''Escape Me Never'' is a 1935 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Paul Czinner, produced by

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best known for the films he made with his third wif ...

, and starring

Elisabeth Bergner Elisabeth Bergner (22 August 1897 – 12 May 1986) was an Austrian-British actress. Primarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris before she moved to London to work in films. Her signature role was Gemma Jones in '' Esca ...

(recreating the role of Gemma as she created it onstage in New York and London),

Hugh Sinclair Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, (18 August 1873 – 4 November 1939), known as Quex Sinclair, was a British intelligence officer. He was Director of British Naval Intelligence between 1919 and 1921, and he subsequently helped to set ...

and Griffith Jones. The score is by

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

with orchestration by Hyam Greenbaum. Bergner was nominated for the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

for her performance, but lost to

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

. British readers of ''

Film Weekly ''Film Weekly'' was one of the leading popular film magazines published in the United Kingdom during the late 1920s and 1930s. Background Launched in 1928, the magazine became known for its gossipy interest in contemporary film stars. Columnist ...

'' magazine voted the 1935 Best Performance in a British Movie to her. The film is an adaptation of the play '' Escape Me Never'' by

Margaret Kennedy Margaret Moore Kennedy (23 April 1896 – 31 July 1967) was an English novelist and playwright. Her most successful work, as a novel and as a play, was '' The Constant Nymph''. She was a productive writer and several of her works were filmed. T ...

, which was based upon her 1930 novel '' The Fool of the Family.'' That book was a sequel to '' The Constant Nymph'', which was also about the Sanger family of musical geniuses, but there is a disjunct among the books and the films: the Sanger brothers are never mentioned in the 1943 movie version of ''The Constant Nymph''. Another film adaptation of ''Escape Me Never'' was made in 1947 by Warner Bros.

Plot

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, Sir Ivor ( Leon Quartermaine) and Lady McLean (

Irene Vanbrugh Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE ( Barnes; 2 December 1872 – 30 November 1949) was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession and sustained a career for more than 50 year ...

) are entertaining a guest when a woman is discovered dressed as a schoolgirl hiding in one of their rooms - she confesses that she is not part of the school party visiting during the Wednesday open day but a poor unwed mother using the crowded school party as a means of getting a free dinner. She is asked more about her background and reluctantly relates that she is living with a composer, the son of the famous maestro Sanger. The McLean's daughter, Fenella ( Penelope Dudley-Ward), is engaged to a composer, the son of the famous maestro Sanger. The McLeans jump to the obvious conclusion and, outraged, whisk Fenella off to the Italian Alps. Gemma meets Caryle Sanger ( Griffith Jones) the brother of her lover, Sebastian Sanger (

), and they set off into the mountains to find work as a cabaret act. Sebastian has an idea for a ballet and when he sees Fenella searching an hotel balcony for her mother's purse, he has a coup de foudre. Sebastian helps Fenella find the purse and christеns her Prima Vera - his muse. Fenella falls in love with Sebastian . Gemma finds the two on the balcony and gleefully explains the confusion. Sebastian is cross with Gemma at first, but after Gemma leaves him he runs after her and asks her to marry him. Gemma, Sebastian and the baby return to London, and she goes into service while Sebastian prepares his ballet for production. But even after they are married, Sebastian continues to see Fenella in secret. Gemma goes to Fenella and warns her that Sebastian cares about no one but himself and nothing but his music. Indeed, he ignores the baby's failing health, and when Gemma seeks him at the Opera House, she is forced to leave the building. When Gemma fails to appear on Opening Night, Fenella tries to persuade Sebastian to run away with her. Sebastian knows his ballet is a triumph. He does not yet know that his child is dead. When Caryle learns the whole story, he tries to kill his brother. Sebastian survives and returns to Gemma, chastened. According to TCM.com, contemporary reviews of this film describe Gemma as an unwed mother, but bowdlerized versions of the film's copyright materials indicate that Gemma was a widow and that the baby was not Sebastian's but was born of that previous marriage. This was the approach used to satisfy the censors in the 1947 movie version, with

Ida Lupino Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...

as Gemma.

Cast

as Gemma Jones *

as Sebastian Sanger * Griffith Jones as Caryle Sanger * Penelope Dudley-Ward as Fenella McClean *

as Lady Helen McClean * Leon Quartermaine as Sir Ivor McClean *

Lyn Harding David Llewellyn Harding (12 October 1867 – 26 December 1952), known professionally as Lyn Harding, was a Welsh actor who spent 40 years on the stage before entering British made silent films, talkies and radio. He had an imposing and menac ...

as Herr Heinrich *

Rosalinde Fuller Rosalinde Fuller (16 February 1892 – 15 September 1982) was a British actress, born as Rosalind Ivy Fuller. Early life Rosalind Ivy Fuller was the third of four daughters born to a Portsmouth draper, whose eldest child was a son, Walter Full ...

as Teremtcherva *

Victor Rietti Victor Rietti (29 February 1888 – 3 December 1963) was an Italian-born actor and director who became known through his work in television, especially through the many live television productions of the Italian play ''To Live in Peace'' during ...

as Shopkeeper

Production

The film was shot on location in Venice and the Dolomites.

Reception

It was the 19th most popular film at the British box office in 1935/36."The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s" by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, ''The Economic History Review'' New Series, Vol. 58, No. 1 (February 2005), p. 97 Wilcox was surprised by its success – it outgrossed his more "commercial" films.

References

External links

* * * {{Paul Czinner 1935 films Films directed by Paul Czinner 1935 drama films British drama films British films based on plays Films set in Venice Films set in London Films scored by William Walton British black-and-white films British and Dominions Studios films Films shot at Imperial Studios, Elstree 1930s English-language films 1930s British films