''Car of Dreams'' is a 1935 British

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Graham Cutts John Henry Graham Cutts (1884 – 7 February 1958), known as Graham Cutts, was a British film director, one of the leading British directors in the 1920s. His fellow director A. V. Bramble believed that Gainsborough Pictures had been built o ...

and

Austin Melford Austin Melford (1884—1971) was a British screenwriter and film director. He was the older brother of actor Jack Melford. Partial filmography Director * ''Car of Dreams'' (1935) * ''Oh, Daddy!'' (1935) * ''Radio Lover'' (1936) Screenwriter * '' ...

and starring

Grete Mosheim Margarete Emma Dorothea "Grete" Mosheim (8 January 1905 – 29 December 1986) was a German film, theatre, and television actress. Early life Mosheim was born in Berlin, Germany on 8 January 1905, the daughter of a Jewish man, Markus Mosheim (18 ...

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

Norah Howard Norah Howard (12 December 1900 - 2 May 1968) was a British actress of stage and screen. Biography She was born as Norah Lillian Emily Smeed on 12 December 1900, in Fulham, London, England, her father was Alfred Howard Smeed. She changed her sta ...

and

Robertson Hare John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas ...

. A tycoon's son falls in love with a woman who works at his father's factory. It was based on the 1934 Hungarian film ''

The Dream Car ''The Dream Car'' ( hu, Meseautó) is a 1934 Hungarian romantic comedy film directed by Béla Gaál and starring Zita Perczel, Ella Gombaszögi and Klári Tolnay. A tycoon falls in love with a poor woman and secretly buys her a car. The 1935 Bri ...

''. The film was shot at the

Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, with sets 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 ...

Alfred Junge Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry. Junge had wanted to be an artis ...

Plot

Vera Hart lives with her parents. Her father is an antiques salesman who loves his stock too much to sell it and therefore doesn't make any money. Through her friend Molly, Vera manages to get a menial job at Miller's music instrument factory. Vera has a habit of going into shops and trying on expensive

clothes Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials ...

and

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

which she could never hope to pay for. On her way home from work she stops in a

car dealer A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive mainten ...

and sits in a new luxury car. Robert Miller, the young son of the owner of Miller's factory, sees Vera and falls instantly in love with her. He pretends to be an employee at the car showroom and they bond together. On a whim, he decides to buy Vera the car and pretends she has won it as the 10,000th customer to visit the shop. Vera's father is delighted by the new car, but her mother is more suspicious. Miller wants to spend more time with Vera, but he is uncertain about telling her his true identity in part because he is constantly harassed by women who are interested in his inheritance. He approaches the Hart family and offers to chauffeur the car for them, doing jobs such as

weddings A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

to pay for it. As none of them can drive, they accept his offer. Miller gets into the habit of driving Vera to work at the factory, still not revealing the truth that his family owns the business. When he discovers how little she is paid, he has her salary raised to five pounds a week. Unfortunately this leads to bad feelings amongst Vera's colleagues, in particular her superior Henry Butterworth and Anne Fisher who has a crush on Miller, who suspect that Vera is the fancy woman of Miller. Vera is bemused by her pay rise because she is under the impression that she has never met Miller. When Vera comes to his office to confront Miller about her increased salary, he hides and gets his friend Peters to pretend to be him. Peters takes a shine to Vera, and tries to persuade her to go out on a date with him. Once she has gone, Miller and Peters get into an argument over whether each of them have a shot with her and whether she is more interested in love or money. The debate is put to the test when Vera, Miller and Peters all head down to a country hotel for an

ice-skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be perfo ...

carnival. A concerned Mr Butterworth and Miss Fisher also head down to the hotel to keep an eye on Vera, and are shocked when they see her separately with both Peters and Miller, believing that she is two timing them. Still without revealing his true identity, Miller asks Vera to live with him for ever in a couple of rooms over a

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

. She joyfully accepts, but when Butterworth tells her who Miller really is she is hurt - thinking that his offer was not one of marriage but one of a

kept woman A mistress is a woman who is in a relatively long-term sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a different woman. Description A mistress is in a long-term relationship with her attached mister, and is often referred to ...

. She then pretends to be uninterested in Miller and instead focuses her attention on Peters. Eventually however the confusion is resolved and Miller and Vera drive off together in their "car of dreams".

Cast

as Vera Hart *

as Robert Miller *

as Anne Fisher *

as Henry Butterworth * Mark Lester as Miller Senr. *

Margaret Withers Margaret Withers (6 July 1893 – 26 October 1977) was a British actress mainly on the stage. Filmography References External links * Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown British stage actresses British film actresses 20th- ...

as Mrs. Hart *

Paul Graetz Paul Graetz (8 August 1889 – 16 February 1937) was a German actor and star of the Weimar cabaret. Selected filmography * '' The Peruvian'' (1919) * ''The Princess of the Nile'' (1920) * ''Christian Wahnschaffe'' (1920) * ''Mary Magdalene'' (19 ...

as Mr. Hart *

Glennis Lorimer Glennis Lorimer (''Glennis Dorothy Browne''; 27 April 1913 – 17 November 1968) was a British people, British actress, who appeared in a number of films during the 1930s. She also appeared in the Gainsborough Pictures logo before the opening cr ...

as Molly *

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...

as Peters *

Hay Plumb Edward Hay-Plumb (1883 in Norwich, Norfolk – 1960 in Uxbridge, Middlesex) was an English actor and film director. He served as a lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment during World War I. Selected filmography Director * ''Hamlet'' (1913) * ...

as Chauffeur

Soundtrack

* "Car of Dreams" (Written by

Maurice Sigler Maurice Sigler (November 30, 1901 – February 6, 1961) was an American banjoist and songwriter. Sigler was born in New York City but moved to Birmingham, Alabama at an early age, and received his musical tuition there. In the 1920s, Sigler wa ...

Al Goodhart Al Goodhart (January 26, 1905 – November 30, 1955) a member of ASCAP, was born in New York City and attended DeWitt Clinton High School. During his lifetime he was a radio announcer, vaudeville pianist and special materials writer. He also owned a ...

and

Al Hoffman Al Hoffman (September 25, 1902 – July 21, 1960) was an American song composer. He was a hit songwriter active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, usually co-writing with others and responsible for number-one hits through each decade, many of wh ...

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Car Of Dreams 1935 films 1935 romantic comedy films British black-and-white films British films based on plays British romantic comedy films Films set in England Films set in London Films shot at Lime Grove Studios Remakes of Hungarian films Films produced by Michael Balcon 1930s English-language films 1930s British films