''Trouble in the Glen'' is a 1954 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best known for the films he made with his third wif ...

and starring

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' ...

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

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

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made sev ...

. It is loosely based on

Maurice Walsh Maurice Walsh (2 May 1879 – 18 February 1964) was an Irish novelist, now best known for his short story "The Quiet Man", later made into the Oscar-winning film ''The Quiet Man'', directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Har ...

's 1950 novel of the same name. It was filmed in

Trucolor Trucolor was a color motion picture process used and owned by the Consolidated Film Industries division of Republic Pictures. It was introduced as a replacement for Consolidated's own Magnacolor process. Republic used Trucolor mostly for its We ...

for

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 a ...

Plot summary

After moving from South America to the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

, millionaire Sanin Cejador y Mengues (Welles) reassumes the title of

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

of Glen Easan, which he inherited from his grandfather, Sandy Menzies. Obstinate in nature, Mengues soon finds the climate inhospitable, and the language and customs of the Highland people exasperating. While fishing on the loch with his equally stubborn, distantly related cousin Angus, who works as a fishing or hunting guide for the estate, Mengues hooks and then loses a large trout, and the confrontation escalates from Gaelic epithets and an overturned boat to Mengues firing Angus. When the locals then refuse to work for him and his cattle roam unmanaged over the glen, Mengues, advised by Oliver "Nolly" Dukes (Archie Duncan), his factor from

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

whom the villagers distrust, closes a heavily used road that leads through his property. By the time American widower, Major Jim "Lance" Lansing (Tucker), a former

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

pilot who was stationed in Scotland during World War II, returns there, the disgruntled villagers are burning the laird in effigy. After a quick drink at the pub, where he befriends

tinker Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils. Description ''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani p ...

and former paratrooper Malcolm MacFie (John McCallum), Lance reunites with his old friends the Carnochs, who act as guardians of Lance's young daughter Alsuin (Margaret McCourt), who adores Lance but is unaware that he is her father. Stricken with polio, the bedridden Alsuin is hard-hit by the closing of the road, which inspires her made-up fairy tales and provides people to call to her as they pass. At her request, Lance, whom Alsuin calls "

Sir Lancelot Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...

", proceeds to the Mengues estate to talk to the laird about the road. Finding the gate locked, he climbs the fence, but before approaching the castle, detours to the loch and takes a swim. Mengues' feisty daughter Marissa (Lockwood) spots him trespassing and steals his trousers while he is in the loch. Later, dressed in the clothes he has left, Lance shows up at the castle and manages to meet Mengues, who will only advise him, as a fellow foreigner, to "leave Scotland." Lansing, however, rallies the people of the glen and eventually, they prevail upon Mengues to restore peace, but not before a brief and unconvincing fistfight between Lansing and Dukes. Mengues apologizes to all by explaining that he has recently learned the difference between a lord and a laird. A lord, he says, takes care of the people and land belonging to him, while a laird belongs to the land and the people. With peace restored, the road re-opens, and during the wedding festivities of Lance and Marissa, Mengues, dressed in a kilt, promises Alsuin, who knows now that Lance is her father, that they both will be dancing within six months. Tinker chieftain Parlan (McLaglen) and Malcolm enjoy the party from the window, until they realize it is an excellent night for poaching.

Cast

as Marissa Mengues *

as Sanin Cejador y Mengues *

as Major Lansing *

as Parlan MacFie *

John McCallum John McCallum (born 9 April 1950) is a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and former university professor. A former Liberal Member of Parliament ( MP), McCallum was the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2019. He was asked for h ...

as Malcolm MacFie * Eddie Byrne as Dinny Sullivan * Archie Duncan as Oliver "Nolly" Dukes * Gudrun Ure as Dandy Dinmont *

Moultrie Kelsall Moultrie Rowe Kelsall (24 October 1904 – 13 February 1980)Biographical info

Alex McCrindle Alex McCrindle (3 August 1911 – 20 April 1990) was a Scottish actor. He was best known for his role as General Jan Dodonna in '' Star Wars''. Biography McCrindle was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He began his acting career in 1937 starring i ...

as Keegan *

Mary Mackenzie Mary Mackenzie (3 May 1922 – 20 September 1966) was an English actress. One of her earliest credited TV roles was in 1950 on BBC's ''Sunday Night Theatre'', as Miriam in an adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''The History of Mr Polly'', a role she r ...

as Kate Carnoch * Peter Sinclair as Angus * Jack Watling as Sammy Weller * Grizelda Hervey as Sheilah * Alastair Hunter as Policeman * Michael Shepley as Man

Production

The film was based on a novel by the writer of ''

The Quiet Man ''The Quiet Man'' is a 1952 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Ford. It stars John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen. The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 ''Saturday Ev ...

'' which was published in 1950. Republic hoped that John Wayne would co-star with Margaret Lockwood. Screenwriter Frank Nugent, who also wrote ''Quiet Man'', said the film wasn't a sequel to ''Quiet Man'' "but we're hoping to recapture the same flavour and warmth." The film was one of a series of movies that Wilcox and Republic intended to make together. Wilcox tried to get

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of ...

to do the film, then

Mel Ferrer Melchor Gastón Ferrer (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) was an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved prominence on Broadway before scoring notable film hits with ''Scaramouche'', ''Lili'' and ''Knights of the Round ...

. It was Orson Welles' fifth British movie in six months. John McCallum was under contract to Herbert Wilcox. Filming started 15 December 1953. It was shot at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

. 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 and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

William C. Andrews.

Critical reception

The film received very poor reviews. It contributed to the decline in Lockwood's career. *''

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, "The evident desire of its producer director, Herbert Wilcox, was to get a flavorsome regional entertainment about characters in the Scottish hills, comparable to the amiable treatise on the Irish that was attained in "

...But something went wrong in the fulfillment—something that smacks suspiciously of a dismal lack of humor in the characters, and a heavy directorial hand...Some pretty color shots of the Scottish country are dropped in and supposed to blend with some almost grotesque studio scenery. Synthetic—that's 'Trouble in the Glen'." *On Film4.com, Richard Luck summarised, "Orson Welles' career was in pretty poor shape by 1954. Broke after self-financing

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

, the former wunderkind was obliged to take on any work that came his way...Far from Orson's finest day at the office." *''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' wrote, "No one but Welles seems to take any real interest in what he's doing, and Welles, though he hams it up endearingly, sits under a bouffant hairdo that could make anyone look ridiculous." *

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cul ...

wrote, "the scenes involving Tucker's

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sy ...

-crippled daughter (Margaret McCourt) run the risk of sloppy sentiment, but are deftly handled by producer-director Wilcox."

References

External links

* *
''Trouble in the Glen''
at Britmovie
Trouble in the Glen
at ''Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Trouble In The Glen 1954 films 1954 comedy films British comedy films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films scored by Victor Young Films directed by Herbert Wilcox Republic Pictures films Films set in Scotland Trucolor films Films based on Irish novels 1950s English-language films 1950s British films