The Secret of St. Ives

Shown on Turner Classics in May 2009, this period piece opens with a narrator describing Frenchman Anatole de Keroual and his compatriots imprisoned in a British castle in Edinburg. They are digging an escape tunnel so that they can rejoin Napoleon's army. Vanessa Brown is "Floria Gilchrist", who comes to the castle to visit the prisoners. The hero de Keroual is played by Richard Ney; it appears Ney's claim to fame was making "Mrs. Miniver" with Greer Garson, who he would later marry in real life, if only for four years. The jailer is played by Henry Daniell, probably best known for his roles in Jane Eyre and numerous appearances in Sherlock Holmes films. Story by the prolific Robert Stevenson, who more famously wrote "Treasure Island" and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde". Things move pretty slowly until about halfway through, then things pick up a little. Directed by Phil Rosen; this was the last film he made, as Rosen died in 1951.

This story is from an unfinished manuscript by Robert Louis Stevenson that was finished by another author after his death. It concerns the adventures of a Frenchman, the Viscount of St. Ives.

The film begins with St. Ives incarcerated at Edinburgh Castle along with other soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars. While in prison, he receives regular visits from a local lady who had known him before the wars began. At about the same time, a solicitor from his uncle (who is from the English branch of the family). Apparently, he is the uncle's sole heir and the solicitor is there to give him some money to use to make his stay more comfortable. In actuality, the solicitor was working for a cousin who was looking to get rid of St. Ives. So, after giving him the money, the solicitor then went to the commandant of the prison to betray him! However, St. Ives IS able to escape and much of the film is spent with St. Ives and his lady friend roaming about the UK avoiding capture.

Eventually, St. Ives makes his way to London and meets with his uncle--and thus uncovering the plot against him by the cousin and the solicitor. Sadly, this homecoming is brief as the commandant arrives and arrests St. Ives not just for escaping but for a murder he did not commit. It seems that one of the prisoners made up a lie about the murder to get better treatment and now St. Ives is going to pay for this lie. Will St. Ives manage to get out of prison and avoid the hangman's knot? And what about the lady?

In many ways, this film plays an awful lot like another Stevenson story, "Kidnapped". Both have very similar themes and consist of escaped convicts being sought by the British military. So, if you like one of these tales, there's a good chance you'll like the other.

While I did enjoy this adventure tale, I was a bit annoyed by one of the story elements. St. Ives' lady friend posed as a servant boy. However, given how sexy she was, her pretending to be a boy was pretty silly. To make it worse, no one seemed to catch on to the ruse! Didn't her having boobs and a woman's voice give away the secret?! By the way, this film lacked the stars you'd usually see in such a film. While the production values were high, Henry Daniell was the only star in the film--and a rather minor one to boot.

I won't rate the film here, because I did not see it. In fact, until I noticed it's title and checked, I was surprised that a movie based on ST. IVES had been made.

Most people hearing the title ST. IVES will think it refers to a Charles Bronson movie of that name. But before Bronson's film, there was this novel. When Robert Louis Stevenson died of a brain hemorrhage in 1894 he had several uncompleted projects in manuscript. Rightfully he recognized that his best work was WEIR OF HERMISTON, which he completed about two thirds of, and had left the actual conclusion in the air. But he had also done three quarters of a novel about French Prisoners of War in England and Scotland in the early 19th Century, entitled ST. IVES (give it the French pronunciation - it is the name of the hero's aristocratic family).

Whenever WEIR OF HERMISTON is printed today it is usually in a volume with THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE, as they represent Stevenson's most mature work as a writer. ST. IVES, actually merits it's own volume. This is ironic, because Stevenson's letters suggest he was getting bored by the book, and felt it was a second-rate collection of improbable adventures (the hero escapes from Edinburgh by balloon at one point). But he had written so much, Fanny Stevenson decided to try to have it completed. So it was finished by Arthur Quiller-Couch, a prominent critic and writer of the period. It was serialized and then published formally in 1896. It was still in publication (in the EVERYMAN edition) up to the middle of the 20th Century.

Hopefully, one day, the film will be shown again on television, and a more proper review of it will be made.