FANNY BY GASLIGHT

Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert

FANNY BY GASLIGHT (aka Man of Evil/1944). Director: Anthony Asquith. 

In 19th century London young Fanny (Phyllis Calvert of Madonna of the Seven Moons) is unaware that her father, Hopwood (John Laurie), isn't her real father, and that he owns the brothel next door. When he is killed by a disgruntled patron, Lord Manderstroke (James Mason), the truth comes out and Fanny and her mother are ostracized. Fanny eventually reunites with her biological father, a cabinet minister named Clive Seymour (Stuart Lindsell) whose marriage to Fanny's mother was annulled by the family. After another tragedy, Fanny draws close to her father's business partner, Harry Somerford (Stewart Granger), but his hateful sister Kate (Cathleen Nesbitt) may destroy their plans for a union. Then there is Lord Manderstroke, who keeps popping up in Fanny's life when she least expects it ...

Margaretta Scott and James Mason

Fanny By Gaslight, is a good, old-fashioned, British "will our Fanny ever find happiness" rags to riches tale that is absorbing, entertaining, and very well-played. In addition to the actors already named, there is also good work from Margaretta Scott [Crescendo] as Seymour's unfaithful wife, Alicia, and Amy Veness as Mrs. Heaviside, the loving servant and former nanny to Clive, among others. If the convoluted plot weren't enough, there are also hookers doing the can can, a ballet sequence, and a duel with pistols outside Paris. Although sinister Mason doesn't have that much screen time, he nearly steals the show. Anthony Asquith also directed The Browning Version and many others. 

Verdict: Solid cast in an engaging melodrama. ***. 

MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS

MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS (1945). Director: Arthur Crabtree.

Maddalena (Phyllis Calvert) is a convent-raised girl who is raped and traumatized shortly before being married off to the kindly Giuseppe (John Stewart). Years go by and their daughter, Angela (Patricia Roc of The Wicked Lady), is now grown, but the announcement of her marriage to Evelyn (Alan Haines) precipitates another episode in which Maddalena runs off for months and vanishes. Maddalena has a whole other life as Rosanna, the lover of the criminal, Nino (Stewart Granger of Blanche Fury), in Florence. Neither Guiseppe nor Nino realize that Maddalena/Rosanna has a split personality due to her rape years before, and Nino thinks that she has taken a lover, Giuseppe, and decides to kill one or the other ... Madonna of the Seven Moons is hard to take seriously as it's much more of a pot-boiler than a drama, but it is arresting at times, and generally well-acted. Phylllis Calvert [The Man in Grey] is quite effective at getting across her different personalities and at different time periods, and the other cast members are all good. Especially notable are Peter Glenville as Sandro, Nino's slimy brother, and Nancy Price as their cackling old crone of  a mother. The film is entertaining, but one senses it would have worked better as an Italian verismo opera with a score by Pietro Mascagni.

Verdict: Watch out for those wild Florencian passions! ***. 

THE MAN IN GREY

Margaret Lockwood and James Mason  

THE MAN IN GREY (1943). Director: Leslie Arliss.

At an auction house in modern times two strangers talk about the famous painting, "The Man in Grey," and wonder what became of the family whose heirlooms are being sold. The rest of the film is a flashback that introduces us to the subject of said portrait, Lord Rohan (James Mason), as well as two students in a girls school: sunny blond Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert of The Root of All Evil), and the bitter brunette, Heather (Margaret Lockwood of Hungry Hill), who wants all the finer things in life that have been denied her. Rohan eventually marries Clarrisa, although he has little to do with her, but he develops a hankering for Heather after she is hired to be his wife's companion. Heather schemes to have Clarissa run off with the sympathetic Peter Rokeby (Stewart Granger), but when these plans don't quite come off Heather must think of another way to get Clarissa out of the picture ... Mason and Lockwood would be re-teamed two years later in the far superior Wicked Lady, for which this seems like a fair-to-middling prelude. Mason has some good moments but his character isn't well-defined -- none of the others are that dimensional, either -- and the script seems rambling and cobbled together with not enough dramatic payoff. Calvert and Lockwood are more than competent if a little too stagy at times. Martita Hunt is the head of the girls school and Antony Scott makes an impression as the little boy, Toby, who is sort of adopted by Clarissa.

Verdict: Half-baked British costume melodrama. **3/4.

SALOME

Rita Hayworth as Salome

SALOME (1953). Director: William Dieterle.

Salome (Rita Hayworth) falls in love with Roman soldier Marcellus Fabius (Rex Reason), but his uncle Tiberius Caesar (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) not only forbids the union, but banishes Salome from Rome. Sailing to Galilee where her mother, Herodias (Judtih Anderson), awaits, Salome encounters another Roman soldier, Claudius (Stewart Granger). The two fall in love, but there are complications. Claudius is secretly a Christian and a friend to John the Baptist (Alan Badel), who preaches compassion versus Roman tyranny. Herodias is furious that her husband, King Herod (Charles Laughton) allows John to live after his attacks on her morals, but he is afraid that if he kills John it will result in his own death due to a prophecy. Salome takes her mother's side ... at first. It seems incredible that with those characters and storyline Salome is a big technicolor bore for much of its length, but, sadly, this is not based on Oscar Wilde's controversial play. Instead it was cobbled together by Hollywood scriptwriters anxious to turn this into just another pious biblical spectacle to impress the rubes, even though the movie's main selling point is not religion but the sex appeal of Rita Hayworth. As usual in films of this type, the Roman hero is turned into a "good guy." At least we have the performances. Hayworth is really quite good as the heroine, and she does a very sexy "dance of the seven veils" near the end. Granger [Blanche Fury] is fine, although it might have been better had his part gone to Rex Reason [This Island Earth], who isn't even credited in the film. Laughton, Anderson, Hardwicke, Badel (who was "introduced" in this film), Arnold Moss [Hell's Island] as Micah, and Basil Syndey as Pontius Pilate, are all excellent. The film perks up in the final minutes with the sudden appearance of a severed head. In this version it is Herodius who calls for the beheading of John, not Salome. Al Pacino starred in and directed a very creditable version of Wilde's Salome many years later.

Verdict: Despite fine actors and some good scenes, this is a distinctly minor biblical "epic." **.

BLANCHE FURY

Stewart Granger and Valerie Hobson

BLANCHE FURY (1948). Director: Marc Allegret.

Because of her parents' deaths, Blanche Fuller (Valerie Hobson), is forced to work as a domestic, but then she hears from her formerly estranged Uncle Simon (Walter Fitzgerald) that he wants her to come to his estate and be governess to his widower-son's little girl, Lavinia (Suzanne Gibbs). Blanche finds herself in grand surroundings, and meets two men: Lawrence (Michael Gough), who is Simon's son and Lavinia's father; and bitter Philip (Stewart Granger), who is the illegitimate son of a Fury, has no claim on the estate, and runs it for the others. Our heroine is rechristened Blanche Fury at her uncle's direction. As Philip tries to find proof of a possible marriage between his father and mother, which would change everything, he finds himself falling in love with Blanche and vice versa. A marriage takes place, but perhaps one that isn't based on love ... Blanche Fury has interesting characters and situations, fine cinematography by Guy Green, and a good score by Clifton Parker, but it suffers from the fact that its two lead actors are only so so. Philip is basically an intense Heathcliff-type character, but aside from a couple of moments, Granger [Footsteps in the Fog] plays him so laid-back as to be laughable. Hobson [Werewolf of London] is better, but it's still not a great performance. Fitzgerald, Gough [Konga], and the assorted character actors do nicely, however.

Verdict: It holds the attention but never quite convinces, although it has an uncompromising ending. **1/2 out of 4.

ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT

Battling brothers: Taylor and Granger

ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT (1953). Director: Richard Thorpe.

"Joel Shore is not afraid of the devil himself -- just don't go lookin' for him, that's all."

In this remake of a silent film with Lon Chaney, Joel Shore (Robert Taylor) sets sail as captain of the whaling ship Nathan Ross with his new bride, Priscilla (Ann Blyth). Both of them assume that Joel's brother, Mark (Stewart Granger) is dead, but when he turns up alive talking of pearls and adventure and narrow escapes, it causes trouble between the brothers. Mark wants to go back for the pearls, but when Joel objects, afraid of how greed will decimate the crew, Mark convinces Priscilla that her husband is a coward. Then the men decide to mutiny ... Frankly this picture would have been better if they went after the pearls or just stuck to whaling. The only good and exciting scene in the entire movie is when they hunt down a whale whose enormous tail capsizes their much smaller boat [not the Nathan Ross but a special whale boat]. If the whole movie had been handled as well it might have amounted to something. The three leads do the best they can, and there are smaller roles for Lewis Stone, James Whitmore, and Keenan Wynn, all of whom are wasted. Director Thorpe does not seem overly enthused by the material, and even the mutiny is awkwardly done and has no dramatic flair. I could swear I spotted a bearded Paul Frees [Space Master X-7] as one of the sailors but he's not listed in the cast.

Verdict: Too bad the silent version is lost; it had to be better than this. **.

THE WHOLE TRUTH

THE WHOLE TRUTH (1958). Director: John Guillermin.

Max Poulton (Stewart Granger) is a producer with a temperamental star, Gina Bertini (Gianna Maria Canale), and a loving wife (Donna Reed). One day at a party a man (George Sanders) shows up at his house saying he is with the police, informing him that Gina has been murdered, and suggesting that he has had an affair with his leading lady. But if Gina is dead, who just walked into the party? What's going on? There are a few intriguing twists in this generally unpredictable mystery, and Sanders is always interesting. Stewart Granger is glib and way too cool all through the movie, which is not necessarily the wrong approach for his character, however. But it doesn't make for a riveting performance. Similarly, the lazy, jazzy background score is dull and all wrong for the movie. Therefore the climax is a bit of a fizzle.

Verdict: Easy to take and just as easy to forget. **.

THE SECRET PARTNER

THE SECRET PARTNER (1961). Director: Basil Dearden.

John Brent (Stewart Granger) isn't having a good year. His wife has left him because she thinks he's spending money on another dame; his dentist is blackmailing him for some unknown malfeasance; and then he's framed for robbery to boot. Bernard Lee ("M" of the 007 films) is the investigator on the case, hoping to leave a clean slate before he retires. The oddly named Haya Harareet is Nicole, Brent's wife. The picture is smooth and reasonably absorbing, if not entirely convincing. At one point a masked figure shows up to manipulate some characters, and he reminds one of a villain in a cliffhanger serial or comic book. The twists may work for some viewers. Granger is professional but perhaps a little too slick.

Verdict: Who was that masked man? **.

FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOG

FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOG (1955). Director: Arthur Lubin. 

"When she tried to make herself look young, for the first time I realized how old she really was." 

In 19th century London Stephen Lowry (Stewart Granger) poisons his demanding, nagging wife but a young maid, Lily (Jean Simmons), figures out what happened and starts to make demands. And then the fun begins. Lots of interesting twists in this unpredictable suspense tale that is very well acted by the leads and supporting cast. Belinda Lee plays a beautiful woman that Stephen has set his cap for; Bill Travers is a lawyer and love rival. Well-directed and handsomely produced, with a nice score by Benjamin Frankel. Crisply photographed by Christopher Challis. A particularly good sequence is set in London's nighttime fog. Marjorie Rhodes scores as the unpleasant housekeeper Mrs. Park. 

Verdict: A very bizarre romance indeed. ***.

ADAM AND EVALYN aka ADAM AND EVELYNE

ADAM AND EVALYN (1949/British). Director: Harold French. NOTE: Original British title was Adam and Evelyne.

When his friend dies, a British bachelor named Adam (Stewart Granger) goes to tell the man's young daughter, Evalyn (Jean Simmons), who lives in an orphanage, what has happened, and discovers that she thinks he, Granger, is her father. (It is never made clear why her biological father, who never met her, sent her Granger's photograph.) Eventually Adam's gal pal tells the girl -- who becomes Adam's ward -- the truth, and she's sent off to finishing school, coming back a bit more polished and much more grown up. Granger has a girlfriend of sorts, Moira (Helen Cherry) and Evalyn dates Granger's no-account brother Roddy (Raymond Young), but the real crisis comes when Evalyn, who feels gambling destroyed her real father's life, discovers that Adam is a professional gambler. This slight romance isn't really worth much, although Simmons gives a very nice performance. Wilfrid Hyde-White has a small role as a colonel.

Verdict: A bit on the dull side. *1/2.