The Dancing Years is a 1950 musical British film based on the musical by Ivor Novello.[2]
| The Dancing Years | |
|---|---|
 Argentine poster | |
| Directed by | Harold French |
| Written by | Warwick Ward Jack Whittingham |
| Based on | the play by Ivor Novello |
| Produced by | Warwick Ward |
| Starring | Dennis Price Gisèle Préville Patricia Dainton |
| Cinematography | Stephen Dade |
| Edited by | Richard Best |
| Music by | Ivor Novello Robert Farnon (orch) Louis Levy (MD) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Associated British-Pathé |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £205,868 (UK)[1] |
Plot
editA pre-First World War love affair between a young composer and a star of the musical stage falters through a misunderstanding which causes her to leave him and marry a prince.[3]
Cast
edit- Rudi Kleber - Dennis Price
- Maria Zeitler - Gisèle Préville
- Grete - Patricia Dainton
- Prince Reinaldt - Anthony Nicholls
- Franzel - Grey Blake
- Hatti - Muriel George
- Frau Kurt - Olive Gilbert
- Tenor - Martin Ross
- Rudi's secretary Gerald Case
- Head Waiter - Carl Jaffe
- Maria's son - Jeremy Spenser
Production
editDennis Price was loaned by the Rank Organisation to ABPC to play the lead role.[4]
Reception
editCritical
editIn The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote, "the British obviously spared no expense in bringing Ivor Novello's "The Dancing Years" to the screen. For, in the operetta, which came to the Little Carnegie on Saturday, Vienna, before and after the first World War, was never lovelier than it is in the panchromatic shades of Technicolor; the singers, ballet corps, sets and staging are as handsome as any conjured up in a fairy tale; and the scenarists have not missed a cliché in recounting the bittersweet saga of lovelorn artists' lives...Mr. Novello's music is pleasing but his plot is painfully transparent...Dennis Price, as the minor-league Johann Strauss of the piece, ages gracefully and is appropriately glum throughout the proceedings. As the operetta star and his opposite number, Giselle Preville is attractive, wears the clothes of the period (1910–1926) with distinction and does well vocally by a lilting number titled, "Waltz of My Heart." One of Miss Preville's lines, however, is not quite pointed. "Vienna", she says at the beginning of this yarn, "needs a new composer." Judging by "The Dancing Years", Vienna could use a new story."[5]
Box office
editTrade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1950.[6] According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1950 Britain were The Blue Lamp, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Annie Get Your Gun, The Wooden Horse, Treasure Island and Odette, with "runners up" being Stage Fright, White Heat, They Were Not Divided, Trio, Morning Departure, Destination Moon, Sands of Iwo Jima, Little Women, The Forsythe Saga, Father of the Bride, Neptune's Daughter, The Dancing Years, The Red Light, Rogues of Sherwood Forest, Fancy Pants, Copper Canyon, State Secret, The Cure for Love, My Foolish Heart, Stromboli, Cheaper by the Dozen, Pinky, Three Came Home, Broken Arrow and Black Rose.[7]
References
edit- ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p493
- ^ The Dancing Years at BFI
- ^ "The Dancing Years | Film review and movie reviews". Radio Times. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "NOVELLO HIT TO BE SCREENED". The Mail. Adelaide. 23 April 1949. p. 3 Supplement: SUNDAY MAGAZINE. Retrieved 7 July 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (29 January 1951). "Movie Review – The Dancing Years – THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; 'The Company She Keeps,' With Lizabeth Scott Playing a Parole Officer, Arrives at Loew's Criterion at the Little Carnegie at the Stanley". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ Robert Murphy, Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 2003 p212
- ^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 233.