''Trottie True'' is a 1949 British

musical comedy film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as break ...

directed by

Brian Desmond Hurst Brian Desmond Hurst (12 February 1895 – 26 September 1986) was an Irish people, Irish film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst was hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director by BBC film critic Mike Catto.Scree ...

and starring

Jean Kent Jean Kent, born Joan Mildred Field (29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013), was an English film and television actress. Biography Kent was born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only c ...

James Donald James Donald (18 May 1917 – 3 August 1993) was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he specialised in playing authority figures, particularly military doctors. Early life Donald was born in Aberdeen, the fourth son of a Scottish Presbyterian mi ...

and

Hugh Sinclair Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, (18 August 1873 – 4 November 1939), known as Quex Sinclair, was a British intelligence officer. He was Director of British Naval Intelligence between 1919 and 1921, and he subsequently helped to se ...

. It was known as ''The Gay Lady'' in the US, and is a rare British

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

film of the period.

Premise

Trottie True is a Gaiety Girl of the 1890s who, after a brief romance with a balloonist, marries Lord Digby Landon, becoming Duchess of Wellwater when he succeeds to the dukedom. Her

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

background delights the staff, but does not, at first, delight her

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

in-laws. But after complimenting Trottie upon doing what she likes, rather than obeying convention, Lady Drinkwater calls her a "true aristocrat". Digby agrees to lunch with the Marquess of Maidenhead at Romanoff's, and to be the escort of Ruby Rubato (another chorus girl), merely so the married Marquess can philander with another. But Trottie is also dining there, with an old beau, having invited him after they innocently met in

Hyde Park, London Hyde Park is a , historic Listed building#Heritage protection, Grade I-listed urban park in Westminster, Greater London. A Royal Parks of London, Royal Park, it is the largest of the parks and green spaces that form a chain from Kensington P ...

, after years of separation. Upon seeing each other, Digby and Trottie both believe they have discovered the other in an assignation, as the Marquess has failed to arrive, leaving Digby and Rubato alone. The film is set as Trottie looks back over her past, whilst staring out of a window at a wedding, and pondering her future.

Cast

as Trottie True *

as Lord Digby Landon (later Duke of Wellwater) *

as Maurice Beckenham *

Lana Morris Lana Morris, born Avril Maureen Anita Morris (11 March 1930 – 28 May 1998) was a British film, stage and television actress during the 1950s and 1960s. She played the role of Helene Hillmer in the 1967 BBC adaptation of ''The Forsyte Saga ...

as Bouncie Barrington * Andrew Crawford as Sid Skinner, the balloonist * Bill Owen as Joe Jugg *

Michael Medwin Michael Hugh Medwin (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer. Life and career Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He first ...

as Marquis of Maidenhead * Joan Young as Mrs True * Harold Scott as Mr True * Tony Halfpenny as Perce True *

Daphne Anderson Daphne Anderson (née Scrutton; 27 April 1922 – 15 January 2013) was an English stage, film, and television actress, as well as a dancer and singer. She made her London theatre debut in 1938 at the Windmill Theatre. Anderson appeared in such ...

as Bertha True * Katharine Blake as Ruby Rubato *

Philip Strange Philip Strange (4 June 1884 – 5 January 1963) was a British actor. Selected filmography * '' The Ace of Cads'' (1926) * '' Broadway Nights'' (1927) * ''Nevada'' (1927) * ''Wall Street'' (1929) * '' The Unholy Night'' (1929) * '' The Rescue'' ( ...

as Earl of Burney * Darcy Conyers as Claude * Josef Ramart as Monty's Chauffeur (uncredited) (Jean Kent's real-life husband, since 1946) *

Francis de Wolff Baron Francis-Marie Arist de Wolff (7 January 191318 April 1984) was an English character actor. Large, bearded, and beetle-browed, he was often cast as villains and foreigners in both film and television. Early life De Wolff was born in Essex ...

as George Edwardes *

Campbell Cotts Campbell Cotts (21 April 1902 – 19 February 1964) was a Cape Colony-born actor of British stage, film and television. A former barrister and a published poet, Cotts studied at Cambridge and fought in Second World War, attaining the rank of 1st ...

as Saintsbury, the butler *

Harcourt Williams Ernest George Harcourt Williams (30 March 1880 – 13 December 1957) was an English actor and director. After early experience in touring companies he established himself as a character actor and director in the West End. From 1929 to 1934 he ...

as Duke of Wellwater (Digby's father) * Mary Hinton as Duchess of Wellwater (Digby's mother) *

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

as Hon. Bongo Icklesham *

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

as stage door Johnny (uncredited) *

Hattie Jacques Hattie Jacques (; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the ''Carry On'' films, where she typically played strict, no-no ...

as Daisy Delaware, a Gaiety girl *

Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio, worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon ...

as postman (uncredited) *

Patrick Cargill Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''. Early life Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After edu ...

- as a party guest (uncredited) *

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British actor. Most of his film roles were very small but he appeared in more than 290 films, more than any other British actor, including 119 between 1946 and 1952. His best-known ro ...

as Bedford stage manager (uncredited)

Production

The film is based on a novel by

Caryl Brahms Doris Caroline Abrahams (8 December 1901 – 5 December 1982), commonly known by the pseudonym Caryl Brahms, was an English critic, novelist, and journalist specialising in the theatre and ballet. She also wrote film, radio and television scri ...

and S. J. Simon, published in 1946. Hugh Stewart read the book at the suggestion of Dennis Freeman and succeeded in setting up the project at Rank. The musical comedy was directed by

. The exterior shots of the mansion are of

Stowe House Stowe House is a grade I listed building, listed country house in Stowe, Buckinghamshire, Stowe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of the Private schools in the United Kingdom, private Stowe School and is owned by the Stowe House Preserv ...

. Producer Hugh Stewart read the story when he was recovering from

jaundice Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults is typically a sign indicating the presence of underlying diseases involving ...

. He bought the film rights and tried to finance the film through

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, with which he had a contract. MGM did not want to make the film, but Stewart got it financed at Two Cities. MGM loaned Stewart to Two Cities to produce the film. Stewart said that several directors were considered, including

Harold French Harold French (23 April 1897 – 19 October 1997) was an English film director, screenwriter and actor. Biography After training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, Italia Conti School, he made his acting debut age 12, in a produ ...

, before Brian Desmond Hurst was chosen. Anthony Steel made one of his earliest film appearances in ''Trottie True''. Jean Kent called it her "favourite film. And

Harry Waxman Harry Waxman, B.S.C. (3 April 1912 – 24 December 1984) was an English cinematographer. Born in London, Waxman won an award from the British Society of Cinematographers for ''Sapphire'' in 1959. His other films included '' Brighton Rock'' (194 ...

was a marvellous cameraman. They weren't good with the music, though. I had a battle about that."

Brian McFarlane Brian McFarlane is a Canadian television sportscaster and author. He is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books. He is also the honorary president of the Society for International Hockey Researc ...

, ''An Autobiography of British Film'' p 341 She added:

We were scheduled to start and I hadn't heard a word about the music, so I rang up whoever was the head of Two Cities... I finally managed to get half the music done and then I had another argument about the first number. It dissolves from the brown-eyed young Trottie to the hazel-eyed big Trotttie, which was hysterical. They wanted me to sing something in
schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...
... I said, "It's a very nice number but I come from the music halls and I tell you you cannot use a schottische at this point. So he he music directorchanged it to 6/8 time".

(11 August 1908 – 25 August 1966) Kent said she had to prevent the filmmakers from cutting away from her singing, "which they used to be very fond of, in British films. The whole point of somebody singing the song is for the audience in the cinema, not the people in the movie. So I had to devise ways to keep moving all the time so they couldn't get the scissors in, particularly during the

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as "The Boy ...

number in the ballroom scene after I'd become the duchess." Stewart helped cast James Donald in the lead.

Because he was this rather dour Scot, I played him as the um...young stage-door Johnnie duke who was after Trottie. And however much you could see he was after her for one thing, you could believe also there was an interior integrity about him because of this Scotchness of his, and you could believe that he would eventually propose to her and she would become the Duchess. And James Donald's performance and personality was extremely important for that and really believable.

Production of the film was interrupted by a crew members' strike in protest over recent sackings of film workers. Three and a half days of filming were lost due to the strike, but it was completed on schedule.

Release

The film was released in the United States by Eagle-Lion as ''The Gay Lady''.

Box office

Trade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1949.

Critical reception

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 the film as "the professional and romantic rise of Trottie True as depicted in ''The Gay Lady'', which arrived from England at the Sixtieth Street Trans-Lux on Saturday. But this Technicolored rags to riches ascent, which is interlarded with song and dance turns, is something less than original and rarely sprightly. Trottie True's tale is an old one and it hasn't worn well with the years."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

rated the film two and a half out of four stars, and called it a "lightweight costume picture...most notable aspect of film is its stunning use of Technicolor. Look fast for Christopher Lee as a dapper stage-door Johnnie." ''

'' called it "a typical Gay nineties success story" that "amuses but never convulses the reader." According to

BFI Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and tele ...

, "British 1940s Technicolor films offer an abundance of visual pleasures, especially when lovingly restored by the National Film Archive. ''Trottie True'' is not among the best known, but comes beautifully packaged, gift wrapped with all the trimmings."

References

External links

* *
''Trottie True''
at BFI Screen Online
''Trottie True''
at British Film Institute * at the website dedicated to

* {{Brian Desmond Hurst 1949 films 1940s historical films British historical musical films 1949 musical comedy films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst Films scored by Benjamin Frankel British black-and-white films Films set in the 19th century Films set in London British musical comedy films 1940s British films English-language musical comedy films English-language historical musical films