''Black Limelight'' is a 1936 play by Gordon Sherry that in 1938 became a British

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

directed by

Paul L. Stein Paul Ludwig Stein (4 February 1892 – 2 May 1951) was an Austrian-born film director with 67 films to his credit. Stein began his career in Berlin in 1918 and worked exclusively in the German silent film industry until 1926, when he first w ...

and starring

Joan Marion Joan Marion Nicholls (28 September 19085 November 2001), known professionally as Joan Marion, was an Australian-born stage, film and television actress. Her family moved to Britain when she was three, and at eighteen she attended the Royal Acade ...

and

Raymond Massey Raymond Hart Massey (August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983) was a Canadian actor, known for his commanding, stage-trained voice. For his lead role in '' Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1940), Massey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Amo ...

Plot

"It concerns itself with the murder of a vulgar young woman ily Suspicion rests on refined young married Peter, who has disappeared, and is known to have spent week-ends with the young woman in question, apparently with the full knowledge of his charming wife ary She, on hearing of the murder, does everything in her power to screen her spouse. There are, of course, police and detectives on the track, but while they are seemingly very active, they rarely turn up at psychological moments. Peter therefore easily gains access to his home, despite the fact that no one could mistake him, in his unhappy condition, as other than one fleeing from justice. Did he commit the murder?"

Production

Sherry's play was an early serial-killer drama ("the monster's homicidal mania leaps up at the time of the full moon," noted ''Time'' magazine) and was originally intended to be premiered in London. In the event it opened at Broadway's Mansfield Theatre on 9 November 1936, with a London production only appearing in mid-April the following year. A preview week at the small Q Theatre was immediately followed by a West End transfer to the St James' Theatre on the 22nd, the production running in all for 414 performances. The text used in London was somewhat revised; among other adjustments, the heroine's name was changed from Naomi to Mary.

Margaret Rawlings Margaret Rawlings, Lady Barlow (5 June 1906 – 19 May 1996) was an English stage actress, born in Osaka, Japan, daughter of the Rev. George William Rawlings and his wife Lilian (née Boddington) Rawlings. Personal life/affiliations She was e ...

scored a huge success doubling two roles - protective wife Mary and, in an Act II flashback, murdered mistress Lily - which on Broadway had been played by separate actresses,

Winifred Lenihan Winifred Lenihan (December 6, 1898 – July 27, 1964) was an American actress, writer, and director. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making her debut in 1918. Although she portrayed the would-be eloper Anne in ''The D ...

and Kate Warriner. The doubling arrangement was Sherry's preferred mode, in order to suggest "that Peter fell in love again with the very qualities which attracted him to his wife." Similarly, in the ''Daily Mirror''

Godfrey Winn Godfrey Herbert Winn (15 October 1906 – 19 June 1971) was an English journalist known as a columnist, and also a writer and actor. Born in Kings Norton, Warwickshire, he attended King Edward's School, Birmingham.

Adaptations

Television

Fifteen years later Rawlings and John Robinson repeated their stage roles of Mary and Peter Charrington in a BBC ''

Sunday Night Theatre ''Sunday Night Theatre'' was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, pa ...

'' presentation transmitted on 1 June 1952. Another British TV production, an ''

Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canadi ...

'' instalment screened on 30 September 1956, retained Robinson but cast

Rosalie Crutchley Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley (4 January 1920 – 28 July 1997) was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, ...

as Mary.

Renée Asherson Dorothy Renée Ascherson (19 May 1915 – 30 October 2014), known professionally as Renée Asherson, was an English actress. Much of her theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpoo ...

and Nigel Stock played the leads in yet another TV version, shown in the ''

BBC Sunday-Night Play ''BBC Sunday-Night Play'' is the anthology drama series which replaced ''Sunday Night Theatre'' in 1960. It was broadcast on what was then BBC Television (now BBC One). The series often included versions of modern theatrical successes, but origi ...

'' strand on 14 January 1962. An Australian TV production, starring

Bruce Beeby Bruce Edward Beeby (21 October 1921 – 20 October 2013) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in British films and television. He was probably best known for portraying Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1950s BBC radio serials '' Journ ...

and Patricia Kennedy, was transmitted on 15 July 1959, and - like all three British versions - is presumed lost.

Film

The film version was made by the

Associated British Picture Corporation Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appro ...

at ABPC's Elstree facility, with Sherry's play adapted by screenwriters

Dudley Leslie Dudley Leslie (1905–1998) was a British screenwriter and playwright. He was on the jury for the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. He co-wrote the 1948 play ''The Human Touch'' with J. Lee Thompson.Wearing p.424 He was married to the writer Audrey Ers ...

and

Walter Summers Walter Summers (1892–1973) was a British film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Barnstaple to a family of actors, British motion picture director Walter Summers began his career in the family trade; his first contact with filmmaki ...

. The completed film was reviewed by ''Variety'' in June 1938 ("Script follows closely the stage version, except that the culprit is indicated too early") and by Britain's ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' in July. As well as calling ''Black Limelight'' "an interesting example of its type," the MFB critic pointed out that Joan Marion's performance "is so convincingly restrained that a film which begins as just another murder thriller almost ends up as a social document." The film's UK general release followed on 9 January 1939 and its New York opening in June. "Although as a murder mystery ''Black Limelight'' betrays its hand rather pointedly early in the game," noted the ''New York Times'', "it has a certain documentary interest as a study of what happens to people mixed up in a big murder case in England ... This being a British film, Scotland Yard is made out to be quite stupid, instead of omniscient, as in our politer productions." In Britain the film was reissued in 1942 as a second feature,Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', BFI/Palgrave Macmillan 2009 while in the US it was later screened under the alternative title ''Footsteps in the Sand''. Alexander B Cust is shown watching ''Black Limelight'' in the 1992 ''

Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more t ...

'' adventure''The A.B.C. Murders'', set in 1936, but the film wasn't made till 1938.

Cast

- Mary Charrington *

- Peter Charrington *

Elliott Mason Elliott Mason (29 January 1888 – 20 June 1949) was a British stage and film actress. She was sometimes credited as Elliot Mason. After making her screen debut in the 1935 comedy ''The Ghost Goes West'', Mason appeared regularly in supporting ...

- Jemima *

Walter Hudd Walter Hudd (20 February 1897 – 20 January 1963) was a British actor and director. Stage career Hudd made his stage debut in ''The Manxman'' in 1919, and later toured as part of the Fred Terry Company; first attracting serious attention play ...

- Lawrence Crawford *

Henry Oscar Henry Wale (14 July 1891 – 28 December 1969), known professionally as Henry Oscar, was an English stage and film actor. He changed his name and began acting in 1911, having studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama ...

- Inspector Tanner *

Dan Tobin Daniel Malloy Tobin (October 19, 1910 – November 26, 1982) was an American supporting actor on the stage, in films and on television. He generally played gentle, urbane, rather fussy, sometimes obsequious and shifty characters, often with a ...

- Reporter Roberts *

Leslie Bradley Leslie Ernest Bradley (1 September 1907 – 20 July 1974) was an English actor. He died in Desert Hot Springs, California. Filmography * '' The Way of Youth'' (1934) as Lieut. Burton (film debut) * ''Play Up the Band'' (1935) as Jack Heck ...

- Bill, young detective-on-duty *

Diana Beaumont Diana Beaumont (8 May 1909 – 21 June 1964) was a British actress. In 1932 she starred in the West End run of the hit comedy ''While Parents Sleep'' by Anthony Kimmins, while in 1934 she appeared in Ian Hay's '' Admirals All''. Selected fil ...

- Gwen, young maid-next-door *

Coral Browne Coral Edith Browne (23 July 1913 – 29 May 1991) was an Australian-American stage and screen actress. Her extensive theatre credits included Broadway productions of ''Macbeth'' (1956), '' The Rehearsal'' (1963) and '' The Right Honourable Gentl ...

- Lily James

References

External links

* {{William Sterling 1936 plays 1939 films 1930s crime films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films directed by Paul L. Stein British black-and-white films British plays British crime films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films