the lovely Eileen Grahame (Anna Neagle) and the other by the charming but scheming D'Arcy Davenport (Peter Graves). Davenport feels threatened by Eileen and would like nothing more than for her to close up her shop. One day, a young man by the name of Michael Gore-Brown (Michael Wilding) appears. As appealing as he is in debt, it turns out that he has fortuitously inherited the shop for which Eileen designs. Although encouraged to sell it immediately and get some desperately needed ready cash, he becomes quite taken with Eileen and decides to hold on to the salon. At the same time, D'Arcy manages to get his hands on Eileen's latest, top-secret designs and disseminates them to the press, which will ruin Eileen. Thinking that it is Michael that has done this terrible deed, Eileen leaves and goes to Paris. Depressed that his true love has spurned him, Michael is all set to sell the business to two buyers (who are secretly acting on D'Arcy's behalf) when Eileen returns, having discovered the truth. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1955
What was the lady-like Dame Anna Neagle doing in something called Bad Girl -- or, as it was renamed in certain regions, Teenage Bad Girl? In point of fact, the film was originally and more tastefully titled My Teenage Daughter when Neagle signed on. Neagle plays Valerie Carr, the editor of a fiction magazine aimed at the youth market. Though she considers herself "hep" to the world of the young, she has no concept of what her own teenaged daughter, Janet (Sylvia Syms), is all about. When Janet falls into bad company, her mother does what she can to help. But Janet won't pay Mom any heed until her shenanigans land her in jail. Not at all exploitational, Bad Girl is constructed more along the lines of a 1940s "woman's picture" -- tears, renunciations, reconciliations. The film was produced and directed by Neagle's husband, Herbert Wilcox. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms, (more)
- 1935
Anna Neagle is every other inch a lady in the frolicsome costume epic Nell Gwyn. The star is of course cast as the title character, the lusty orange vendor-turned-actress who becomes the "great and good friend" of merry monarch King Charles II (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). This is not to the liking of the King's current favorite, the Duchess of Portsmouth (Jeanne De Casalis), who wastes no time plotting Nell Gwyn's downfall -- only to be banished from court herself. Meanwhile, essayist Samuel Pepys (Esme Percy), the Walter Winchell of his day, records every aspect of the scandalous romance between Nell and the King in colorful detail. Perhaps as a balm to the censors, the story is told in flashback form from the point of view of an aging, dissipated Nell, who has come to learn the terrible price of living life too fully. Despite this cautionary framing device, the film was never meant to be taken seriously: in the opening titles, the screenplay is credited to Miles Malleson, "in collaboration with King Charles II, Samuel Pepys and Nell Gwyn." The film was produced by Anna Neagle's future husband Herbert Wilcox, who'd made a silent version of the same story with Dorothy Gish. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1957
Anna Neagle steps down from her expensive musical extravaganzas to play a recognizable human being in No Time for Tears. She plays the dedicated director of a busy children's hospital, battling red tape, family hassles and public indifference. A large and stellar cast appears in this episodic tale, dramatizing the triumphs and tragedies of pediatrics. An unfortunately predictable happy ending sends the filmgoers home without trauma. No Time for Tears came close to the end of Anna Neagle's starring career; she would appear in two more films, and produce two additional features, before returning to the stage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Anthony Quayle, (more)
- 1940
No, No, Nanette was the second film version of the popular Otto Harbach-Vincent Youmans Broadway musical. Though slightly updated, the basic plot remains the same, with heroine Nanette (Anna Neagle) entering into a financial arrangement whereby she must answer "No" to every question during a 24-hour period. It's all for the sake of her rogueish uncle (Roland Young), who's heavily in debt thanks to a gaggle of gold-digging chorines. Nanette's task is complicated by her romantic entanglements involving an artist (Richard Carlson) and a flashy theatrical producer (Victor Mature). The songs include "I Want to Be Happy", "Tea for Two" and the title number. Unlike the previous Neagle-RKO Radio-Herbert Wilcox collaboration Irene, No, No, Nanette fizzled at the box office. For many years, the film was withdrawn from circulation because of Warner Bros.' 1950 remake, the Doris Day vehicle Tea for Two. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Richard Carlson, (more)
- 1939
Many of the "preparedness" films of the years just prior to World War II sidestepped censorship by depicting past outrages of the Germans. Such a film was British producer Herbert Wilcox's Hollywood production Nurse Edith Cavell, in which Wilcox's future wife Anna Neagle portrayed the titular martyred Englishwoman. Ms. Neagle plays the legendary Ms. Cavell as a candidate for Canonization. Her selfless efforts to rescue refugee soldiers from World War I Belgium results in her being arrested on charges of espionage. Despite international pleas for clemency, the dastardly Deutschlanders sentence Edith to death. She faces the firing squad with a courageous serenity that makes Joan of Arc look like a hysterical schoolgirl. An earlier, silent version of Nurse Edith Cavell had caused turmoil in England due to its unadorned depiction of war's horrors. In 1939, however, audiences inundated by reports of Hitler's latest outrages were more receptive. Ironically, the film opened in the US a scant few days before war broke out in Europe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Edna May Oliver, (more)
- 1950
This espionage drama was based on the true story of Odette Sansom Churchill, who became an unlikely hero during WWII. Born in France, Odette (Anna Neagle) was married to an Englishman who died in battle. When the British Army made an appeal for photos of the French coastline, Odette mailed a set of old holiday snapshots to the War Office. As a result, Odette was approached to serve as a British agent in France during the Nazi occupation. Under the guidance of Capt. Peter Churchill (Trevor Howard) and French resistance soldier Arnaud (Peter Ustinov), Odette's ability to blend in as a typical French citizen was put to excellent use by Allied intelligence. Odette was eventually found out and subjected to brutal torture by Gestapo Col. Henri (Marius Goring), but she never gave up any information on her work. She was then sentenced to death in a concentration camp, and when American forces arrived to liberate the compound, Odette was held hostage by the camp's Commandant (Alfred Schieske), believing that she was too valuable to let go. Anna Neagle consulted with the real life Odette Sansom Peter Churchill (who married after the war) to prepare for her performance. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Trevor Howard, (more)
- 1936
This period drama is based on the relationship between 18th-century British stage stars Peg Woffington and David Garrick. The story begins as Woffington leaves Dublin to be with her lover who is an aspiring actor. Unfortunately, by the time she arrives, he has found another, causing her to try her hand at acting which in turn gives her the chance to meet Garrick, a popular actor who becomes her mentor. Under his expert tutelage, she becomes a famous actress at the Drury Lane Theatre where they eventually fall in love. Unfortunately, Woffington has a weak heart and during a performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It collapses and dies soon afterward. Actually, Peg Woffington lived three years beyond the attack, but that isn't nearly as dramatic. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
- 1948
Anna Neagle plays a patriotic young British girl who joins the WRENS when war breaks out. She marries Michael Wilding, the son of an nobleman. Neagle is shipped off to Singapore and is presumed killed in action. Wilding's grief is assuaged when he meets American WAVE Frances Mercer. He remarries, and the couple have a child. But Neagle is not dead, merely marooned on a desert island. Upon returning to civilization, Neagle glimpses her husband and his new family, tearfully realizes that there's no place for her in his new life, and is promptly blown to bits in an air raid. A weeper deluxe, Piccadilly Incident was an unusually morose effort for Anna Neagle and her producer-husband Herbert Wilcox. Casting notes: Michael Wilding was third choice for the leading man after Rex Harrison and John Mills, while Frances Mercer was a last-minute replacement for Marsha Hunt. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Sr., (more)
- 1930
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's stage comedy The School for Scandal made theatrical history in 1777 as the first play to use an onstage prop (a dressing screen) as an important plot device. While this proved exciting to 18th-century audiences, the effect wasn't quite the same when the Sheridan play was brought to the screen in 1930, though Sheridan's potent witticisms remained intact (one suspects that the 1916 silent version wasn't quite as effective). The story concerns the misadventures of young Lady Teazle (Madeleine Carroll), who must not only fend off the jealous accusations of her elderly husband (Basil Gill) but also the envious barbs of every gossip in London. Meanwhile, two handsome brothers -- one virtuous, the other a cad -- become inextricably involved in Lady T's travails, both demonstrating their true colors in the final act. The very famous "screen scene" goes on much too long in this version, though its resolution still pays off in big laughs. The best scenes occur amongst the various and sundry gossips, who bear such spell-it-out character names as "Lady Sneerwell" and "Sir Benjamin Backbite"! Sharp-eyed viewers will spot future stars Rex Harrison and Anna Neagle in bit parts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Basil Gill, (more)
