Autumn Crocus

Shy school teacher on a holiday in the Tyrolian Alps is romanced by a married man with children, for whom a second relationship is of no consequence to his morals, but is impossible with her British upbringing

Fay Compton deserved an Oscar or Bafta nom for her incredibly sensitive performance. The latter didn't exist then and the former only honored USA films. She is superb. Novello is again charming as the boy-child persona of his talkie performances, full of life and love, regardless of society's judgments. This was to be his last film.

Of the six talkies he made, I have seen five. He was totally awful in THE PHANTOM FIEND, an inept remake of his silent success under Hitchcock's direction of THE LODGER, giving an over the top melodramatic performance that was execrable under any criteria. However, of the remaining talkies I have seen, he is brilliant, with superb dramatic and comedic timing. Seek out this, plus I LIVED WITH YOU (his best), and SLEEPING CAR.

There is a subtle lesbian attraction implied between the leading lady and her traveling companion, well done.

This DVD from a private collector timed out at 1:20, six minutes short of its official timing.

Note the similarity in plot of Arthur Laurents' play THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO, later the classic David Lean film, SUMMERTIME, and still later, the Rodgers-Sondheim musical play, DO I HEAR A WALTZ?

This reminded me a little of "Mr. Chips" at the start as school-mistresses "Jenny" (Fay Compton) and "Miss Mayne" (Muriel Aked) set off on a trip to Venice via one night in the Austrian Tyrol. The latter woman is a bit finicky and after two or three hotels their bus driver all but abandons them at a guesthouse run by "Andreas" (Ivor Novello). His is a cheery establishment, largely devoid of insects, that suits both women. The scenery is beautiful, the company lively and the food good - and it's only for just one night. Pretty clearly, there is soon a chemistry between "Jenny" and her host, and the rest of the film uses the Alpine scenery and a few charming songs to depict a slowly developing love story. By way of distraction there are other guests - notably the rather Bohemian "Alaric" (Jack Hawkins) and "Audrey" (Diana Beaumont) who refuse to conform to marriage and so openly flit from each other's rooms much to the chagrin and amusement of the other guests. There is something of the whimsy to this - the setting, the songs, the gentle pace of it all, and as the story throws a few obstacles into their otherwise loving path, we see both with decisions to make. I always found Novello a very engaging actor to watch - even if his roles sometimes left substance to be desired - and here he delivers, as does Compton, effectively for a pleasing ninety minutes.

Basil Dean decided to make both this film and The Constant Nymph with Tyrolean backgrounds.He sent a second unit to Austria in charge of Carol Reed.They were beset by problems including days of rain.Dean decided to direct this film himself and was rightly dissatisfied by his efforts.He was concerned that some actors looked down on the cinema and their minds were on their evening theatre performance.Clearly this refers to Novello who gives a truly awful performance in his final film.He is totally miscast with a woeful accent.Compton on the other hand gives a sensitive performance.Whilst the film did well in better class cinemas it did not fare well with what he called the cheaper seats.Another step on the path to his exit from Ealing.

"Autumn Crocus" was the first play of UK writer Dodie Smith, using pseudonym A.L. Anthony. The West End hit starred Francis Lederer in the Novello role, with Martita Hunt and Fay Compton who repeated the school teacher role in the 1934 film. Intriguingly, this 1931 plot was borrowed (or inspired?)American playwright Arthur Laurents whose 1952 play, "Time of the Cuckoo" with Shirley Booth also had a spinster school teacher seeking romance on her first trip abroad, and finding it with a handsome local. (The UK teacher longs for the Alps, while the US teacher goes for Venice.) I utterly adore Ivor Novello, but sadly must report that, in the light of modern sensibilities, here he does NOT play a romantic or sympathetic figure. Rather, he is comes off as a smarmy serial seducer of fragile tourists. To avoid a spoiler, I won't add to my list of his casual cruelties. Technically a beautiful film and an exquisite performance by Fay Compton, but today's audiences would cheer and clap rather than grow misty eyed at the conclusion.

"Time of the Cuckoo" was then filmed as "Summertime" in 1955 with Katharine Hepburn as the teacher, the seducer (Rossano Brazzi)being somewhat less caddish, thus allowing more poignancy. Then Richard Rodgers, with Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, turned the plot into the less-than-successful musical. "Do I Hear a Waltz?" Since most older woman today are single by choice and have traveled extensively, we are unlikely to see any further reincarnations of this plot.

Basil Dean has always struck me as an underused director who had considerable talent but was sadly overlooked for reasons that I do not know.

AUTUMN CROCUS shows some very good directorial touches, even though the naissant sound cinema of the time - 1934 - did not help. On the positive side, he had a very good leading trio in Ivor Novello, Fay Compton, and Muriel Aked... each a very different personality from the next.

Aked struck me as the nag and domineering school boss who tries to curtail 35 year old Compton's possible first foray into love, Compton plays very effectively the naive schoolteacher taken in by the beauty of the Austrian Tyrol and in particular the charm of hotelier Mr Steiner, who has a good singing voice, a splendid sense of humor, and knows how to entice the willing female he senses in Compton.

Obviously, all that shines is not gold, and his flirting and the crocus flowers that he keeps giving Compton hide a surprisingly deceptive side. Novello's performance deserves plaudits for his sympathetic stealth, yet it is Aked's loyalty that I take foremost from this film in moral and acting terms.

Cinematography is competent, the script overladen with singing and Tyrolese music, which I found annoying after a while. 7/10.