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Genevieve
1953 Comedy
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Credits
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Director: Henry Cornelius
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Script: William Rose
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Photo: Christopher Challis
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Music: Larry Adler
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Cast: Dinah Sheridan (Wendy McKim),
John Gregson (Alan McKim),
Kay Kendall (Rosalind Peters),
Kenneth More (Ambrose Claverhouse),
Geoffrey Keen (Policeman),
Reginald Beckwith (J. C. Callahan),
Arthur Wontner (Old Gentleman),
Joyce Grenfell (Hotel proprietress)
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Country: UK
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Language: English
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Runtime: 86 min
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Summary
Barrister Alan McKim has two passions in his life - his devoted wife
Wendy and his 1904 Darracq roadster, Genevieve - and it isn’t obvious
which he loves most. Every year, Alan enters Genevieve in the
London to Brighton rally, and, each year, Wendy agrees to accompany
him. Alan’s friend Ambrose Claverhouse also enters the rally, in
his 1904 Spyker. Ambrose gets to Brighton without any difficulty,
aided by his new girlfriend Rosalind Peters, but Alan’s car breaks
down. Alan’s mood is not improved when he begins to suspect that,
before she married him, Wendy had an affair with Ambrose. In a
fit of pique, he declares that Genevieve is a much better car than his
friend’s Spyker and bets £100 that he can make the return journey
to London faster than Ambrose...
Review
Genevieve is the most
quintessential of British comedies, a quaint satire in which an
Englishman’s love of his motorcar precedes any
feelings he may have for a woman. Whilst the film feels a little
dated (and much more slowly paced than other films featuring a car
race), it still has great entertainment value, thanks mainly to the
ebullient performances from its four lead actors, headed by Kenneth
More, one of the most highly regarded British actors at the time.
Joyce Grenfell, the doyenne of British comedy, is a delight in her all
too brief cameo appearance.
The film was directed by Henry Cornelius, who is is probably best known
for his classic Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico
(1949). Cornelius began his career working as an assistant editor
on René Clair’s The Ghost Goes West (1935) and,
in the 1940s, he was a screenwriter and associate producer at Ealing on
such films as Hue and Cry
(1947). He directed just five films before his premature death in
1958, and one of the best of these is his 1953 hit Genevieve.
The film’s vibrant colour photography dispels the myth that England in
the 1950s was remorselessly drab - going by this film, this decade was
just as hard on the eyes as the psychedelic sixties. Larry Adler
provided the film's cheery but somewhat repetitive harmonica
score. Genevieve is
vintage film comedy with a vintage cast, which has a particular appeal
for any enthusiast of vintage cars.
© James Travers 2008
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