Producer: Herbert Wilcox. An Associated British Film. Released but not copyrighted in the U.S.A. by M-G-M, January 1949. New York opening at the Elysee: 4 August 1948. (The New York critics were savage). U.K. release through Associated British-Pathé: September 1946. Australian release through British Empire Films: 12 June 1947. 9,528 feet. 106 minutes. The full-length version was released only in Australia. Cut to 102 minutes in the U.K., 88 minutes in the U.S.A. (Voted Best Film of 1946 in the Daily Mail annual poll). Alternative U.S. title: THEY MET AT MIDNIGHT.
SYNOPSIS: Separated, believed dead, from her husband, the faithful wife returns home after a few years to find her beloved not only remarried but also a father.
NOTES: The film easily overcame extremely negative reviews ("Slow, heavy-footed and overlong," even from kind-hearted F. Maurice Speed, noted for his tendency to bend over backwards to say something nice about even the most boring and inconsequential releases of the year), to bounce in at number three at the British box-office for 1946. Number three, mind you! Unbelievable!
COMMENT: I am reviewing the full-length version! A British remake of Garson Kanin's "My Favorite Wife" (1940) only this time treated as a drama rather than a comedy and with much more footage on the preliminaries (so much so that the film ends thirty minutes after "My Favorite Wife" begins) and the desert island episode. As a result, the film seems more akin to a dramatic re-make of J.M. Barrie's "Admirable Crichton" or an equally somber dramatic precursor to Noel Langley's "Our Girl Friday".
True, Herbert Wilcox's plodding direction is more suited to drama than comedy, but the pace is so slow here that it will bore all but Miss Neagle's most fervent fans to tears. In Wilcox's hands, the plot (when finally we come to it) seems impossibly contrived and silly. Though Miss Neagle battles on gamely, it is as difficult to believe in her characterization as in the impossible Michael Wilding or the even more incredible Michael Laurence (he gives it a good try but a part like that would nip even an Olivier's career in the bud).
The support characters have nothing to recommend them either, though with true British pluck, people like A.E. Matthews give them a whirl.
The lighting photography is also not all that might be desired — sometimes it is flattering to the players, sometimes it is not. Sometimes it lights the sets effectively, at other times the light falls in such a way as to pinpoint phony backdrops.
To make matters worse the film ends with a "message", though due to its funereal pace it is unlikely many viewers will last the distance.
Production values are not over-extensive and though some well-known songs are used in the score, they are presented in a most perfunctory and undistinguished manner, with the exception of a long-drawn-out boogie version of Beethoven which, despite the initial promise of its choreography, soon out-stays its welcome.
SYNOPSIS: Separated, believed dead, from her husband, the faithful wife returns home after a few years to find her beloved not only remarried but also a father.
NOTES: The film easily overcame extremely negative reviews ("Slow, heavy-footed and overlong," even from kind-hearted F. Maurice Speed, noted for his tendency to bend over backwards to say something nice about even the most boring and inconsequential releases of the year), to bounce in at number three at the British box-office for 1946. Number three, mind you! Unbelievable!
COMMENT: I am reviewing the full-length version! A British remake of Garson Kanin's "My Favorite Wife" (1940) only this time treated as a drama rather than a comedy and with much more footage on the preliminaries (so much so that the film ends thirty minutes after "My Favorite Wife" begins) and the desert island episode. As a result, the film seems more akin to a dramatic re-make of J.M. Barrie's "Admirable Crichton" or an equally somber dramatic precursor to Noel Langley's "Our Girl Friday".
True, Herbert Wilcox's plodding direction is more suited to drama than comedy, but the pace is so slow here that it will bore all but Miss Neagle's most fervent fans to tears. In Wilcox's hands, the plot (when finally we come to it) seems impossibly contrived and silly. Though Miss Neagle battles on gamely, it is as difficult to believe in her characterization as in the impossible Michael Wilding or the even more incredible Michael Laurence (he gives it a good try but a part like that would nip even an Olivier's career in the bud).
The support characters have nothing to recommend them either, though with true British pluck, people like A.E. Matthews give them a whirl.
The lighting photography is also not all that might be desired — sometimes it is flattering to the players, sometimes it is not. Sometimes it lights the sets effectively, at other times the light falls in such a way as to pinpoint phony backdrops.
To make matters worse the film ends with a "message", though due to its funereal pace it is unlikely many viewers will last the distance.
Production values are not over-extensive and though some well-known songs are used in the score, they are presented in a most perfunctory and undistinguished manner, with the exception of a long-drawn-out boogie version of Beethoven which, despite the initial promise of its choreography, soon out-stays its welcome.