''Young Man's Fancy'' is a 1939 British historical

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Robert Stevenson and starring

Anna Lee Anna Lee, MBE (born Joan Boniface Winnifrith; 2 January 1913 – 14 May 2004) was a British actress, labelled by studios "The British Bombshell". Early life Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith in Ightham, (pronounced 'Item'), Kent, th ...

, Griffith Jones, and

Seymour Hicks Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...

. The screenplay concerns an aristocratic Englishman who is unhappily engaged to a brewery heiress but meets Ada, an Irish

human cannonball The human cannonball act is a performance in which a person who acts as the "cannonball" is ejected from a specially designed cannon. The human cannonball lands on a horizontal net or inflated bag placed at the landing point, as predicted by phys ...

, during a visit to a music hall and falls in love with her. Together they are trapped in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

during the '' Siege of Paris'' (1870-1871). The screenplay was written by

Roland Pertwee Roland Pertwee (15 May 1885 – 26 April 1963) was an English playwright, film and television screenwriter, director and actor. He was the father of ''Doctor Who'' actor Jon Pertwee and playwright and screenwriter Michael Pertwee. He was al ...

and Stevenson, with additional dialogue by

Rodney Ackland Rodney Ackland (18 May 1908 in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex – 6 December 1991 in Richmond upon Thames, Surrey) was an English playwright, actor, theatre director and screenwriter. Born as Norman Ackland Bernstein in Southend, Essex, to a Jewish fat ...

and E.V.H. Emmett. The character of Ada, written especially for

by Stevenson, her husband, is "based on Zazel, the original 'human cannon ball', who thrilled London audiences in the ighteennineties by being shot from a cannon" — however, "for the purposes of the film … the period f the screenplayhas been put back to the seventies"."Film World: Ana Lee Returns", ''The West Australian'', (Thursday, 6 April 1939), p.3
/ref>

Cast

Notes

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* 1939 films 1939 romantic comedy films 1930s historical comedy films 1930s English-language films British romantic comedy films British historical comedy films Ealing Studios films British black-and-white films Franco-Prussian War films Films set in England Films set in London Films set in Paris Films set in France Films set in the 19th century Films set in the 1870s Films directed by Robert Stevenson British historical romance films 1930s historical romance films 1930s British films {{historic-film-stub

Cast

See also

Notes

External links