''Two Thousand Women'' is a 1944 British comedy-drama

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

about a German

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

Occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

which holds British women who have been resident in the country. Three RAF

aircrew Aircrew are personnel who operate an aircraft while in flight. The composition of a flight's crew depends on the type of aircraft, plus the flight's duration and purpose. Commercial aviation Flight deck positions In commercial aviatio ...

men, whose bomber has been shot down, enter the camp and are hidden by the women from the Germans. The film was released in the United States in 1951 in a severely cut-down version under the title of ''House of 1,000 Women''. Per the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

database, this is the second in an "unofficial trilogy" by Launder and Gilliat, along with '' Millions Like Us'' (1943) and '' Waterloo Road'' (1945).

Plot

During the 1940

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

, Rosemary Brown ( Patricia Roc), an English

novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience. Religion Buddhism ...

nun, is apprehended by French soldiers who have mistaken her for a

fifth column A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize ...

ist. She is sentenced to face a firing squad, but the Germans arrive and she is sent (without her habit, which is being cleaned) to an internment camp in a grand hotel at the spa town of Marneville. She journeys there in the back of a lorry with

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Freda (

Phyllis Calvert Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1 ...

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

Bridie ( Jean Kent), and posh Muriel (

Flora Robson Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from qu ...

) and her travelling companion, Miss Meredith (

Muriel Aked Muriel Aked (9 November 1883 – 21 March 1955) was an English film actress. Early life, family and education Aked was born in Bingley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England to George Henry Aked and his wife Emma (née Bairstow). Her sister was th ...

). At the camp, they meet Maud ( Renée Houston), Margaret ( Anne Crawford), Nellie (

Dulcie Gray Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison (''née'' Bailey; 20 November 1915 – 15 November 2011), known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist. While at drama school in the late 1930s she met a ...

), Mrs Burtshaw (

Thora Hird Dame Thora Hird (28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 films, as well as many television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution. Hird w ...

) and Teresa King (

Betty Jardine Betty Jardine (17 April 1903 – 28 February 1945) was a British stage actress, stage and film actress. She began as an actress in Manchester in 1926. In 1934 she made her West End theatre, West End debut in ''Disharmony'' at the Fortune Theatr ...

). While two women are allocated to each room, Bridie uses her charms with Sergeant Hentzner (

Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop. In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fran ...

) to obtain a room to herself. Although the hotel is very luxurious, not all the baths have a water supply. The hotel proprietor, Monsieur Boper (Guy Le Feuvre), is believed to be collaborating with the Germans. The women receive a radio from an unknown source, but it is swiftly confiscated by the Germans. The women conclude that they have a

stool pigeon An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

, nicknamed "Poison Ivy", amongst the dozen who knew about the radio. Nellie reports that she saw the German file on Rosemary; the charge of being a fifth columnist causes suspicion to fall on her. However, Freda and Maud do not believe it. They warn Rosemary, who reveals she is a nun. Freda deliberately violates the blackout during a night-time air raid by the RAF. One plane crashes nearby after its crew bail out. Pilot Officer Jimmy Moore (James McKechnie), Sergeant Alec Harvey (

Reginald Purdell Reginald Purdell (4 November 1896 – 22 April 1953) was an English actor and screenwriter who appeared in over 40 films between 1930 and 1951. During the same period, he also contributed to the screenplays of 15 feature films, such as '' The Da ...

) and Dave Kennedy ( Robert Arden) seek refuge in the hotel. The women hide them, but have to conceal the fact from Teresa King, who is revealed to be a Nazi spy. Later, Alec recognises Rosemary as Mary Maugham, a singer whose boyfriend murdered his wife; she became a nun as a result. Jimmy and Rosemary begin to fall for each other, as do Dave and Bridie. Hentzner finds Dave, who manages to strangle him quietly, and his body is hidden. The women devise a plan to enable the men to escape during a concert they will put on. To ensure the Germans stay until the end, Freda persuades Bridie to perform her act last. However, when Bridie overhears what Dave thinks of her (due to her fraternisation with the Germans), she slips Teresa a note betraying all. Freda makes Dave write an apology professing his love, which she delivers to Bridie. Bridie then goes to Teresa's room and sees that she has already read the note. The two women fight. Teresa wins and alerts Frau Holweg, but Maud knocks Holweg out. However, Teresa sees the airmen escaping and warns the commandant, but it is too late. The trio escape, with the aid of Monsieur Boper, who is not a collaborator after all. The women defiantly sing " There'll Always Be an England".

Cast

as Freda Thompson *

as Miss Muriel Manningford * Patricia Roc as Rosemary Brown * Renée Houston as Maud Wright *

as Alec Harvey * Anne Crawford as Margaret Long * Jean Kent as Bridie Johnson * James McKechnie as Jimmy Moore * Robert Arden as Dave Kennedy (credited as Rob Arden) *

as Sergeant Hentzner *

as Miss Claire Meredith * Kathleen Boutall as Mrs. Hadfield * Hilda Campbell-Russell as Mrs. Cornelia Hope Latimer * Christiana Forbes as Frau Holweg *

as Mrs. Burtshaw *

as Nellie Skinner * Joan Ingram as Mrs. Tatmarsh *

as Teresa King * Christiane De Maurin as Annette * Guy Le Feuvre as Monsieur Boper (credited as Guy Lefeuvre) * Paul Sheridan as French Officer

Production

It was one of the last films produced at Gainsborough by Edward Black. Frank Launder stated later that he "should have treated the subject more seriously...that it would have been a bigger film if I concentrated less on the comedy and more on the drama". Phyllis Calvert said she was offered the part of the nun who falls in love with a pilot, but turned it down and Patricia Roc played it instead. Calvert played Freda Thompson, even though she felt Launder and Gilliat "didn't like me turning down a part they had written for me, which I can understand". According to Calvert, Renée Houston and Flora Robson "didn't get on at all" while the film was being made.

Reception

According to trade papers, the film was a success at the British box office in 1944.

American release

Perhaps because of the success of '' Three Came Home'', the film was released in the USA in 1951 in a severely cut version under the title of ''House of 1,000 Women''. The American version of the film available on DVD ignores Patricia Roc's adventures as well as several subplots and starts the film with the transport to the internment hotel.Babington, p. 9.

References

External links

* *
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Gainsborough Pictures 1944 films 1944 war films 1940s war comedy-drama films British World War II films British black-and-white films British war comedy-drama films Films set in France Gainsborough Pictures films World War II films made in wartime World War II prisoner of war films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films Films scored by Hans May English-language comedy-drama films English-language war comedy-drama films