Adam und Evelyne

Enjoyed this film which I had my doubts about until I viewed the great acting of Jean Simmons, (Evelyn Wallace) and Stewart Granger, (Adam Black). This story is about a young girl Evelyn who lives in an orphanage and receives letters from her father telling her he is going to visit her someday and take her home where he raises horses. However, this is really not her father but a good friend of her father's Adam Black. Evelyn's father passes away and he asks Adam to take care of his daughter and he promises to look after her. There are very funny scenes and some very dramatic moments along with many lies which have been told and have to be explained to poor Evelyn Wallace. In real life, Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger were married and had a child. Great Classic film from 1949, enjoy.

It all basically began with Adam and Eve. We've seen the young, innocent girl maturing into the young lady and falling in love with the older man in "My Fair Lady," and "Gigi." This is basically the same story in "Adam and Evelynne."

When Stewart Granger's friend dies, he takes his daughter in. The latter, Jean Simmons, believes that Granger is his father until she is told otherwise by Granger's girlfriend who senses Simmons as future competition. That sense proves correct when Simmons returns from finishing school in Switzerland all grown up. Problem is that Granger has never told her his true vocation: illegal gambling.

The story unfolds how they fall in love and the eventual treachery of his girlfriend and younger brother to destroy him over this love.

The film is nicely done. Jean Simmons goes from an unhappy child, looking for her father to the mature young woman searching for love.

OK so this film does not break any new ground but its worth watching to see the effortless way the two principal actors (Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger) give an impressive performance overcoming the somewhat well worn themes dealt with in the script. Jean Simmons turns from a backward English schoolgirl of the 50's into a stunning deliciously irresistible asexual goddess which will leave all men with a revived faith in the female of the species, at least for a few minutes after watching the film.

Stewart Granger is "Adam", a rather raffish gambler who, when his wartime friend "Chris" dies, adopts his daughter "Evelyn" (Jean Simmons) who has hitherto been living in an orphanage. Initially he pretends that he is her father, but that is soon exposed by his friends and the two must now treat honestly - or as honestly as he knows how - with each other and the bond begins to mature, much to the chagrin of the rather calculating Helen Cherry... Both stars work well together, and the simple story is a well written and directed tale of deceit, deception and some good old-fashioned love and with Wilfred Hyde-White (another of those actors whose voice has a instantly identifiable silky timbre) adds a little charm to the proceedings, too - and in the end it all comes down to a moustache!

I had been told to see this movie by a friend, if just for a sight of Stewart Granger with a moustache and I wasn't disappointed. Granger and Jean Simmons work beautifully together again, in this movie based on the concept of a young girl falling in love with an older man - and one she believes to begin with is her father!! Simmons is adorable as the young girl, whisked away from a life of labour and far more likeable in this role than any other. I loved the final scene between the two of them and the running joke that Granger looked better with his moustache after all! Not one to watch if you don't like continuous remakes of the 'old man, young girl' scenario, but in this case it works to perfection.