Made by Cineguild between their Dickens adaptations, from the 1939 novel by Joseph Shearing, this failed to find the same favour with critics but audiences lapped it up. Directed with moody gallic elegance and passion by imported director Marc Allegret, it's definitely a cut above the competition from Gainsborough and looks fabulous, while the Technicolor camera sleekly glides about following the action (no tall order in those days; there was a terrible accident on the set when a crane carrying that monster lost it's balance). And it boasts a wonderful final shot.
Although Richard Winnington harrumphed "Let's have some bad lighting and perhaps a bit of good movie (sic)" and George Perry later called it "Cineguild's major aberration of 1948"; posterity had the last laugh when in 1990 it was proudly unveiled in a restored print at that year's London Film Festival.
Although Richard Winnington harrumphed "Let's have some bad lighting and perhaps a bit of good movie (sic)" and George Perry later called it "Cineguild's major aberration of 1948"; posterity had the last laugh when in 1990 it was proudly unveiled in a restored print at that year's London Film Festival.