''24 Hours of a Woman's Life'', also known as ''Affair in Monte Carlo'', is a 1952 British

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film directed by

Victor Saville Victor Saville (25 September 1895 – 8 May 1979) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962. Biography Saville produced his first f ...

and starring

Merle Oberon Merle Oberon (born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson; 19 February 191123 November 1979) was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' (1933). After her success in ''The Scarle ...

Richard Todd Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...

and

Leo Genn Leopold John Genn (9 August 190526 January 1978) was an English actor and barrister. Distinguished by his relaxed charm and smooth, "black velvet" voice, he had a lengthy career in theatre, film, television, and radio; often playing aristocr ...

. It is loosely based on the novella by

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...

. Produced by ABPC, it was shot at the company's

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

and on location in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Terence Verity Terence Verity (1913 – 1967) was a British Art director and architect. Life and work Terence Verity was one of the foremost art directors of early post-war Britain. He started working in films in 1943, having had a formal architectural trai ...

Plot

Monsieur Blanc, the middle-aged proprietor of a café in

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

, is eagerly preparing for his wedding to Henriette. He is devastated, however, when Henriette runs away with a young man she apparently only met the day before. Robert Sterling, a writer and one of the café patrons, tells the other diners that he has seen the same thing before: someone falling in love with a complete stranger. He was playing host to Linda, a young widow whom he knew well, and three other guests aboard his yacht anchored in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. When he persuades her to visit the casino one night, she became irresistibly attracted to an unstable young man who became suicidal after losing all his money at

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

. Sterling describes how they fell deeply in love, and how they then had to face difficult decisions about the future.

Cast

as Linda *

as A Young Man *

as Robert Stirling * Stephen Murray as L'Abbé Benoit * Peter Reynolds as Peter *

Joan Dowling Joan Dowling (6 January 1928 – 31 March 1954) was a British character actress. Life and career Dowling was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling. A piece in ''The Laindon and District Times'', on 23 June 2015, written by her cousin Joh ...

as Mrs. Barry *

June Clyde June Clyde (born Ina Parton, December 2, 1909 – October 1, 1987) was an American actress, singer and dancer known for roles in such pre-Code films as '' A Strange Adventure'' (1932) and ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1933). Early years June Cly ...

as Mrs. Roche *

Peter Illing Peter Illing (4 March 1899 – 29 October 1966) was an Austrian-born British film and television actor. Selected TV series * ''Deadline Midnight'' (1961) as Captain Dnieprovsky * ''The Saint'' (1962) as Inspector Buono Filmography * ''The Silv ...

as Monsieur Blanc * Jacques B. Brunius as Concierge, Pension Lisa *

Isabel Dean Isabel Dean (born Isabel Hodgkinson, 29 May 1918 – 27 July 1997) was an English stage, film and television actress. Life and career Born in Aldridge, Staffordshire, Dean studied painting at Birmingham Art School. In 1937, she joined the Che ...

as Miss Johnson * Peter Jones as Bill *

Yvonne Furneaux Yvonne Furneaux (born Elisabeth Yvonne Scatcherd; 11 May 1928) is a French-British retired actress. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she worked with notable filmmakers like Peter Brook, Federico Fellini, Roman Polanski, Michelan ...

as Henriette *

Mara Lane Mara Lane (born Dorothy Bolton; 1 August 1930) is a British-Austrian actress. She appeared in more than 30 films from 1951 to 1965. Early life Lane was born in Vienna, Austria. She is the eldest daughter of Russian-born pianist mother Olga Mirono ...

as Alice Brown * Robert Ayres as Frank Brown *

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a prominent British politician who after his death was revealed to have been a prolific serial sex offender against children. A member of the Liberal Party, he was Member of ...

as Harry * Mark Baker as Mr. Rohe *

Moultrie Kelsall Moultrie Rowe Kelsall (24 October 1904 – 13 February 1980)Biographical info

as Murdoch *

Trader Faulkner Ronald "Trader" Faulkner (7 September 1927 – 14 April 2021) was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television. Early life Faulkner was born in Manly, Australia, the son of ...

as Mr. Barry * Jeanne Pali as Mme Blanc * Rene Poirier as Attendant, Hotel Royalo *

Marguerite D'Alvarez Marguerite d'Alvarez (c. 1884 – 18 October 1953) was an English contralto, born Margarita Amelia Alvarez de Rocafuerte. She sang on the opera and concert stages, for recordings, and in radio concerts, and appeared in three films. Early life ...

as Mme Benoit * Virginia Bedard as Lady in Cook's Office * Gordon Bell as Clerk in Cook's Office * Jill Clifford as Estelle Hunter * Peter Hobbes as David Hunter

Critical reception

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' described it as "a film of such artificiality and bathos the very typewriter keys cling together to avoid describing it." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' called the film a "poor sudser, although the background of the romantic

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

and its fabulous casino provides some exotic interest."

References

External links

* 1952 films British romantic drama films British remakes of German films Films based on works by Stefan Zweig Films directed by Victor Saville Films set in Monaco Films shot in Monaco Films shot at Associated British Studios Films set on the French Riviera Roulette films 1952 romantic drama films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{1950s-UK-film-stub