Lloyds of London

A bright young lad goes to work at LLOYD'S OF London, the famous insurance house. He grows up to become a power in the institution, with much adventure & financial intrigue along the way, but love continues to elude him...

This lavish film is great fun to watch for two primary reasons: some very good acting & the history of Lloyd's, preeminent in its field, which it details. 20th Century Fox obviously spent a pretty penny on the production values, and it shows.

Freddie Bartholomew has top billing and effortlessly steals the first half hour of the film. When his character grows up, Master Bartholomew is sorely missed. He turns into Tyrone Power, who is billed fourth. This was the film that made Power a star, and he's quite effective in the role, if you overlook the American accent.

An excellent supporting cast lends a hand: wonderful old Sir Guy Standing as Power's mentor at Lloyd's - this powerful actor would soon have his life cut short by a rattlesnake bite; Una O'Connor as Bartholomew's harridan aunt; Montagu Love as a duplicitous pirate; obese Robert Greig as the jocular First Lord of the Admiralty; E. E. Clive as a dyspeptic magistrate; oily George Sanders as a noble cad; and marvelous old Sir C. Aubrey Smith as a flirtatious peer.

The romantic subplot is ludicrous: Power moons over beautiful, married Madeleine Carroll for 20 years, while pert barmaid Virginia Field pines for him; none of them so much as gain a wrinkle or an extra ounce during this time.

The film earns high marks in its generally faithful depiction of the history both of Lloyd's, and of Horatio Nelson.

In response to ADAMSHL's comment on LLoyd's insuring slave ships-In one scene when the insurers were in deep trouble, Blake was asked if he would insure a slave ship and he curtly said no! to emphasize the director's view of that practice.

It is a pleasant change to watch a movie that flows through the acting and dialog rather than sound effects and extreme graphics. I could even understand all the actors voices in spite of 60 yr old audio technology. Most present day English movies have horrible sound and many words are lost because of the actors elocution.

The main value of this movie is not a history lesson in politics but one in the lives of those who lived in that period and their environment, clothing, etc.

Tyrone Power was only 22 with a few films and Broadway credits when he was given his first major role in "Lloyds of London." This film was originally assigned to Don Ameche, but Henry King insisted on testing Power and, on viewing the test, told Zanuck he wanted the young man for the role. "In two years," King told Zanuck, "he will be one of the biggest stars ever." Good instincts. Power plays Jonathan Blake, a fictional character, whose childhood friendship with Horatio Nelson helps Nelson through the Napoleonic war. Blake becomes one of the syndicate owners at Lloyd's of London and, against every other syndicate, continues insuring the damaged British fleet so that Nelson has all the power necessary to defeat the French.

The radiant Madeline Carroll is Power's love interest and George Sanders is her cad husband. Sanders worked with Power on many films, including the one Power was making when he died 22 years later. Virginia Field is Polly, a young waitress in love with Jonathan, but it's unrequited.

The acting is top-notch, including beautiful performances from Freddie Bartholomew and Douglas Nelson as the young Blake and Nelson. Sir Guy Standing is marvelous as Power's mentor. Power is gorgeous, with his unlined face (even with a streak of gray hair as he ages -"Zanuck would never let me age in any film," he once said) and the world's longest eyelashes, and his acting is excellent. He carries the bulk of the film beautifully, conveying a strong presence, though he merely suggests an English accent. Darryl F. Zanuck was his biggest fan and for good reason, as the actor would bring in hit after hit during his long tenure at Twentieth Century Fox.

This is a great period piece, interesting as well as touching. Highly recommended.

While I read that this movie was a very, very fictionalized account of the early days of Lloyd's of London, it still was a nifty 1930s-style adventure film. This is not exactly a wonderful endorsement, I know, but the film was far from perfect. Now if you are a Brit or a real Anglophile, then you will probably like the film more than the average person--with all its "Huzzah and God save the King" style of hooplah. I am not 100% sure why Hollywood embraced Britain so strongly in the 1930s (WWII would explain this for 1940s and 50s films).

A very young Tyrone Power played the lead and much of the film concerned the British shipping industry during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. It was mildly interesting but that's about all. His love interest was the married Madeleine Carroll, though for the life of me, I didn't understand why he didn't pursue the prettier and available (and very amply endowed) Virginia Field--she seemed just as nice and almost identical to Ms. Carroll in looks and devotion to Tyrone--especially since his unrequited relationship that lasted years to Ms. Carroll just made him seem awfully desperate and pathetic.

In the end, this is yet another costumer from the era--neither great nor bad. The acting was decent and the production values good. It's worth a look, but certainly not great or deserving special attention by anyone.

Lloyds of London concerns two boyhood chums, Jonathan Blake and Horatio Nelson who come upon a plot to scuttle a ship, steal a cargo, and collect the insurance. Jonathan goes off to London to Lloyd's coffee house where the insurance underwriters gather to warn them of the scheme. But Horatio can't make it. His uncle on his mother's side is going to take him on as a midshipman in the Navy. Well we all know what happened to him.

As for the fictional Jonathan Blake, he goes to work for Lloyd's of London and grows with the company. He also falls in love with a married woman, but she's married to a Regency cad.

And when the Napoleonic wars resume, British shipping is in peril of the French Fleet. It's a crisis that Lloyd's of London and particularly Jonathan Blake have a hand in seeing the nation through. For how that's done, you have to watch this very enjoyable period piece.

No actor, before or since, has ever done costume pieces better than Tyrone Power. This film was his big break as an actor and he shines in the part of Jonathan Blake. George Sanders is of course the Regency cad and no one was ever a better cad on the screen. Madeleine Carroll was Sanders's lost suffering wife.

This also marked the debut of the combination of Director Henry King and player Tyrone Power in the first of nine films they collaborated on. Some of the best work done by both men.

In one of his last films Sir Guy Standing is the wise and honest Mr. Angerstein who serves as Power's mentor/father figure. It is probably the best thing he ever did on screen. And big kudos in the supporting cast go to Virginia Field who was waitress Polly who's carrying a Statue of Liberty size torch for Ty.

I can't also forget the boys, Freddie Bartholomew and Douglas Scott, who play Blake and Nelson in the first thirty minutes of the film. They both shine in these roles and their friendship is deep, sincere, and affecting. They have to be good because their performances explain the motivation behind Ty Power's character and what he does.

Lloyd's of London is a wonderful costume drama with real heroes and villains, the kind they unfortunately don't make any more in this day and age.