''Loyalties'' is a 1933 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-g ...

directed by

Basil Dean Basil Herbert Dean CBE (27 September 1888 – 22 April 1978) was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unoff ...

and starring

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

Heather Thatcher Heather Thatcher (3 September 1896 – 15 January 1987) was an English actress in theatre and films. Dancer By 1922, Thatcher was a dancer. She was especially noted for her interpretation of an Egyptian harem dance. Her exotic clothes were desig ...

and

Miles Mander Miles Mander (born Lionel Henry Mander; 14 May 1888 – 8 February 1946), was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Mile ...

. It is based on the 1922

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include ''The Forsyte Saga'' (1906–1921) and its sequels, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of the Chapter''. He won the Nobel Prize i ...

play '' Loyalties''. The film addresses the theme of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. The film was part of an increased trend depicting mistreatment of Jews in British films during the 1930s, tied to the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany, but is unusual in its depiction of prejudice in Britain as most other films were set in a non-British, historical context.

Plot

While a houseguest at an upper-class gathering, the wealthy Jew Ferdinand de Levis is robbed of £1,000 with evidence pointing towards the guilt of another guest, Captain Dancy. Instead of supporting De Levis, the host attempts to hush the matter up and then sides with Dancy and subtly tries to destroy de Levis's reputation. When Dancy is later exposed and commits suicide, de Levis is blamed for his demise.

Cast

as Ferdinand de Levis *

as Margaret Orme *

as Captain Ronald Dancy, DSO *

Joan Wyndham Joan Olivia Wyndham (11 October 1921, in East Knoyle, Wiltshire – 8 April 2007, in London) was a British writer and memoirist who rose to literary prominence late in life through the diaries she had kept more than 40 years earlier, which were a ...

as Mabel, Mrs. Borring *

Philip Strange Philip Strange (4 June 1884 – 5 January 1963) was a British actor. Selected filmography * ''The Ace of Cads'' (1926) * '' Broadway Nights'' (1927) * ''Nevada'' (1927) * ''Wall Street'' (1929) * '' The Unholy Night'' (1929) * '' The Rescue'' (1 ...

as Major Colford *

Alan Napier Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for ...

as General Canynge * Cecily Byrne as Lady Adela *

Athole Stewart Athole Chalmers Stewart (25 June 1879 – 18 October 1940) was a British stage and latterly film actor, often in authoritarian or aristocratic roles. On stage, he played in the original production of Noël Coward's '' Hay Fever'' at the Ambassa ...

as Lord St. Erth *

Patric Curwen Patric Curwen (14 December 1884 – 31 May 1949) was a British stage and film actor. Biography Curwen, son of John Spencer Curwen of the music publishing company, and grandson of John Curwen, founder of the Tonic sol-fa system, was educated at A ...

as Sir Fredric Blair * Marcus Barron as The Lord Chief Justice *

Ben Field Ben Field (1876–1939) was a British actor. Partial filmography * ''Les cloches de Corneville'' (1917) - Iolo * ''The Face at the Window'' (1920) - Peter Pottlebury * ''The Bachelor's Club'' (1921) - Peter Parker * '' Little Miss Nobody'' ...

as Gilman * Griffith Humphreys as Inspector Jones *

Robert Coote Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of ''My Fai ...

as Robert *

Aubrey Dexter Aubrey Dexter (March 29, 1898 – May 2, 1958) was a British stage and film actor. Partial filmography * '' East of Shanghai'' (1931) - Colonel (uncredited) * '' Loyalties'' (1933) - Kentman (uncredited) * ''Out of the Past'' (1933) - David M ...

as Kentman *

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 Jacob Twisden * Stafford Hilliard as Treisure * Anthony Holles as Ricardos * Mike Johnson as Jenkins *

Arnold Lucy Arnold Lucy (born Walter George Campbell, 8 August 1865 – 15 December 1945) was a British theatre and film actor, best known as Professor Kantorek in ''All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film), All Quiet on the Western Front'' (1930). Life ...

as Googie * Don MacKay as Mike Sawchuck *

Robert Mawdesley Robert Mawdesley (c. 1900 – 30 September 1953) was an English actor, best remembered as the first voice of Walter Gabriel in the long-running radio programme ''The Archers'', which has been running as a daily serial on BBC Radio since 1 Jan ...

as Edward Graviter * Maxine Sandra as Ricardo's Daughter *

Patrick Waddington Patrick William Simpson Waddington (19 August 19014 February 1987) was an English actor, educated at Gresham's School at Holt in Norfolk. He was born and died in York, England. Biography Waddington was the grandson of William Waddington, the p ...

as Augustus Borring * Algernon West as Charles Winsor

Production

Film rights were purchased 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 ...

for £9,000. He developed a screenplay for an extra £2,000. Galsworthy had contractual rights of approval over the project. Wilcox sold the project to William Fox for £20,000. The film was the first to be made by Associated Talking Pictures (which later became

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...

), after the breakdown of their arrangement with

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

.Low p. 154

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for ''Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and '' Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

and

Thorold Dickinson Thorold Barron Dickinson (16 November 1903 – 14 April 1984) was a British film director, screenwriter, film editor, film producer, and Britain's first university professor of film. Dickinson's work received much praise, with fellow directo ...

both worked on the film's production as

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

Edward Carrick Edward Carrick (born Edward Anthony Craig; 3 January 1905 – 21 January 1998) was an English art designer for film, an author and illustrator. Carrick was born in London. His father was Edward Gordon Craig, the theatre practitioner and stage d ...

designed the film's sets.

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachel. ''History of British Film: Volume VII, 1929-1939''. Routledge, 1997 * Robertson, James C. ''The British Board of Film Censors: film censorship in Britain, 1896-1950''. Croom Helm, 1985.

External links

* {{Basil Dean Films based on works by John Galsworthy 1933 films 1933 drama films British drama films British legal films Films about Jews and Judaism British films based on plays Films directed by Basil Dean Films set in England Films about race and ethnicity Associated Talking Pictures British black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films