''Spring in Park Lane'' is a 1948 British

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film produced and directed by

Herbert Wilcox Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director. He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...

which starred

Anna Neagle Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox (''née'' Robertson; 20 October 1904 – 3 June 1986), known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer. She was a successful box-office draw in British cinema for 2 ...

, Michael Wilding and

Tom Walls Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...

. 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 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 ...

of MGM British, with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

William C. Andrews. Some

location shooting Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior. When filmmaking professionals refer to shooting "on location", they are ...

also took place in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

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

as Judy, niece and secretary to Mr Howard * Michael Wilding as "Richard" *

as Joshua Howard, Judy's wealthy uncle *

Peter Graves Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayed Jim Phelps in the television series ''Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series), Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 and in its reviv ...

as Basil Maitland, an actor and suitor to Judy * Marjorie Fielding as Mildred Howard, Judy's mother *

Nigel Patrick Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman (2 May 1912 – 21 September 1981) was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family. During the late 1940s and 1950s, he became known as a debonair leading man in British films, though he ...

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 A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

) * 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. According to ''

Kinematograph Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'', the "biggest winner" at the box office in 1948 Britain was ''

The Best Years of Our Lives ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (also known as ''Glory for Me'' and ''Home Again'') is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo and Harold Ru ...

'', 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 ''Road to Rio'' is a 1947 American musical film, musical comedy film directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Written by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose (screenwriter), Jack Rose, the film is about two i ...

'', '' Miranda'', ''

An Ideal Husband ''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...

'', '' The Naked City'', '' The Red Shoes'', '' Green Dolphin Street'', '' Forever Amber'', '' Life with Father'', '' The Weaker Sex'', ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, ...

'', '' The Fallen Idol'' and ''

The Winslow Boy ''The Winslow Boy'' is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Background Set against the strict cod ...

''. The film reportedly recouped £280,193 in the UK. According to another account, as of 30 June 1949 the film had grossed £1.4 million at the domestic box office in Britain, but after Entertainment Tax (£560,000), exhibitors’ share (£462,000), distributor’s fee (£75,000) and the costs of prints and advertising (£15,000), the producer’s share was £280,000. 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. Wilcox claimed that the film earned £1,600,000 at the British box office.

Reviews

Reviews were generally positive, ''Variety'' said, "incident upon incident carry merry laughter through the picture". and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described it as "attractively witty".''New York Times'' review
''The New York Times'', retrieved 27 May 2007 A follow-up, '' Maytime in Mayfair'', was released the following year.

Soundtrack

Robert Farnon Robert Joseph Farnon CM (24 July 191723 April 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of original works (often in the light music genre), he was commissioned by film and ...

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

References

External links

*
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Come Out of the Kitchen 1948 films 1948 romantic comedy films British romantic comedy films British black-and-white films Films set in London Films shot in London Films directed by Herbert Wilcox Films shot at MGM-British Studios Films based on works by Alice Duer Miller British Lion Films films Remakes of British films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films English-language romantic comedy films