''21 Days'' (also known as ''21 Days Together'', ''The First and the Last'' and ''Three Weeks Together'') is a 1940 British drama film based on the short 1919 play '' The First and the Last'' by

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include ''The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize i ...

. It was directed by Basil Dean and stars

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967; born Vivian Mary Hartley), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her definitive performances as Scarlett O'Hara in ''Gon ...

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

and Leslie Banks. The film was renamed ''21 Days Together'' for the American market.

Plot

Larry Darrant, the black sheep of his family, returns home to London from an unsuccessful business venture in Kenya and embarks on an affair with a married woman, Wanda. When Wanda's long-absent husband, Henry, who is Russian, shows up, he tries to extort money from the lovers, and pulls a knife on Larry when he refuses to pay. In the ensuing fight Henry is accidentally killed when he strikes his head on the fire fender. Larry places Henry's body in a quiet brick archway at Glove Lane. He then visits his brother Keith, a successful

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

hoping to soon become a judge, for advice. Keith tells Larry to leave the country for a while to avoid capture. In part Keith's motivation is to avoid the damage Larry's arrest would do to his own career. However, Larry refuses to leave, and returns to the alley where he had left the body. There he encounters John Evan, a former minister turned tramp, who picks up bloody gloves that Larry has dropped in the street. When Evan is found with the gloves, he is arrested for Wallen's murder, and the police believe they have sufficient evidence for a conviction. Evan's sense of disgrace for robbing the dead body of a ring is such that he insists on his guilt. When Larry learns of Evan's arrest, he considers himself a temporarily free man and decides to marry Wanda. Larry and Wanda try to compress 30 years of idyllic life into the course of just 21 days, as Larry plans to turn himself in to the police before Evan's trial begins. On the day when Evan is sentenced to hang, Keith begs his brother to remain silent and let the condemned man die. Larry, set on doing the right thing, refuses and leaves for the police station. He is stopped on the steps of the station by Wanda, chasing after him, who has learned that Evan died from a heart attack on his way to jail.

Cast

as Wanda Wallen *

as Larry Darrant * Leslie Banks as Keith Darrant *

Francis L. Sullivan Francis Loftus Sullivan (6 January 1903 – 19 November 1956) was an English film and stage actor. Early life Francis Loftus Sullivan attended Stonyhurst, the Jesuit public school in Lancashire, England, whose alumni include Charles Laughton ...

as Mander * David Horne as Beavis * Hay Petrie as John Aloysius Evan * William Dewhurst as the Lord Chief Justice * Esme Percy as Henry Wallen * Frederick Lloyd as Swinton * Robert Newton as Tolly * Victor Rietti as Antonio * Morris Harvey as Pawnbroker Alexander MacPherson * Elliott Mason as Frau Grunlich * Arthur Young as Ascher * Meinhart Maur as Carl Grunlich *

Andreas Malandrinos Andreas Malandrinos ( el, Ανδρέας Μαλανδρίνος; 14 November 1888, in Greece – 11 July 1970, in Surrey) was a Greek-born actor who started appearing in British films from 1930, until his death 40 years later in Surrey, England ...

as Cafe Tyrol Waiter (uncredited)

Production

Producer Alexander Korda intended ''21 Days'' to be a star vehicle for Vivien Leigh, but his constant interference caused great problems on the set. He rearranged shooting schedules and even added a sequence, and director Basil Dean reputedly never saw a rough cut or the finished product. The title change to ''21 Days'' was attributed to Korda. Principal photography took place in 1937 at Denham Film Studios. Korda's younger brother Vincent Korda was the film's art director on and was responsible for the set design. Following Vivien Leigh's star turn with her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939), Korda shelved ''21 Days'' for two years before releasing it to Columbia Pictures.

Reception

In a review for '' The New York Times'', critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "True, it is no deathless drama—is little more than a cultivated penny-thriller, in fact—and Miss Leigh, as the party of the second part, is required to devote her charm and talents to nothing more constructive than making the apparently inevitable parting from poor Mr. Olivier seem exceedingly painful, indeed. But it is a highly charged 'meller,' rigid throughout with suspense and nicely laced with much tender emotion."Crowther, Bosley
"The Screen."
''The New York Times'', May 23, 1940.

References

Notes Bibliography * Walker, Alexander. ''Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh''. New York: Grove Press, 1987. .

External links

* * {{Alexander Korda Films based on works by John Galsworthy 1940 films 1940 drama films British drama films British black-and-white films 1940s English-language films British films based on plays Films directed by Basil Dean London Films films Films with screenplays by Graham Greene Films produced by Alexander Korda Columbia Pictures films Films set in 1938 1940s British films