''One Night in Lisbon'' is a 1941 American

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by Edward H. Griffith and starring

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

, Madeleine Carroll and

Patricia Morison Eileen Patricia Augusta Fraser Morison (March 19, 1915 – May 20, 2018) was an American stage, television and film actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood and mezzo-soprano singer. She made her feature film debut in 1939 after several years on ...

. It was one of a cycle of pro-British films produced in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

before the United States' entry into the war in December 1941. The film is based on

John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...

's 1931 British play '' There's Always Juliet'', updated to include the current wartime situation.

Plot

Dwight Houston (

), an American pilot from Texas, meets a British aristocrat in London amid bombing, and gets caught up in a Nazi spy plot in Portugal. At first Houston is critical of Britain, due to what he perceives to be a condescending attitude on the part of Leonora Perrycoate ( Madeleine Carroll); however, he soon realizes in fact that as American he has much in common with them, and that their fight is his fight, remarking poignantly that "It's funny about England and the way Americans feel about you. It's sort of like being related in a way. You know the way you feel about relatives. They do a lot of things that irritate you, but when it comes right down to it, you are related. You have the same ideas, speak the same language and have the same plans for the future," and he realizes that he "shares with them a common history, heritage, language and political ideology"Glancy, H. Mark. ''When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film 1939-1945''. Manchester University Press, 1999. pg. 111

Cast

as Dwight Houston * Madeleine Carroll as Leonora Perrycoate *

as Gerry Houston * John Loder as Cmdr. Peter Walmsley *

Billie Burke Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke (August 7, 1884 – May 14, 1970) was an American actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North ...

as Catherine Enfilden *

May Whitty May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as Florence *

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won th ...

as Lord Fitzleigh * Reginald Denny as Erich Strasser *

Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects ...

as Popopopoulos *

Marcel Dalio Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) ...

as Concierge *

Bruce Wyndham The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

as Strasser's Aide

References

Bibliography

*Dick, Bernard F. ''The Star-Spangled Screen: The American World War II Film''. University Press of Kentucky, 1996. *Glancy, H. Mark. ''When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film 1939-1945''. Manchester University Press, 1999.

External links

* * * 1941 films 1940s thriller films American films based on plays American thriller films 1940s English-language films Films scored by Victor Young Films directed by Edward H. Griffith Films set in Lisbon Films set in London Paramount Pictures films World War II spy films American black-and-white films 1940s American films {{1940s-thriller-film-stub