Britannia Mews

Dana Andrews first character in the movie was as 'Henry Lambert' not 'Herbert Lambert' and he didn't fall out a window - he fell down the stairs. I watched this movie today on Fox and I liked it - I didn't think that I would at first. This movie was also titled: "Affairs of Adelaide" and "The Forbidden Street". The story was a from a book by Margery Sharp entitled: "Britannia Mews". She also wrote the books from which the animated features "The Rescuers" (1977) and "The Rescuers Down Under" (1990) were drawn. I would buy this movie (The Forbidden Street/Britannia Mews/Affairs of Adelaide) if it were to come out on DVD. This is the first time I have commented on a movie in such a way.

Keeping Maureen O'Hara on its payroll throughout the 1940s was one of the smartest things Twentieth Century Fox ever did: She was capable and spirited, and so pretty that it wouldn't have mattered if she couldn't act at all. Here she is in a typically feisty role, a well-to-do London miss who marries badly and becomes victimized by a creepy old streetwoman (Dame Sybil Thorndike). As a melodrama in the "Gaslight" vein with bizarre comedy touches, it's fairly silly, but there's much to savor, especially in the details: an atmospheric backlot set (I think it was actually filmed on 20th's British soundstage), blackmail, puppetry, cackling hags, some tasty dialogue, and one exceedingly odd moment where Dana Andrews invites his ladylove's little brother to bed.

As a ten year old kid, I saw this film in 1949 under its U.S. title THE FORBIDDEN STREET (it was not a title later made up for any kind of re-release on VHS or DVD, although it did come out as BRITANNIA MEWS in the U.K.). We got a big kick out of Mrs. Mounsey (we then thought it was "Mrs. Mousey"), especially when the second Dana Andrews character slaps her around a bit and practically throws her onto what looked like either a stove or dresser, but even then I knew who Dame Sybil Thorndike was, and it appears that some reviewers of this film still don't. All the other performances in the film range from just about okay to pretty good, but Thorndike's old hag is really a showcase, considering how short her role ultimately is. One should be reminded that Thorndike (and not Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, Margaret Rutherford, Margaret Leighton, Dorothy Tutin, etc.) was considered the greatest English stage actress of the 20th century from her debut around 1904 and right into the early 1970s, created Shaw's SAINT JOAN after he wrote it for her, did quite literally many hundreds of roles from Shakespeare and Marlowe to Priestly and Williams in the U.K., all over America and, indeed, almost the entire known civilized world of her day (who else can you think of who played Lady Macbeth, Hecuba and one of the sweetly murderous Brewster Sisters in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, or who took shots at Greek drama in Greek and French classical repertoire in French?). She was almost 50 when talkies came in, so she naturally didn't make many films except in older character roles (she was Olivier's mother in PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL, but that role was originally Olivier's wife when the play was done with him and Vivien Leigh in London, and this probably remains her best-known film appearance). As for Dana Andrews, they did a good job of dubbing in his voice with one belonging to an English actor, but the voice really didn't go with Andrews' demeanor and character. His second character has the right voice (his own) for that first character. Anyway, the mid-Atlantic type accents heard from O'Hara and Andrews didn't bother me at all, and the fellow playing O'Hara's younger brother, Anthony Tancred, would appear to have had a very short film career, and this is unfortunate, as he is very good in the role and looks something like a taller and classier version of George Cole. Amazingly enough, they get away with turning a pretty morose and near tragic story into almost a comedy by the time the curtain comes down, and that is no mean achievement. Anyway, it was nice to see it again after 67 years and to see that memory can play tricks on one - I seemed to recall that the second Andrews character threw Mrs. Mounsey down the stairs, but he didn't. Good thing, too; that's no way to treat Dame Sybil Thorndike. Aside: Thorndike was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1931, but her husband, equally proficient actor and incredibly proficient stage director Lewis Casson, wasn't knighted until almost two decades later. She was delighted because now she could be legitimately called either "Dame Sybil" or "Lady Casson".

This was one of my favorite Maureen O'Hara movies (after "The Quiet Man", of course) which I haven't been able to see for many years. I continue to check the DVD status, but continue to be disappointed. Previous comments have told the story-line, so I won't attempt it except to say that it covers the entire gamut of emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, despair, resignation to circumstances, hope--back to happiness.

I hope the "Powers that be" read these comments and release this movie in at least video version if DVD isn't possible. With all the garbage I see being put out on DVD, it amazes me that the better older black and white movies are so overlooked. There are several for which I keep looking and hoping to see available.

A charming film, set in Victorian London, features gorgeous Maureen O'Hara as the daughter of a upper-class businessman, fascinated by the mews behind the family home (and which was forbidden territory to this gently-reared young woman); and Dana Andrews in a dual role...that of a fortune-seeking art teacher turned drunkard, and a decent young man fallen on hard times who proves to be Maureen's eventual savior. Wonderful performances by Wilfred Hyde-White as O'Hara's father, and Dame Sybil Thornedyke as a horrid old woman who blackmails O'Hara's character when she ends up living in those same forbidden mews. There's even a delightful dose of jolly good humor toward the end. One of my all-time favorite movies.