''Love Story'' is a 1944 British
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
romance film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
directed by
Leslie Arliss and starring
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, Order of the British Empire, 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 ...
,
Stewart Granger, and
Patricia Roc
Patricia Roc (born Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold; 7 June 1915 – 30 December 2003) was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'' (1945) and '' The Wicked Lady'' (1945), though she only ...
. Based on a short story by
J. W. Drawbell, the film is about a concert pianist who, after learning that she is dying of heart failure, decides to spend her last days in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. While there, she meets a former
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
pilot who is going blind, and soon a romantic attraction forms.
Released in the United States as ''A Lady Surrenders'', this wartime
melodrama produced by
Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...
was filmed on location at the
Minack Theatre
The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from May ...
in
Porthcurno
Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ec ...
in Cornwall, England.
Plot
Concert pianist Felicity Crichton Lissa Campbell (
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, Order of the British Empire, 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 ...
) leaves her successful music career to devote herself to the British war effort. She applies to be in the
Women's Auxiliary Air Force
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...
, part of the
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
, but is rejected for health reasons. She then learns that she has a heart condition and does not have long to live.
Determined to live her final months fully, she goes to a resort in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
. Not wanting to be recognised, she introduces herself as Lissa. She is soon befriended by Tom Tanner (
Tom Walls
Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...
), a salty old Yorkshireman, on government assignment to investigate mines. He sees her sadness, but does not pry.
She meets Kit Firth (
Stewart Granger), a brash young engineer, and they form an association. She does not know Kit will soon be blind due to a war injury. The only one who knows is Judy (
Patricia Roc
Patricia Roc (born Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold; 7 June 1915 – 30 December 2003) was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'' (1945) and '' The Wicked Lady'' (1945), though she only ...
), his childhood friend who is secretly in love with him. Meanwhile, Tom arranges for a piano to be provided for Lissa and she begins composing,(music later to become famous as the Cornish Rhapsody) inspired by her new environment and by Kit. Later, Kit introduces Lissa to Judy, who is working on an open-air play. Judy persuades Tom to invest in her production of ''The Tempest''.
Kit and Lissa's romance grows but, whenever things become serious, Kit backs away. Lissa grows increasingly frustrated, especially after he refuses Tom's offer to supervise the reopening of a mine in which Kit has found much-needed
molybdenum, and she finally breaks up with him. Kit confesses to Judy that he has never met anyone as understanding as Lissa.
The next day a mining accident traps Tom and his crew. When Kit descends the mine, he too becomes trapped but is able to escape and rescue them, proving he is not a coward. When Lissa finds him practising reading
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille disp ...
, everything falls into place. She urges him to have surgery, but he says the doctors estimated his chances of surviving it were 100 to one, and that Judy had talked him out of it.
Lissa gets Judy to admit she views blindness as a godsend; Kit would have to turn to her. They agree Lissa will leave him if Judy persuades Kit to have the operation. After Kit leaves for surgery, Judy and her company prepare for their play. For the premiere, Judy is unable to go on until she hears the results of the imminent surgery. Lissa placates the audience for the delay by performing her new composition inspired by Kit. During her performance, she is overwhelmed by the same fear, and faints.
When Lissa recovers, she is reassured that Kit is well. When Judy thanks her for giving up Kit, Lissa admits that she is not giving up much—because she is dying. True to her word, she says goodbye to Kit, saying she will be going on a world tour and may not see him again. Despite his profession of love, Lissa leaves, heartbroken. In the coming weeks she travels the world, entertaining the troops. Meanwhile, Kit proposes to Judy and she accepts, but their relationship lacks passion. Despite Tom's advice to her to accept the truth and not cheat another woman out of the love she deserves, Judy insists she will not give up Kit.
Sometime later, Lissa is performing at the
Royal Albert Hall. After her final number, she spots Kit in the wings in his RAF uniform, and runs into his arms before fainting. When she recovers, she sees Judy. Recognising that he will always love Lissa, Judy announces, to Kit's surprise, that they will not be getting married and leaves abruptly – Kit never belonged to her. Lissa finally reveals she only has months to live. Kit tells her they must take what happiness they can.
Cast
*
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, Order of the British Empire, 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 ...
as Lissa Campbell
*
Stewart Granger as Kit Firth
*
Patricia Roc
Patricia Roc (born Felicia Miriam Ursula Herold; 7 June 1915 – 30 December 2003) was an English film actress, popular in the Gainsborough melodramas such as ''Madonna of the Seven Moons'' (1945) and '' The Wicked Lady'' (1945), though she only ...
as Judy
*
Tom Walls
Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...
as Tom Tanner
*
Reginald Purdell
Reginald Purdell (4 November 1896 – 22 April 1953) was an English actor and screenwriter who appeared in over 40 films between 1930 and 1951. During the same period he also contributed to the screenplays of 15 feature films, such as '' Th ...
as Albert
*
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 ...
as Ray
*
A. E. Matthews as Col. Pitt Smith
* Josephine Middleton as Mrs. Pitt Smith
*
Beatrice Varley
Beatrice Evelyn Varley (11 July 1896 – 4 July 1964) was an English actress who appeared in television and film roles between 1936 and 1964. She made her screen debut in the 1936 film ''Tomorrow We Live'' and began to portray a variety of ch ...
as Miss Rossiter
*
Laurence Hanray
Laurence Hanray ( Lawrence Henry Jacobs; 16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall s ...
as Angus Rossiter
* Brian Herbert as Stuttering Cornish Fisherman
*
Roy Emerton
Roy Emerton (9 October 1892 – 30 November 1944) was a British film actor.
Earlier in his life, he was a sailor, stoker, docker, railway worker, and miner and served in the First World War. He played in a great number of popular London stage p ...
as Cornish Fisherman
*
George Merritt as Telephone Engineer
*
Moira Lister
Moira Lister Gachassin-Lafite, Viscountess of Orthez (6 August 192327 October 2007) was a South African-British film, stage and television actress and writer.
Early life
Born in Cape Town to Major James Lister and Margaret (née Hogan), List ...
as Carol
* Sidney Beer as Conductor
*
Dorothy Bramhall
Dorothy Bramhall (1911-2004) was a British actress and former model.
Selected filmography
* '' Love Story'' (1944)
* ''I See a Dark Stranger'' (1946)
* '' Take My Life'' (1947)
* ''The White Unicorn'' (1947)
* ''The Clouded Crystal'' (1948)
* ''A ...
as Susie
*
Vincent Holman
Vincent Holman (22 September 1886 – 7 April 1962) was a British stage, film and television actor. On stage, he was in the original cast of Arnold Ridley's '' The Ghost Train'' at Brighton's Theatre Royal and London's St. Martin's Theatre i ...
as Prospero
* Joan Rees as Ariel
Production
Arliss admitted gaining inspiration from a number of magazine stories, called "Love and Forget", "The Ship Sailed at Night" and "A Night in Algiers".
''Love Story'' was filmed at Gaumont-British Studios in Lime Grove, Shepherd's Bush, London, and the
Minack Theatre
The Minack Theatre ( kw, Gwaryjy Minack) is an open-air theatre, constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop jutting into the sea. The theatre is at Porthcurno, from Land's End in Cornwall, England. The season runs each year from May ...
in
Porthcurno
Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ec ...
in Cornwall, England.
The final concert scenes were filmed at the
Royal Albert Hall in London.
Lockwood had not played piano since school but learned how to play the concerto for realism in her performance. She practiced for hours every day with
Harriet Cohen
Harriet(t) may refer to:
* Harriet (name), a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)''
Places
* Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia
* Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States
* Harriett, Texas, ...
, who performed on the soundtrack. "In the end I was able to play with not too many mistakes," wrote Lockwood.
She wrote that she and Roc had to "slap each other's faces constantly, til we both ached."
Stewart Granger was making ''
Waterloo Road'' at the same time as this film. He says Gainsborough was bombed while making ''Love Story'', which he later called "a load of crap – and a smash hit!"
[Brian MacFarlane, ''An Autobiography of British Cinema'', Methuen 1997 p 230]
Reception
Box office
The film was very popular at the British box office. According to ''
Kinematograph Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971.
History
''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern ...
'' the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1944 Britain were ''
For Whom the Bell Tolls
''For Whom the Bell Tolls'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned ...
'', ''
This Happy Breed
''This Happy Breed'' is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, '' Present Laughter''. The ...
'', ''
The Song of Bernadette'', ''
Going My Way
''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest tak ...
'', ''
This Is the Army
''This Is the Army'' is a 1943 American wartime musical comedy film produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, adapted from a wartime stage musical with the same name, designed to boost morale in the U.S. duri ...
'', ''
Jane Eyre
''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first ...
'', ''
The Story of Dr Wassell'', ''
Cover Girl
A cover girl is a woman whose photograph features on the front cover of a magazine. She may be a model, celebrity or entertainer. The term would generally not be used to describe a casual, once-off appearance by a person on the cover of a maga ...
'', ''
White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, depos ...
'', ''
Sweet Rosie O'Grady'' and ''
Fanny By Gaslight'' (the latter being from the same studio as ''Love Story'', and also starring Stewart Granger). The biggest British hits of the year were ''This Happy Breed'', with runners up being ''Fanny By Gaslight'', ''
The Way Ahead
''The Way Ahead'' (also known as ''Immortal Battalion'') (1944) is a British Second World War drama film directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov. The film stars David Niven, Stanley Holloway and Willi ...
'' and ''Love Story''.
Critical
In his review of the DVD version Jeremy Arnold excused the film's overly melodramatic storyline and lack of realism and appreciated the context in which the film was released. "For wartime British audiences", Arnold wrote, "a melodramatic romance dealing with death, heroism and sacrifice, lushly photographed amidst the shores of Cornwall, must have served as a shot in the arm."
Arnold found the film to be "so skillfully made that what seems like contrived melodrama in the abstract comes off more as just a sweeping romantic aura on screen."
Arnold praised the acting in the film, writing that Lockwood "delivers a solid performance" and that the supporting actors, Tom Walls and Patricia Roc, stole the film. A well-known comic actor of the British stage and screen whose career began in 1905, Walls appeared in ''Love Story'' toward the end of his life. Patricia Roc was in some ways the more desirable of the two romantic choices, according to Arnold, who noted that "our eyes go to her more than to Lockwood whenever the two share the screen."
Film scholar William K. Everson wrote that the film "enabled the housewives, themselves much put upon, to wallow in the greater and more artificial self-sacrifice shown on the screen and to find in it a kind of contemporary escapism."
''Filmink'' magazine said "Like ''Man in Grey'', it was (a) done with intensity, pace and complete conviction, (b) was critically dismissed, even by its stars (c) became a big hit, and (d) holds up surprisingly well today."
References
External links
*
*
*
''Love Story''at Silver Sirens
Review of 1947 US edition of filmat ''Variety''
Review of 1944 UK release of filmat ''Variety''
''Love Story''at Britmovie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love Story (1944 Film)
1944 films
British romantic drama films
British black-and-white films
Gainsborough Pictures films
1944 romantic drama films
Films directed by Leslie Arliss
Films set in Cornwall
Films shot in Cornwall
Films shot in London
Melodrama films
1940s English-language films
1940s British films