Spring in Park Lane

Spring in Park Lane
Spring in Park Lane
Directed by	Herbert Wilcox
Written by	Nicholas Phipps
Based on	Come Out of the Kitchen; by Alice Duer Miller
Produced by	Herbert Wilcox
Starring	Anna Neagle; Michael Wilding; Tom Walls; Peter Graves
Cinematography	Max Greene
Edited by	Frank Clarke
Music by	Robert Farnon
Production; company	Wilcox-Neagle Productions
Distributed by	British Lion Film Corporation
Release date	17 March 1948;
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£238,000
Box office	£358,788(UK; profit margin returned to the distributor) or $1.8 million (UK gross)

Spring in Park Lane is a 1948 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox which starred Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Tom Walls. Part of a series of films partnering Neagle and Wilding, it was the top film at the British box office in 1948 and remains the most popular entirely British-made film ever in terms of all-time attendance. It was shot at the Elstree Studios of MGM British, with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Some location shooting also took place in London.

Plot

A footman, Richard, is employed by Joshua Howard, an eccentric art collector. His niece and secretary, Judy, has her doubts that Richard is the footman he pretends to be. In fact, he is Lord Brent, brother of one of Judy's suitors - George, the Marquess of Borechester.

Prior to his arrival in the Howard domestic household, Richard went to America to sell some old paintings to restore his aristocratic family's fortunes, but on the way back received a message that the cheque he was given for the paintings is invalid. Richard subsequently decided to 'hide' until he saved enough money to return to America. Over time as a footman, Judy notices how knowledgeable Richard is about many cultural things from art, poetry, music and dancing and begins to suspect he is not who he says he is. Things become interesting when his brother visits as one of Judy's suitors.

Through their various interactions, Richard and Judy fall in love, and as he is about to return to America they discover that the cheque for his family's paintings was valid after all.

Cast

Anna Neagle as Judy, niece and secretary to Mr Howard
Michael Wilding as "Richard"
Tom Walls as Joshua Howard, Judy's wealthy uncle
Peter Graves as Basil Maitland, an actor and suitor to Judy
Marjorie Fielding as Mildred Howard, Judy's mother
Nigel Patrick as Mr Bacon, an 'art-dealer' (con-man)
G. H. Mulcaster as Perkins, the butler
Josephine Fitzgerald as Mrs Kate O'Malley, the cook
Lana Morris as Rosie, the maid
Nicholas Phipps as George, The Marquess of Borechester and Richard's elder brother (Phipps also wrote the screenplay)
Catherine Paul as The Marchioness of Borechester and George & Richard's mother

Reception

Box-office

Spring in Park Lane was the most successful film release of 1948 in the United Kingdom.^[5]^[6] According to Kinematograph Weekly, the "biggest winner" at the box office in 1948 Britain was The Best Years of Our Lives, with Spring in Park Lane being the British film with the largest box-office takings, and "runners up" being It Always Rains on Sunday, My Brother Jonathan, Road to Rio, Miranda, An Ideal Husband, The Naked City, The Red Shoes, Green Dolphin Street, Forever Amber, Life with Father, The Weaker Sex, Oliver Twist, The Fallen Idol and The Winslow Boy.^[7]

The film reportedly recouped £280,193 in the UK.^[1] According to another account, as of 30 June 1949 the film had earned £370,000 in the UK, of which £280,193 went to the producer.^[2]

In a 2004 survey by the BFI, it was ranked fifth in the all-time attendance figures for the United Kingdom, with a total attendance of 20.5 million, still the largest figure for a wholly British-made film.^[8]^[9]^[10] Wilcox claimed that the film earned £1,600,000 at the British box office.^[11]

Reviews

Reviews were generally positive, Variety said, "incident upon incident carry merry laughter through the picture".^[12] and The New York Times described it as "attractively witty".^[13]

A follow-up, Maytime in Mayfair, was released the following year.

Soundtrack

Robert Farnon provides the soundtrack, his light orchestral version of the folk tune "Early One Morning" proving particularly popular at the time.

References

^ ^a ^b Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. p. 275.
^ ^a ^b Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 354
^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
^ "British Lion Quarter to NY on Wanger Deal". Variety. 3 November 1948. p. 3.
^ "THE STARRY WAY". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 8 January 1949. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
^ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 232.
^ Screenonline, Spring in Park Lane BFI Screenonline, retrieved 27 May 2007
^ Gone With The Wind tops the list of 100 most-watched films of all time Yorkshire Post, retrieved 28 May 2007
^ The Ultimate Film: Researching the Chart Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine IFF, retrieved 28 May 2007
^ Wilcox, Herbert (1967). Twenty Five Thousand Sunsets. South Brunswick. p. 202.
^ Variety review Variety, retrieved 28 May 2007
^ New York Times review The New York Times, retrieved 27 May 2007