Autumn Crocus

Basil Dean has always struck me as an underused director who had considerable talent but was sadly overlooked for reasons that I do not know.

AUTUMN CROCUS shows some very good directorial touches, even though the naissant sound cinema of the time - 1934 - did not help. On the positive side, he had a very good leading trio in Ivor Novello, Fay Compton, and Muriel Aked... each a very different personality from the next.

Aked struck me as the nag and domineering school boss who tries to curtail 35 year old Compton's possible first foray into love, Compton plays very effectively the naive schoolteacher taken in by the beauty of the Austrian Tyrol and in particular the charm of hotelier Mr Steiner, who has a good singing voice, a splendid sense of humor, and knows how to entice the willing female he senses in Compton.

Obviously, all that shines is not gold, and his flirting and the crocus flowers that he keeps giving Compton hide a surprisingly deceptive side. Novello's performance deserves plaudits for his sympathetic stealth, yet it is Aked's loyalty that I take foremost from this film in moral and acting terms.

Cinematography is competent, the script overladen with singing and Tyrolese music, which I found annoying after a while. 7/10.

"Autumn Crocus" was the first play of UK writer Dodie Smith, using pseudonym A.L. Anthony. The West End hit starred Francis Lederer in the Novello role, with Martita Hunt and Fay Compton who repeated the school teacher role in the 1934 film. Intriguingly, this 1931 plot was borrowed (or inspired?)American playwright Arthur Laurents whose 1952 play, "Time of the Cuckoo" with Shirley Booth also had a spinster school teacher seeking romance on her first trip abroad, and finding it with a handsome local. (The UK teacher longs for the Alps, while the US teacher goes for Venice.) I utterly adore Ivor Novello, but sadly must report that, in the light of modern sensibilities, here he does NOT play a romantic or sympathetic figure. Rather, he is comes off as a smarmy serial seducer of fragile tourists. To avoid a spoiler, I won't add to my list of his casual cruelties. Technically a beautiful film and an exquisite performance by Fay Compton, but today's audiences would cheer and clap rather than grow misty eyed at the conclusion.

"Time of the Cuckoo" was then filmed as "Summertime" in 1955 with Katharine Hepburn as the teacher, the seducer (Rossano Brazzi)being somewhat less caddish, thus allowing more poignancy. Then Richard Rodgers, with Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, turned the plot into the less-than-successful musical. "Do I Hear a Waltz?" Since most older woman today are single by choice and have traveled extensively, we are unlikely to see any further reincarnations of this plot.

Fay Compton is a teacher in Manchester. She takes a European trip with her fellow teacher, Muriel Aked. When they stop at a small Tyrolean inn, she finds herself enchanted by the mountains and by the innkeeper, Ivor Novello.

It's Novello's last movie. He's mildly ridiculous, and knowingly so, with his accent and his open manner, and his tale of being a failure as a waiter in England. Yet he is openly so, and so honest in his thoughts and actions, that for a while, I thought he was simply a man who enjoyed taking care of his guests, and whose kindness and generosity of spirit Miss Compton has fallen in love with. Her performance is perfect as a woman who has never known anything but the deadly atmosphere of England factory, trying to teach children something: 35 (Miss Compton was 40 at the time), pretending to be 29, trying to do the right thing, she is a perfect embodiment of the well-written character confronted with beauty and happiness she has never before known.

With George Zucco, Jack Hawkins, and a 19-year-old Pamela Blake.

Love story set in the Austrian Tyrol stars Ivor Novello (in his last film) as a hotel keeper who falls for an English teacher (Fay Compton) who is on vacation.

Compton plays an aging woman (she's 35) who dreams about a mountain village and love. She finds both on her vacation, but her friend (Esme Church) warns her against being silly and ruining her life. Yet Compton is set to "run away" and stay in the village with Novello until she learns his secret.

Interesting look at two different cultures and unrequited love. Among the hotel guests are a "modern" unmarried couple who share a room (Jack Hawkins, Diana Beaumont), a vacationing parson and his old-maid sister (George Zucco, Muriel Aked), and a traditional German couple. The story show us the "modern" couple who defy conventions but are snubbed by "polite society." On the other hand we see the "proper" woman who has become a nosy old maid with no life of her own.

Will Compton defy convention and stay in the Tyrol with Novello? Or will be pay heed to her friend's advice and go back to England and her job? Fay Compton is excellent as the wavering teacher. She has a lovely scene where she sings a sad English ballad, and she's believable as the woman who knows her chance at love may be her last. Novello is also excellent as the hotelier who wants more love in his life. Despite some awkward rear projections, the film has a nice look and the Austrian mountains are gorgeous. After almost 2 dozen films, this was Novello's final film role.

Basil Dean decided to make both this film and The Constant Nymph with Tyrolean backgrounds.He sent a second unit to Austria in charge of Carol Reed.They were beset by problems including days of rain.Dean decided to direct this film himself and was rightly dissatisfied by his efforts.He was concerned that some actors looked down on the cinema and their minds were on their evening theatre performance.Clearly this refers to Novello who gives a truly awful performance in his final film.He is totally miscast with a woeful accent.Compton on the other hand gives a sensitive performance.Whilst the film did well in better class cinemas it did not fare well with what he called the cheaper seats.Another step on the path to his exit from Ealing.