U.K. and Australian release title: RENDEZVOUS.
SYNOPSIS: The time is still 1905, but the setting has been switched from London to New York. Returning from five years abroad, parents try to reconcile themselves with their separated children. Complications ensue when their stage-struck teenage daughter takes in an adult play (instead of the kids' show she is supposed to attend). As a result, she misinterprets what she hears and sees and mistakenly concludes her mother is having an affair.
NOTES: The original 1905 London stage production starred Ellen Terry as Mrs Grey, C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Grey (Dr Grey in the film), Irene Vanbrugh as Amy Grey, and a young A.E. Matthews as Cosmo Grey. The play ran for 115 performances, a respectable run, though no match for some of Barrie's earlier successes like "Walker, London" (511 performances), or "The Little Minister" (320), or "Quality Street" (459), or "The Admirable Crichton" (328).
COMMENT: Cleverly opened out from the original play with an amusing recreation of a Victorian melodrama, the film scenario still suffers (like the play) from an extremely weak Third Act. The proceedings are neatly resolved at the end of the Second, leaving just a tedious stretch of anticlimactic "happily-ever-after" for the Third.
Another problem with the film is the miscasting of John Lund in a principal role. A good actor in the right part, here he displays little charisma and no comic finesse whatever as he struggles heavy-handedly through a role obviously designed for the more charismatic touches of a hesitant James Stewart, or a debonair Cary Grant or even a fulminating Monty Woolley. (In fact, Ray Milland was approached, but he very smartly turned it down). Similarly, although she bears up with more grace than her co-star, Joan Fontaine is made to appear a little too eagerly empty-headed to attract the utmost audience sympathy. Imagine Katharine Hepburn or Irene Dunne or Paulette Goddard in the role and you can see what Joan is missing (and what director Leisen should have supplied).
The support players are a great deal more in tune with the script, particularly Virginia Farmer as the amusingly agitated Fanny and the entire cast of the delightfully overheated "Mrs Rossiter". Mona Freeman seems a bit over-strident in her earlier scenes, but David Stollery's Cosmo is a completely winning performance. Among the cameo artists, Dave Willock's lowbrow usher and Houseley Stevenson's grumpy old man are especially appealing.
Most of the action still takes place in a few sets, despite a fair amount of opening out. This and the abundance of dialogue gives one the impression of a photographed stage play - an impression which Mitchell Leisen's often flat-footed direction compounds in most of the domestic scenes. Leisen is at his most lively in the theatre and wharf episodes. Elsewhere his hand is too heavy for such light¬weight material.
Despite the period setting with its agreeable sets, costumes and photography, production values are rather moderate.
The film was not a success at the box-office. A disillusioned Paramount didn't even release the re-titled Rendezvous in England, the home territory of Sir James M. Barrie. Instead, they sold the distribution rights to the small independent exchange, Eros.
SYNOPSIS: The time is still 1905, but the setting has been switched from London to New York. Returning from five years abroad, parents try to reconcile themselves with their separated children. Complications ensue when their stage-struck teenage daughter takes in an adult play (instead of the kids' show she is supposed to attend). As a result, she misinterprets what she hears and sees and mistakenly concludes her mother is having an affair.
NOTES: The original 1905 London stage production starred Ellen Terry as Mrs Grey, C. Aubrey Smith as Colonel Grey (Dr Grey in the film), Irene Vanbrugh as Amy Grey, and a young A.E. Matthews as Cosmo Grey. The play ran for 115 performances, a respectable run, though no match for some of Barrie's earlier successes like "Walker, London" (511 performances), or "The Little Minister" (320), or "Quality Street" (459), or "The Admirable Crichton" (328).
COMMENT: Cleverly opened out from the original play with an amusing recreation of a Victorian melodrama, the film scenario still suffers (like the play) from an extremely weak Third Act. The proceedings are neatly resolved at the end of the Second, leaving just a tedious stretch of anticlimactic "happily-ever-after" for the Third.
Another problem with the film is the miscasting of John Lund in a principal role. A good actor in the right part, here he displays little charisma and no comic finesse whatever as he struggles heavy-handedly through a role obviously designed for the more charismatic touches of a hesitant James Stewart, or a debonair Cary Grant or even a fulminating Monty Woolley. (In fact, Ray Milland was approached, but he very smartly turned it down). Similarly, although she bears up with more grace than her co-star, Joan Fontaine is made to appear a little too eagerly empty-headed to attract the utmost audience sympathy. Imagine Katharine Hepburn or Irene Dunne or Paulette Goddard in the role and you can see what Joan is missing (and what director Leisen should have supplied).
The support players are a great deal more in tune with the script, particularly Virginia Farmer as the amusingly agitated Fanny and the entire cast of the delightfully overheated "Mrs Rossiter". Mona Freeman seems a bit over-strident in her earlier scenes, but David Stollery's Cosmo is a completely winning performance. Among the cameo artists, Dave Willock's lowbrow usher and Houseley Stevenson's grumpy old man are especially appealing.
Most of the action still takes place in a few sets, despite a fair amount of opening out. This and the abundance of dialogue gives one the impression of a photographed stage play - an impression which Mitchell Leisen's often flat-footed direction compounds in most of the domestic scenes. Leisen is at his most lively in the theatre and wharf episodes. Elsewhere his hand is too heavy for such light¬weight material.
Despite the period setting with its agreeable sets, costumes and photography, production values are rather moderate.
The film was not a success at the box-office. A disillusioned Paramount didn't even release the re-titled Rendezvous in England, the home territory of Sir James M. Barrie. Instead, they sold the distribution rights to the small independent exchange, Eros.
