''Children of Chance'' is a 1930 British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by

Alexander Esway Alexander Esway (20 January 1895 – 23 August 1947) was a Hungarian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer. Life and career Esway was born Sándor Ezry in Budapest. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he worked as a director and screenwrit ...

and starring

Elissa Landi Elissa Landi (born Elisabeth Marie Christine Kühnelt; December 6, 1904 – October 21, 1948) was an Austrian-American actress born in Venice, who was popular as a performer in Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930s. She was noted for her a ...

, Mabel Poulton, John Stuart and

John Longden John Longden (11 November 1900 – 26 May 1971) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Biography Longden was born in the West Indies, the son o ...

Production

It was made 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 ...

British International Pictures Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appr ...

, the country's biggest production company of the era.Wood p.69 A separate German version ''

Children of Fortune ''Children of Fortune'' (German: ''Kinder des Glücks'') is a 1931 British-German crime film directed by Alexander Esway and starring Dina Gralla, Kurt Vespermann and Vicky Werckmeister. It was made as the German-language version of '' Children o ...

'' was also made. Such

multiple-language version A multiple-language version film, often abbreviated to MLV, is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of making sound films in only one ...

s were common during the early years of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

before

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

became more established.

Synopsis

Binnie, a struggling young actress, is mistaken for her doppelganger the model Lia Monta. Unfortunately Monta, a woman with a shady past has that very same day stolen some precious

pearls A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

and fled to the

Continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

. Binnie, delighted to have won a film contract with a leading producer who be believes her to be Monta, is forced to face the consequences of the other woman's theft.

Cast

as Binnie/Lia Monta * Mabel Poulton as Molly * John Stuart as Gordon *

as Jeffrey *

Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire. He ...

as H.K. Zinkuyell *

Wallace Lupino Wallace Lupino (23 January 1898 – 11 October 1961) was a British-born stage and film actor who was a member of the Lupino family. He appeared in 63 films between 1918 and 1945, most often with his older brother, Lupino Lane. He was born ...

as O.K. Johnson * Gus Sharland as Hugo * John Deverell as Harold * Charles Dormer as Dude *

Dorothy Minto Dorothy Minto (''née'' Scott) ( – 6 December 1957) was a prominent actress on the London stage between 1905 and the mid-1930s, notably appearing in the first runs of several plays written by George Bernard Shaw. She also featured in a sm ...

as Sally *

Kay Hammond Dorothy Katherine Standing, Lady Clements (18 February 1909 – 4 May 1980), known professionally as Kay Hammond, was an English stage and film actress. Family Kay Hammond was born in London, England as Dorothy Katherine Standing, the daught ...

as Joyce *

Aileen Despard Aileen Despard was an actress, born on July 19, 1908 in Mullynure, County Armagh, Ireland. She died August 25, 1981 in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, England, UK. In 1930, the magazine '' Film Weekly'' sponsored a pair of film acting scholarships. Th ...

''(credited as Eileen Despard)'' as Beryl

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

* 1930 films Films shot at British International Pictures Studios 1930s English-language films Films directed by Alexander Esway British crime comedy films 1930s crime comedy films Films set in London British black-and-white films British multilingual films 1930 multilingual films 1930 comedy films Films shot in Hertfordshire 1930s British films {{comedy-crime-film-stub