Genevieve is a 1953 British comedy film produced and directed by Henry Cornelius and written by William Rose. It stars John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and Kay Kendall as two couples comedically involved in a veteran automobile rally.
It was a significant commercial success on release, and has been called "perhaps the most successful British comedy film ever made."Balcon p 192 Plot
Two veteran cars and their crews are participating in the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. Alan McKim, a young barrister, and his wife, Wendy, drive Genevieve, a 1904 Darracq. Their friend Ambrose Claverhouse, a brash advertising salesman, his latest girlfriend, fashion model Rosalind Peters, and her pet St. Bernard ride in a 1905 Spyker.
The journey to Brighton goes well for Claverhouse, but the McKims' trip is complicated by several breakdowns, and they arrive very late. As Alan cancelled their accommodation in their usual plush hotel during a fit of pique, they are forced to spend the night in a dingy run-down hotel leaving Wendy feeling less than pleased.
They finally join Ambrose and Rosalind for after-dinner drinks, but Rosalind gets very drunk, and insists on playing the trumpet with the house band. To the surprise of all, she performs a hot jazz solo before falling fast asleep moments later, to Wendy's great amusement.
Alan and Wendy have an argument over Ambrose's supposed romantic attentions to her, and Alan goes off to the garage to sulk. Whilst he works on his car in the middle of the night, Ambrose turns up. Angry words are exchanged, and Alan impulsively bets the other man £100 that he can beat Ambrose back to London, despite racing not being allowed by the club. Ambrose accepts the bet—"First over Westminster Bridge."
The following morning, despite Rosalind's massive hangover and Wendy's determined disapproval of the whole business, the two crews race back to London. Each driver is determined that his car is the better, come what may, and they both resort to various forms of cheating. Ambrose sabotages Alan's engine, and Alan causes Ambrose to be stopped by the police.
Finally, on the outskirts of London, both cars are stopped by traffic police and the four contestants are publicly warned after Alan and Ambrose almost come to blows. At Wendy's insistence, they decide to call off the bet and have a party instead. But whilst waiting for the pub to open, words are exchanged and the bet is on again.
The two cars race neck-and-neck through the southern suburbs of London. But with only a few yards to go, Genevieve breaks down. As Ambrose's car is about to overtake it, its tyres become stuck in tramlines (London's last trams ran in 1952, but many of the tracks were still in evidence when the film was made that same year) and it drives off in another direction. The brakes on Genevieve fail, and the car rolls a few yards onto Westminster Bridge, thus winning the bet.
Cast
John Gregson as Alan McKim Dinah Sheridan as Wendy McKim Kenneth More as Ambrose Claverhouse Kay Kendall as Rosalind Peters Geoffrey Keen as First Traffic Policeman Reginald Beckwith as J.C. Callahan Arthur Wontner as Elderly Gentleman Joyce Grenfell as Hotel Proprietress Leslie Mitchell as Himself, Newsreel Commentator Michael Balfour as Trumpeter (uncredited) Stanley Escane as Newsreel Cameraman (uncredited) Fred Griffiths as Ice Cream Seller (uncredited) Charles Lamb as Publican (uncredited) Arthur Lovegrove as Hotel Doorman (uncredited) Edward Malin as Spectator (uncredited) Edie Martin as Guest At Hotel (uncredited) Michael Medwin as Father-to-Be (uncredited) Harold Siddons as Second Traffic Policeman (uncredited) Patrick Westwood as Motor Mechanic (uncredited)
Production Development Henry Cornelius had made Passport to Pimlico for Ealing Studios, but had left the studio to go independent and make The Galloping Major, which annoyed Michael Balcon, head of production at Ealing. Cornelius developed Genevieve with writer William Rose. Cornelius approached Balcon with an outline for Genevieve and asked to make it at Ealing. However, Balcon turned the film down. Balcon later claimed in his memoirs "I knew at once it could not miss" but "our own schedule of films was arranged and if I took Corny [Cornelius] back it would mean displacing another director, an idea which would not have proved popular for good and valid reasons. Although Corny was immensely popular with his ex-colleagues at Ealing, he had left of his own volition and, by the way, it was very rare for anybody to leave Ealing."Balcon pp 191-192
Balcon claims he sent Cornelius to Earl St John, head of production at Rank, the company which owned Ealing (where Balcon had complete autonomy) but made other films through different company.Balcon p 192 St John was originally not enthusiastic to make the movie - Jill Craige said "the people at Pinewood thought it was too slight. That was the criticism."
St John did agree to take the film to the Rank Board if the budget could be kept to £115,000. The board agreed to provide 70% of the finance if Cornelius could source the rest elsewhere; the director obtained the money from the National Film Finance Corporation. This method was used to make films at British Film-Makers however Genevieve was produced through a separate company, Sirius Productions.
According to Erica Masters, who worked on the film as an assistant, Rank "said to Corney, 'Oh you can't use the people you want, we will give you people.' And at that point, Corney said, 'Look, I'm putting up 'X' amount of money and I am going to have the people I want.'"
Cornelius also obtained private finance. According to Christopher Challis, who shot the film, Cornelius had to "raise the completion guarantee from mortgaging his house."
Writer Jill Craigie claimed she worked with Cornelius "a lot" on the "wonderful" script for Genevieve uncredited. She says Cornelius and his wife were enthusiastic supporters of psychoanalysis and had the characters in the script "analysed to see if they were all correct, and this was all correct and it was all very good." She says Cornelius' wife's psychiatrist told the director "I've got a Communist patient who has a terrible complex, and if he puts a bit of money into Genevieve, and if he loses a bit of money in film, maybe that will cure his guilt complex. So it was really it was the psychiatrist who got the communist to back Genevieve. Well because Genevieve had got independent money in it they managed to get some sort of distribution agreement."
Casting According to Dinah Sheridan, the original choices for the male leads were Guy Middleton and Dirk Bogarde; they turned the film down, and their roles were given to Kenneth More and John Gregson respectively. Sheridan also claimed the studio wanted Claire Bloom to play her part. Sheridan was offered two other films around the same time (Grand National Night and Street Corner) and asked Dirk Bogarde for his advice. According to Sheridan, "He told me to take Genevieve if I got it. He had turned it down because he didn’t want to do comedy again... I can’t remember who they wanted instead of Kay Kendall."McFarlane p 538
Sheridan first met Cornelius at a restaurant called ‘The Vendome’: I squeezed into a window seat, and when Henry Cornelius finally came in he said in a loud voice, ‘I see you're sitting with your back to the light because you know you’re too old for this part’. It was not a charming start, and that sort of thing continued all the way through the film. He was not a character I would have enjoyed working for again. After the near-fatal hunch with Henry Cornelius, Bill Rose [screenwriter] came in and we had a few glasses of wine. I must have relaxed and been funny because I was offered the role.McFarlane p 538
Kenneth More was appearing in the enormously successful production of The Deep Blue Sea when Henry Cornelius approached him to play the part of Ambrose. More said Cornelius never saw him in the play, but cast him on the basis of his screen test for Scott in the Antarctic and work in an earlier film, The Galloping Major which Cornelius had directed. More's fee has been reported as being £3,500 or £4,000. According to More, Kay Kendall was already cast when Cornelius offered him his part.More, 1959 p 129
Shooting Filming took place between October 1952 and February 1953 over 57 days, with three quarters of the movie shot outside, which was rare for the time.More, 1959 p 130 Most filming took place near Pinewood Studios. Challis said "it was the first film made on location in all weather. Up until around that time if you had sunlight and everything was matching you couldn't shoot, if the light went yellow at four o'clock you couldn't shoot." However because of the low budget of Genevieve he said "in order to have a hope of making it" they had to "shoot every day irrespective of weather" and not "rely on whether there's enough light to get an exposure."
More recalls "the shooting of the picture was hell. Everything went wrong, even the weather." More says because of Cornelius' perfectionism the film went over budget by £20,000 and the insurance company had to provide the extra money. More wrote the insurance company "didn’t like paying out. To save a bit here and save a bit there, it had little men prowling around the studio, switching off lights that weren’t needed. During the final week’s shooting they watched the electricity meters like hawks. It was as bad as having the bailiffs in."More 1959 p 134 Erica Masters said "the studio [Rank] couldn't have been more unhelpful" during the shoot. "They just thought, 'These small people, they haven't got much money, what kind of a film are they doing?' They had their own people; they don't really want to know."
However Sheridan said "We got on so well together and it worked. Ninety per cent of the credit must go to Bill Rose, a wonderful writer."McFarlane p 538 More said "we enjoyed ourselves immensely" during filming although he disliked making a movie and appearing in a play at the same time.More 1959 p 131
Challis said the movie "was a photographic horror from the academic view of things but it was a successful picture and so it got a good write up for the photography." He called the movie "a documentary in weather which was totally out of continuity, nothing matches. But we had fun doing it and it was a marvellous script."
Rutland Mews South, London SW7, was used during filming as the location for the home of Alan and Wendy.
More says John Gregson did not have a full driving licence when he made the movie.More, 1959 p 131
Music The themes of the musical score were composed and performed by Larry Adler, and harmonised and orchestrated by composer Graham Whettam who wrote the orchestral scores incorporating Larry Adler's tunes. Dance numbers were added by Eric Rogers. Adler wrote in his memoirs that he became involved in the film when Vivienne Knight, who did publicity for Rank, head him playing at a party and arranged a meeting between him and Cornelius.Adler pp 191-192 Adler loved the script but the producer did not have enough money to pay his requested fee; he accepted 2.5% of the producer's profits, which turned out to be lucrative.Alder p 182 However when the film was released in the US, Adler's name was left off the credits due to his perceived left wing sympatheties and was replaced by Muir Mathieson, who had conducted the orchestra but not composed the music.Adler p 184
Kendall's trumpet solo was mimed to a rendition by the jazz trumpeter Kenny Baker.