Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
historical film
A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swa ...
Elizabeth Allan
Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English stage and film actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, where she appeared in 50 films.
Life and career
Allan was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 and educated in ...
and
Malcolm Keen
Malcolm Keen (8 August 1887 – 30 January 1970) was an English actor of stage, film and television. He was sometimes credited as Malcolm Keane.biopic of the 18th-century German-British composer
Georg Friedrich Händel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
, focusing in particular on the years leading up to his 1741
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...
''
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
''.
Production and release
The film was made by the
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distrib ...
at
Denham Studios
Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda.
Notable films made at Denham include ''Brief Encounter'' and David Lean's ''Great Expectations''. From the 1950s to the 1970s th ...
, using
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
. After a private screening, the company head J. Arthur Rank criticised its lack of glamorous appeal. The film was not a box office success on its release.Macnab p.52
Elizabeth Allan
Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English stage and film actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, where she appeared in 50 films.
Life and career
Allan was born in Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 and educated in ...
as Mrs. Cibber
*
Malcolm Keen
Malcolm Keen (8 August 1887 – 30 January 1970) was an English actor of stage, film and television. He was sometimes credited as Malcolm Keane.Michael Shepley
Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith (29 September 1907 – 28 September 1961), known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961.
He was born in Plymouth, Devon. Shepl ...
as Sir Charles Marsham
* Max Kirby as Frederick, Prince of Wales
*
Hay Petrie
David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in '' The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in ''Great ...
as Phineas
*
Morris Harvey
Morris Harvey (25 September 187724 August 1944) was a British actor and writer. A renowned character actor, he also wrote for the stage, including material for Broadway revues, in which he also appeared. He was the stepfather of film director Ant ...
as John Heidegger
* A. E. Matthews as Charles Jennens
* Frederick Cooper as Pooley
* Andrew Leigh as Captain Coram
References
Bibliography
* Harper, Sue. ''Picturing the Past: The Rise and Fall of the British Costume Film''. British Film Institute, 1994.
* Macnab, Geoffrey. ''J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry''. Routledge, 1994.
* Murphy, Robert. ''Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain, 1939-1949''. Routledge, 1989.