''Green Grow the Rushes'' is a 1951 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Derek N. Twist and starring

Roger Livesey Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell and Pressburger, Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', '' ...

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

and

Honor Blackman Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 58. (1962 ...

. It was the first film to be released by ACT Films, an entity formed by a trade union for filmmakers.

The British Film Catalogue ''The British Film Catalogue'' is a reference book compiled by Denis Gifford (1927–2000) listing every film made in Britain, including feature films, shorts, information films and student films. For each of more than 14,000 consecutively number ...

, 11606.

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with ...

, 1951 page 371. The film was produced by John Gossage and funded by the National Film Finance Corporation and the Co-Operative Wholesale Society Bank. It is an adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same title by

Howard Clewes Howard Clewes (27 October 1912 – 29 January 1988) was an English screenwriter and novelist. He wrote for eight films between 1951 and 1974. He also wrote twenty action novels from 1938 to 1979.Renata Clewes obituary; London Independent 1 ...

. It was made at

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 ...

near

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

with sets the designed by the

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

Frederick Pusey.

Location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...

took place on the coastal

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until ...

around the town of

New Romney New Romney is a market town in Kent, England, on the edge of Romney Marsh, an area of flat, rich agricultural land reclaimed from the sea after the harbour began to silt up. New Romney, one of the original Cinque Ports, was once a sea port, ...

Plot

Three British government bureaucrats arrive in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

to inquire as to why the coastal Anderida marsh is not being cultivated. The reason is that most of the local people know about or are involved in the liquor smuggling scheme operated by Captain Biddle and his accomplice Robert (Richard Burton), who is posing as a fisherman when he is seen by the newspaper editor and his journalist daughter Meg. Robert persuades them not to report it in the newspaper, and tells Biddle about his encounter with them. Biddle does not like the idea of any local "Lily White" (woman) knowing about their illegal activity; he was once married to a Lily White. The smugglers’ next cargo gets caught in a violent storm, and their boat washes inland, settling in the meadow of a farmer whose wife Polly happens to be Biddle’s ex-wife.

Cast

Background

Based on the 1949 novel '' Green Grow the Rushes'' by Howard Clewes. The title, at least, is inspired by the 18th-century folk song "

Green Grow the Rushes, O Green Grow the Rushes, O (alternatively "Ho" or "Oh") (also known as "The Twelve Prophets", "The Carol of the Twelve Numbers", "The Teaching Song", "The Dilly Song", or "The Ten Commandments"), is an English folk song (Roud #133). It is sometimes ...

", in which each of the 12 verses after the first has the penultimate line, "Two, two, the lily-white boys, clothed all in green O."

Release

The film recouped its cost. However the NFFC rejected ACT's next two proposed projects, films about Sir William Hastings and the

Tolpuddle Martyrs The Tolpuddle Martyrs were six agricultural labourers from the village of Tolpuddle in Dorset, England, who, in 1834, were convicted of swearing a secret oath as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. They were arrested on ...

. So the company made less politically active films from then on. The film was re-released in 1954 under the

alternative title An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the ...

''Brandy Ashore''.

References

External links