The Man in Grey
Encyclopedia
The Man in Grey is a 1943
British
film melodrama
made by Gainsborough Pictures
, and is widely considered as the first of its "Gainsborough melodramas
" (a series of period costume dramas). It was directed by Leslie Arliss
and produced by Edward Black
from a screenplay
by Leslie Arliss and Margaret Kennedy, adapted by Doreen Montgomery from the novel The Man in Grey
by Eleanor Smith
.
It starred Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert
, James Mason
, Stewart Granger
and Martita Hunt
, and melded together elements of the successful "women's pictures" of the time with distinct new elements.
(Phyllis Calvert
) and an RAF pilot (Stewart Granger
) meet at an auction of Rohan family heirlooms, now all being sold off after the last of the Rohan male line was killed at Dunkirk. After the RAF pilot inadvertently casts aspersions on the Rohan family, the WREN reveals that the last male Rohan was in fact her brother. The RAF man apologises, and reveals that his family are connected to the Rohans in a way, and so they arrange to meet for lunch and at the auction the following day.
Back in the Regency period, a new teacher arrives at Miss Patchett's school for young ladies at Bath. This is Hesther (Margaret Lockwood), whose family in Manchester
has fallen on hard times and are being done a favor by Miss Patchett. She, however, resents living off charity and so she soon afterwards comes into friction with Clarissa (also played by Phyllis Calvert
), a minor heiress who is a pupil at the school. In time, Clarissa and Hesther patch up their differences and become friends, soon before Hesther runs away with Barbary, a penniless ensign
. Miss Patchett forbids the disgraced name of Hesther to be mentioned at the school as a result and so Clarissa, out of loyalty to her friend, leaves the school.
In London, Clarissa's godmother arranges for her to meet the eponymous man in grey (after his grey clothes), Lord Rohan (James Mason
), a notorious rake, misanthrope and duelist with a huge fortune. He marries her, though neither of them does so out of love - she does so to please her godmother, and he to gain an heir to the Rohan line - and they live separate lives. Clarissa sees an advertisement for a production of Othello
in Saint Albans featuring a "Mrs Barbary," whom she rightly takes to be Hesther under her married name. On the way there in her coach, she is waylaid by a mysterious man (also played by Stewart Granger
) who hitches a ride with them to St Albans and turns out to be Rokeby, the actor playing Othello. Hesther is invited to supper after the play by Clarissa, and tells her that Ensign Barbary died in her arms some time past, leaving her penniless. Clarissa promises to get her a position as her son's governess and, though Lord Rohan refuses to grant this position, he does allow Hesther to stay on as Clarissa's companion. Shortly afterwards, when Rohan and Hesther are together, he reveals that he knows she has deceived Clarissa - Hesther in fact left her dissolute husband soon after marrying him, and he had in fact then died in the Fleet Prison
- out of ruthless ambition. Rohan admires this and the two begin an affair.
Attending horse-racing at Epsom Downs
, Clarissa and Rokeby meet again and fall further in love. Hesther gets Rohan to give Rokeby a job on his country estate so as to draw Rokeby and Clarissa away from London and, though Rokeby warns Hesther that he knows what she is trying to do, the ploy succeeds. Later, Rokeby and Clarissa return to London separately and then attempt to elope together to recover his estates in Jamaica
(lost to slave rebellions), but Rohan stops them and a duel between him and Rokeby ensues in the Vauxhall Gardens
, which is broken up by the Prince Regent. Mrs Fitzherbert convinces Rokeby to embark alone, and wait for Rohan to be convinced into a separation, but Clarissa pursues him to the port to say farewell. In staying out in the rain watching his ship sail away, she catches a fever and, worse still, is taken back to Lord Rohan's London house and not to the place of safety Rokeby had promised. The fever is not necessarily fatal but Hesther - putting Clarissa into a drugged sleep, opening the windows and dousing the fire in her room - ensures that it proves so, so clearing the way for herself to marry Rohan. Shortly after the funeral, Hesther manages to get Rohan to offer her marriage but then Clarissa's page boy Toby reveals Hesther's murder to Rohan. Though he did not love his wife, she was still his wife and a Rohan, and so he beats Hesther to death - for, as his family motto goes, "Who Dishonours Us, Dies."
Back in 1943, it is revealed that the RAF man was the descendent of Rokeby. He and Miss Rohan arrive just too late to buy the item they were looking to purchase at the auction, but they do not mind as they have found each other and fallen in love. They then rush for a London bus, with their love-affair seeming better-fated than that of their ancestors.
1943 in film
The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 3 - 1st missing persons telecast * February 20 - American film studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor films....
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
film melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
made by Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, London. Gainsborough Studios were active between 1924 and 1951. Built as a power station for the Great Northern & City Railway it...
, and is widely considered as the first of its "Gainsborough melodramas
Gainsborough melodramas
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures during the 1940s which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors...
" (a series of period costume dramas). It was directed by Leslie Arliss
Leslie Arliss
Leslie Arliss was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. during the 1940s...
and produced by Edward Black
Edward Black (producer)
Edward Black was an English film producer.-Partial filmography:* Oh, Mr Porter! * Good Morning, Boys * Doctor Syn * Convict 99 * The Lady Vanishes...
from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Leslie Arliss and Margaret Kennedy, adapted by Doreen Montgomery from the novel The Man in Grey
The Man in Grey (novel)
The Man in Grey by Baroness Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, was first published in 1918. This time Orczy sets the action in post-revolutionary France....
by Eleanor Smith
Eleanor Smith
Lady Eleanor Furneaux Smith was an English writer. The eldest of the politician F. E. Smith's three children, she worked as a society reporter and cinema reviewer for a while, then as a publicist for circus companies...
.
It starred Margaret Lockwood, Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
, James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
, Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
and Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
, and melded together elements of the successful "women's pictures" of the time with distinct new elements.
Plot
In 1943, a WRENWomen's Royal Naval Service
The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics...
(Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
) and an RAF pilot (Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
) meet at an auction of Rohan family heirlooms, now all being sold off after the last of the Rohan male line was killed at Dunkirk. After the RAF pilot inadvertently casts aspersions on the Rohan family, the WREN reveals that the last male Rohan was in fact her brother. The RAF man apologises, and reveals that his family are connected to the Rohans in a way, and so they arrange to meet for lunch and at the auction the following day.
Back in the Regency period, a new teacher arrives at Miss Patchett's school for young ladies at Bath. This is Hesther (Margaret Lockwood), whose family in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
has fallen on hard times and are being done a favor by Miss Patchett. She, however, resents living off charity and so she soon afterwards comes into friction with Clarissa (also played by Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert
Phyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
), a minor heiress who is a pupil at the school. In time, Clarissa and Hesther patch up their differences and become friends, soon before Hesther runs away with Barbary, a penniless ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
. Miss Patchett forbids the disgraced name of Hesther to be mentioned at the school as a result and so Clarissa, out of loyalty to her friend, leaves the school.
In London, Clarissa's godmother arranges for her to meet the eponymous man in grey (after his grey clothes), Lord Rohan (James Mason
James Mason
James Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
), a notorious rake, misanthrope and duelist with a huge fortune. He marries her, though neither of them does so out of love - she does so to please her godmother, and he to gain an heir to the Rohan line - and they live separate lives. Clarissa sees an advertisement for a production of Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
in Saint Albans featuring a "Mrs Barbary," whom she rightly takes to be Hesther under her married name. On the way there in her coach, she is waylaid by a mysterious man (also played by Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
) who hitches a ride with them to St Albans and turns out to be Rokeby, the actor playing Othello. Hesther is invited to supper after the play by Clarissa, and tells her that Ensign Barbary died in her arms some time past, leaving her penniless. Clarissa promises to get her a position as her son's governess and, though Lord Rohan refuses to grant this position, he does allow Hesther to stay on as Clarissa's companion. Shortly afterwards, when Rohan and Hesther are together, he reveals that he knows she has deceived Clarissa - Hesther in fact left her dissolute husband soon after marrying him, and he had in fact then died in the Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...
- out of ruthless ambition. Rohan admires this and the two begin an affair.
Attending horse-racing at Epsom Downs
Epsom Downs
Epsom Downs is an area of chalk upland near Epsom, Surrey; in the North Downs. Part of the area is taken up by the racecourse, the gallops are part of the land purchased by Stanly Wootton in 1925 in oder that racehorses can be trained without interference. It is open to users such as ramblers,...
, Clarissa and Rokeby meet again and fall further in love. Hesther gets Rohan to give Rokeby a job on his country estate so as to draw Rokeby and Clarissa away from London and, though Rokeby warns Hesther that he knows what she is trying to do, the ploy succeeds. Later, Rokeby and Clarissa return to London separately and then attempt to elope together to recover his estates in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
(lost to slave rebellions), but Rohan stops them and a duel between him and Rokeby ensues in the Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, the site was believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 with the first mention being...
, which is broken up by the Prince Regent. Mrs Fitzherbert convinces Rokeby to embark alone, and wait for Rohan to be convinced into a separation, but Clarissa pursues him to the port to say farewell. In staying out in the rain watching his ship sail away, she catches a fever and, worse still, is taken back to Lord Rohan's London house and not to the place of safety Rokeby had promised. The fever is not necessarily fatal but Hesther - putting Clarissa into a drugged sleep, opening the windows and dousing the fire in her room - ensures that it proves so, so clearing the way for herself to marry Rohan. Shortly after the funeral, Hesther manages to get Rohan to offer her marriage but then Clarissa's page boy Toby reveals Hesther's murder to Rohan. Though he did not love his wife, she was still his wife and a Rohan, and so he beats Hesther to death - for, as his family motto goes, "Who Dishonours Us, Dies."
Back in 1943, it is revealed that the RAF man was the descendent of Rokeby. He and Miss Rohan arrive just too late to buy the item they were looking to purchase at the auction, but they do not mind as they have found each other and fallen in love. They then rush for a London bus, with their love-affair seeming better-fated than that of their ancestors.
Reception
A great success commercially (it was one of the ten most successful British films that year), its critical reception was less favourable.Cast
- Margaret Lockwood ... Hesther
- Phyllis CalvertPhyllis CalvertPhyllis Calvert was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s....
... Clarissa (19th century, and present day) - James MasonJames MasonJames Neville Mason was an English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry throughout his career and was nominated for three Academy Awards as well as three Golden Globes .- Early life :Mason was born in Huddersfield, in the...
... Lord Rohan - Stewart GrangerStewart GrangerStewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
... Rokeby (19th century, and present day) - Harry Scott ... Toby
- Martita HuntMartita HuntMartita Hunt was an English theatre and film actress.-Early life:Hunt was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 30 January 1900 to British parents Alfred and Marta Hunt...
... Miss Patchett - Helen HayeHelen HayeHelen Haye was a British stage and film actress.She began acting on the stage in 1898 and debuted in London in 1911 as Gertrude in Hamlet. Her film career began in 1917. She often worked with director Alexander Korda...
... Lady Rohan - Beatrice VarleyBeatrice VarleyBeatrice Varley was a British actress who appeared in a variety of television and film roles between 1936 and 1964...
... Gipsy - Raymond LovellRaymond LovellRaymond Lovell was a Canadian-born film actor who performed in British produced films. He mainly played supporting roles, and was often seen as slightly pompous characters...
... The Prince RegentGeorge IV of the United KingdomGeorge IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later... - Nora SwinburneNora SwinburneNora Swinburne was a British actress, born Leonora Mary Johnson in Bath, Somerset, daughter of Henry Swinburne Johnson and his wife Leonora Tamar ....
... Mrs. Fitzherbert