I Lived with You

I approached I LIVED WITH YOU with trepidation. While Novello had appeared in 16 silent films, where his beauty and ability to act with good direction stood him in good stead, from his RAT trilogy to his two films with the budding Alfred Hitchcock. Talkies, however, were a different ball game. He made only six. His second, THE PHANTOM FIEND, was a remake of his silent Hitchcock film, THE LODGER, and he was just awful, as was the film, over-acting and emoting all over the studio sets. His next, a turgid melodrama with Ruth Chatterton, ONCE A LADY, gave him only a brief supporting role in twelve scenes.

I LIVED WITH YOU is an adaptation of his own play, in which he starred on stage, and it is a revelation. Very funny, very well crafted, with great lines and astute observations of character and mood. Ursula Jeans is perfect as the good daughter, Gladys. Ida Lupino in her fifth film is unrecognizable, she is so fresh, minor her later mannerisms in voice and posture.

The whole cast is full of great character acting and in the middle is Novello, totally charming and totally believable as a romantic Russian prince whose involvement in the lives of a poor but happy British family, upsets their lives in many ways. Later films to use this idea of a stranger entering family lives and changing them for ever were mainly comic (MY MAN GODFREY, MERRILY WE LIVE), but often moving and thought-provoking (BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING).

Novello has lost all of his theatrical mannerisms and theatrical emoting. He is fresh, funny and ultimately very moving. Facial and vocal expressions are fit and apt to the sound film. I've never seen a better performance of his and the film is absolutely wonderful.

Seek it out!

What fun this movie is! And splendidly restored. Ivor Novello is such a charmer, and the story very entertaining. To anyone interested in 30's movies or especially the great Ivor Novello, this surely is a must.

Yes, it's strange that the son of the family vanishes early on, as though the radio spirited him away to another continent! I wonder if it was the same in the original stage play - perhaps the young actor had to leave early to get to bed at a sensible hour! Why would no-one notice the youngster was missing when this film was edited? Perhaps there was to be some vital broadcast on the radio that we've now missed?

Well, I didn't even notice the youngster went missing, I was so enjoying the rest of the movie.

I've never seen Ivor Novello like this before. Everything I've seen him in always seemed hammy, melodramatic, and over the top but here he is in a comic role and throwing out lines like Paul O'Grady - he even looks a bit like him. Quite a revelation. Mr Novello was gay at a time when you couldn't be out in the open about it apart from in theatrical circles and, even though this isn't a gay character he's playing, his performance is quite camp. I don't know how well this film did at the box office but I know this was quite a successful play on stage in London's West End. It's a shame he didn't do more films like this.

In his day, Ivor Novello was a beloved Welsh actor and singer. However, today, especially outside the UK, he's a pretty much forgotten man despite his having once been a star. Part of this might be because he died in his 50s. Part of it might be because times and tastes change...which is what I think of when I think about "I Lived With You".

The play was quite popular and Ivor Novello both wrote it and starred in the production. So, it's not surprising that he'd bring the story to the big screen.

Novello plays Prince Felix...who was once a rich Russian before the revolution. But now he's homeless and with no job...nor a desire to get a job. Gladys meets him in the maze at Hampton Court (a palace owned by Henry VIII which is just outside of London). She learns of his plight and invites him home to stay with her and her family.

For the most part, Felix just lies about the home and interferes with the family. For example, he encourages Gladys' father to get a mistress...with predictable results. On the positive side, however, he is able to pay for his way, as he has some gems which he's kept since fleeing Russia...and he sells them in order to help the family.

So is this any good? Well, it's okay. I think Novello overacted a bit here and there, as did Ida Lupino (Novello's real life goddaughter). As for Lupino, this was well before she came to Hollywood and had a HUGE makeover. She looks and sounds VERY little like the Lupino of the 1940s....almost like they are two different people. And, fortunately, with a new image came much better acting and she honed her craft.

Overall, this film is an oddity but one that just hasn't aged all that well. After a while, it all becomes a bit annoying and bellicose. Watchable but not all that good.

An early feather in the cap of Julius Hagen's nascent Twickenham Films is this valuable screen record of Ivor Novello's 1932 West End hit.

There's a bit of unobtrusive opening out - notably the scene shot in Hampton Court maze where hero and heroine first meet - but the play's the thing, complete with dialogue and situations that would not have got past the Hays Office the following year; and are now a bit gamy for 21st Century sensibilities.

The predominantly female cast includes the young Ursula Jeans and Ida Lupino ("She's charming! Is she still a good girl?") and preserves for posterity the extraordinary Cicely Oates - who died the year my father was born aged only 45 not long after featuring in a much smaller role in Hitchcock's original version of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' - as "Little Mrs Sunshine".