''The Woman in the Hall'' is a 1947 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- ...

directed by Jack Lee and starring

Ursula Jeans Ursula Jean McMinn (5 May 1906 – 21 April 1973), better known as Ursula Jeans, was an English film, stage, and television actress. Biography Jeans was born in Simla, British India, to English parents, and brought up and educated in London. S ...

Jean Simmons Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and aft ...

Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe, 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between ...

. The screenplay was written by Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple and

Gladys Bronwyn Stern Gladys Bronwyn Stern or GB Stern (17 June 1890 – 20 September 1973), born Gladys Bertha Stern in London, England, wrote many novels, short stories, plays, memoirs, biographies and literary criticism. The National Portrait Gallery, London holds ...

, from Stern's 1939 novel of the same title. It was made by Wessex Film Productions at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

, with sets designed by

Peter Proud Peter Proud (born Ralph Priestman Proud, 6 May 1913, Glasgow – 1989, London) was a British film art director. He made a major contribution to wartime camouflage and deception operations in the Western Desert, especially in the siege of Tobru ...

. It was the film debut of actress

Susan Hampshire Susan Hampshire, Lady Kulukundis, (born 12 May 1937) is an English actress known for her many television and film roles. A three-time Emmy Award winner, she won for '' The Forsyte Saga'' in 1970, ''The First Churchills'' in 1969, and for ''Vani ...

, as a young child.

Plot

Lorna Blake (

) is a widow with two daughters. She augments her slender income by using her children to extort money, visiting the houses of the rich to tell a pathetic story and beg for help. Lorna makes a rich capture when Sir Halmar Bernard (

) proposes marriage to her. She tells him that she has only one daughter, Molly (

Jill Raymond June Beatrice Freud, Lady Freud (''née'' Flewett; born 22 June 1927), is a British actress and theatre director. She is also known by her stage-name Jill Raymond, and was usually known as Jill Freud after her marriage to Clement Freud. As a war ...

). When her other daughter, Jay (

), is arrested for forging a cheque, Lorna refuses to help her.

Cast

as Lorna Blake *

as Jay *

as Sir Halmar *

Edward Underdown Charles Edward Underdown (3 December 190815 December 1989) was an English theatre, cinema and television actor. He was born in London and educated at Eton College in Berkshire. Notable work Early theatre credits include: Noël Coward's '' Words ...

as Neil Ingelfield * Joan Miller as Susan *

Jill Freud June Beatrice Freud, Lady Freud (''née'' Flewett; born 22 June 1927), is a British actress and theatre director. She is also known by her stage-name Jill Raymond, and was usually known as Jill Freud after her marriage to Clement Freud. As a war ...

as Molly Blake *

Nigel Buchanan Nigel ( ) is an English masculine given name. The English ''Nigel'' is commonly found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published ...

as Toby * Ruth Dunning as Shirley Dennison *

Russell Waters Russell Waters (born 10 June 1908, Glasgow, Lanarkshire – died 19 August 1982, Richmond, Surrey) was a Scottish film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the ...

as Alfred *

Terry Randall Terry William "Igor" Randall (born 5 February 1951 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played for the Manly-Warringah club in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. He is regularly na ...

as Ann *

Lily Khan Lily Hertha Kann 26th. October, 1893, Peitz – 2nd. November, 1978, Sussex, was a German-born, British actress. (Though the BFI website claims that she was born in Berlin, and died in Horsham). She appeared in the West End in the play ''Backgrou ...

as Baroness Von Soll * Barbara Shaw as Mrs. Maddox * Martin Walker as Judge *

Totti Truman Taylor Totti Truman Taylor, born Dorothy Leah Truman (7 September 1915 – 5 March 1981), was a British actress. Her mother’s 2nd husband’s surname was Taylor, and this is where her stage name came from. In 1953, she played Aunt Sally in the BBC tele ...

as Miss Gardiner * Hugh Pryse as Counsel for the Defense *

Everley Gregg Everley Gregg (26 October 1903, in Bishopstoke, Hampshire – 9 June 1959, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) was an English actress. Early in her career, she became associated especially with plays of Noël Coward. She began making films in the ...

as Lady Cloy *

Alexis France Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–197 ...

as Miss Mounce *

Hugh Miller Hugh Miller (10 October 1802 – 23/24 December 1856) was a self-taught Scottish geologist and writer, folklorist and an evangelical Christian. Life and work Miller was born in Cromarty, the first of three children of Harriet Wright (''b ...

as Mr. Walker *

as Young Jay *

Campbell Singer Campbell Singer (born Jacob Kobel Singer; 16 March 1909 – 16 February 1976) was a British character actor who featured in a number of stage, film and television roles during his long career. He was also a playwright and dramatist. Life He was ...

as Von Soll's servant *

Grace Denbeigh-Russell Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...

as Mrs. Phillimore *

June Elvin June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in ...

as Daffy * Joan Sterndale-Bennett as Shop assistant

Production

Jack Lee later recalled the experience of working for Wessex "revolted me" because "it reminded me of when I was a child and my mother would send me out on begging expeditions because she never had any money. It was a bloody awful novel and a terrible film."Brian MacFarlane, ''An Autobiography of British Cinema'', Methueun 1997 p 356

References

External links

* * 1947 films British black-and-white films Films based on British novels Films directed by Jack Lee Films shot at Pinewood Studios British drama films 1947 drama films Films produced by Ian Dalrymple Films with screenplays by Ian Dalrymple Films set in England 1940s British films {{1940s-UK-film-stub