''Laughing Anne'' is a 1953 British

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

directed by

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...

and starring

Wendell Corey Wendell Reid Corey (March 20, 1914 – November 8, 1968) was an American actor and politician. He was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was a board member of the Screen Actors Guild. Biography Early years Corey was ...

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich' ...

Forrest Tucker Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...

, and

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Career Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal Nort ...

. It was adapted from

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

, " Because of the Dollars" and from his 1923 two-act play, ''Laughing Anne''. The film was shot at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...

outside

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 ...

. 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 ...

William C. Andrews and costumes were by

Elizabeth Haffenden Elizabeth Haffenden (18 April 1906 – 29 May 1976) was a British costume designer who won two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, for '' Ben-Hur'' at the 1959 Academy Awards and '' A Man for All Seasons'' at the 1966 Academy Awards. She al ...

Production

In 1952

announced he had signed a co-production deal with

Herbert Yates Herbert John Yates (August 24, 1880 – February 3, 1966) was the founder and president of Republic Pictures, who had western stars John Wayne, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers under contract. Between the years 1935 and 1959, Republic, under Yates' l ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City an ...

to make films together starring

Anna Neagle Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox (''née'' Robertson; 20 October 1904 – 3 June 1986), known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer. She was a successful box-office draw in the British cinema ...

and

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...

, to be shot in colour and aimed at international markets. The projects would include an adaptation of

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geor ...

's ''

The King's General ''The King's General'' is a novel, published in 1946, by English author and playwright Daphne du Maurier. Background It was the first novel du Maurier wrote while living at Menabilly, the setting for an earlier novel '' Rebecca'', where it is ...

'' and

's ''Laughing Anne''. ''Laughing Anne'' would instead be made with Margaret Lockwood, who had signed a long-term contract with Wilcox, and two Hollywood names:

and

. (Tucker had been under contract to Republic for six years.) As extra box office insurance,

was cast in a leading role. Lockwood's performance was done in the style of

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Lockwood called it "the story of a gay woman who had a very unhappy marriage and love affair, and ends up looking aged and worn. I shudder to remember just what a lifelike job the make-up men did on me for my "aged and worn" scenes."

Plot

In a cafe a Polish seaman,

, tells a story... In the 1880s a ship's captain called Davidson is left by his wife. He gets drunk and visits Farrell's Bar, where the star attraction is the singer, Laughing Anne. Anne is in an abusive relationship with a man called Jem Farrell. Anne stows away on Davidson's boat, saying she is leaving Farrell. Anne and Davidson fall for each other. She reveals her past. She was a popular singer in Paris in love with boxer Farrell, who is about to challenge for the world title. Farrell refuses to throw the fight, and gangsters mutilate his hands, ending his boxing career. Davidson proposes to Anne, and they sleep together, but she feels she cannot leave Farrell and returns to him. Six years ago, Davidson finds Anne again – and her son by Farrell, Davey. Anne discovers a plan by Farrell to steal Davidson's cargo. She warns Davidson, but is killed. Davidson kills Farrell and then raises Davey.

Cast

as Captain Davidson *

as Laughing Anne *

as Jem Farell *

as Nobby Clarke * Robert Harris as Joseph Conrad *

Jacques B. Brunius __NOTOC__ Jacques B. Brunius (born Jacques Henri Cottance, 16 September 1906 – 24 April 1967) was a French actor, director and writer, who was born in Paris and died in Exeter, UK. He was cremated in Sidmouth, with a tribute by Mesens. Assistan ...

as Frenchie *

Daphne Anderson Daphne Anderson (née Scrutton; 27 April 1922 – 15 January 2013) was an English stage, film, and television actress, as well as a dancer and singer. She made her London theatre debut in 1938 at the Windmill Theatre. Anderson appeared in such f ...

as Blonde singer *

Helen Shingler Helen Shingler (29 August 1919 – 8 October 2019) was a British film and television actress. Biography Shingler was born on 29 August 1919. She married producer Seafield Head, and was the mother of actor and singer Murray Head and actor Antho ...

as Susan Davidson * Danny Green as Nicholas *

Harold Lang Harold Lang (December 21, 1920 – July 26, 1985) was an American dancer, singer and actor. Life and career Lang began his professional career as a ballet dancer, making his professional debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1938 and then goi ...

as Jacques *

Edgar Norfolk Edgar Norfolk (5 November 1893 – 1980) was a British actor. Norfolk was born Edgar Greenwood. He was the first husband of the actress Helen Saintsbury (a daughter of the actor H.A. Saintsbury); her second husband, Captain Buckley Rutherford, a ...

as Conrad's companion * Sean Lynch as David * Gerard Nolan as Davy * Joe Powell as Pierre *

Andy Ho Andy Ho (born Andrew Chin Guan Ho; 2 July 1913 – 16 January 1992) was a Singapore-born (then part of British Malaya) film and television actor who worked in London and Hollywood from the 1950s through to the 1980s. Biography Andy Ho was born ...

as Chinese merchant * Maurice Bush as Battling Brunius *

Bernard Rebel Bernard Rebel (6 October 1901, Poland – 30 September 1964, London, England) was a Polish-born British actor. His work included the role of Wormtongue in the 1955-56 BBC radio version of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Selected filmography * '' ...

as Pianist * Julian Sherrier as Bartender

Release

The film had to be cut for release in the US, including removal of the word "damn" and a scene where Lockwood swam nude.

Reception

The film was not well received, critically or commercially. It contributed to the decline in Lockwood's career.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "Always a man for pictorial respectability, Mr. Wilcox does quite nicely by an unelaborate budget, letting the Technicolor camera play over turn-of-the-century, gaslit rooms, shipboard and island exteriors and interiors. Several shots of a schooner braving awesome jungle waters are excellent. Furthermore, the film is based on a work by that master yarn-spinner and psychological prober, Joseph Conrad. The trimmings remain. But Mr. Wilcox's casual direction and a lusterless adaptation by Pamela Bower compress the story into a plodding reprise of thwarted love, sacrifice and skulduggery... In the most colorless casting, Mr. Corey is quietly effective, Miss Lockwood ranges from skittish to grim, and Mr. Forrest glares or snarls. As a sailor, Ronald Shiner takes care of the humor department. And in the role of Mr. Conrad, no less, a bearded, scholarly-looking actor named Robert Harris hears the story from Mr. Forrest in flashback on the sidelines. This much, undoubtedly, is as it should be."

References

External links

*
''Laughing Anne''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

Laughing Anne
at BFI
Laughing Anne
at Letterbox DVD
Review of film
at ''Variety''
text of ''Because of the Dollars''
{{Herbert Wilcox 1953 films British historical films British adventure films 1953 adventure films 1950s historical films Films based on works by Joseph Conrad Films directed by Herbert Wilcox Films set in Indonesia Films set in the 1890s Films set in the 1900s Republic Pictures films Films shot at Shepperton Studios Seafaring films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films