''While I Live'' 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 and co-written by John Harlow and starring

Sonia Dresdel Sonia Dresdel (5 May 1909 – 18 January 1976) was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s and 1970s. Life She was born Lois Obee in Hornsea, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, and was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls a ...

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 ...

and

Carol Raye Carol Raye (17 January 1923 – 18 June 2022 as Kathleen Mary Corkrey and also billed as Carole Raye) was a British-born Australian actress of film, television, radio, theatre and revue, comedian, singer, dancer, and radio and television prod ...

. ''While I Live'' is best remembered for its musical theme "The Dream of Olwen" composed by Charles Williams, reprised at intervals throughout the film, which became hugely popular in its time and is still regularly performed. The film itself became widely known as ''The Dream of Olwen''. It was based on a play by Robert Bell, in which Sonia Dresdel also starred.

Plot

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 ...

in 1922, young pianist and composer Olwen Trevelyan (

Audrey Fildes Audrey Fildes (24 November 1922, Bromborough, Cheshire, England – 13 September 1997, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a British actress whose first film credit was the 1947 production '' While I Live''. In 1949, she played the role of Loui ...

) is struggling with the ending of a piano tone poem she is composing. Driven to complete the piece by her domineering elder sister Julia (

), Olwen becomes agitated and despondent, and one night sleepwalks to the edge of a cliff near their home. Julia follows her and shouts her name but Olwen, abruptly awakened, loses her balance and falls to her death on the rocks below. Julia is unable to come to terms with Olwen's death and the guilt of her own role in it, over the years becoming a reclusive, obsessive figure whose main ''raison d'être'' is to keep Olwen's memory alive. Olwen's final composition gains her posthumous recognition, and each year on the anniversary of her death it is broadcast on the radio. On the 25th anniversary of Olwen's death, Julia is listening to the broadcast when she hears a frantic knocking at the door and opens it to admit an unknown young woman (

), who immediately walks up to the piano and begins expertly playing along with the piece on the radio. The young woman claims to have lost her memory and to have no idea of who she is or how she came to chance upon the isolated house, yet she seems to have a familiarity with the surroundings and the history of the Trevelyan family. Struck by her physical resemblance to Olwen, Julia offers her refuge and, also seeing behavioural traits reminiscent of Olwen, becomes convinced that the woman is the

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...

of her dead sister. A local faith healer, Nehemiah (

), who also claims

second sight Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...

, becomes involved and it seems increasingly as though history is repeating itself, culminating when the young woman too is found standing precariously on the edge of the cliff from which Olwen fell.

Cast

as Julia Trevelyan *

as Nehemiah *

as Sally Grant *

Patricia Burke Patricia Burke (23 March 191723 November 2003), was an English singer and actress in cinema, stage and TV. She was the daughter of actress Marie Burke and British operatic tenor Thomas Burke. On stage she enjoyed success in the 1943 West End mu ...

as Christine Sloan * Clifford Evans as Peter Sloan * John Warwick as George Grant *

as Olwen Trevelyan *

Charles Victor Charles Victor (10 February 1896 – 23 December 1965) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles between 1931 and 1965. He was born Charles Victor Harvey. Born in Southport, Lancashire, England, Victor was a fourth ...

as Sgt. Pearne *

Edward Lexy Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little. Career He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...

as Selby * Ernest Butcher as Ambrose * Enid Hewit as Ruth * Sally Rogers as Hannah

References

External links

While I Live
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:While I Live 1947 films 1947 drama films British drama films British black-and-white films Films set in Cornwall Films directed by John Harlow Compositions by Charles Williams Films set in 1922 Films set in 1947 Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1940s English-language films 1940s British films Films about faith healing