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Marry Me! (1949 film)

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Marry Me!
Original British cinema poster
Directed byTerence Fisher
Written byDenis Waldock
Lewis Gilbert
Produced byBetty E. Box
StarringDerek Bond
Susan Shaw
Patrick Holt
Carol Marsh
David Tomlinson
Zena Marshall
Guy Middleton
Nora Swinburne
CinematographyRay Elton
Edited byGordon Pilkington
Music byClifton Parker
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • 7 June 1949 (1949-06-07)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£117,941[1][2][3]
Box office£63,000 (by 1953)[1] or £50,300[3]

Marry Me! (alternative title: I Want to Get Married[4]) is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Terence Fisher, and starring Derek Bond, Susan Shaw, Patrick Holt, Carol Marsh and David Tomlinson.[5]

The film was formerly known as I Want to Get Married.[6]

Plot

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Newspaper journalist David Haig is assigned by his Fleet Street editor to go undercover and write about the people behind the ads in the Marriage Chronicle, a weekly newspaper published by the H & E Marriage Bureau. During his initial interview with owners Hester and Emily Parsons, he tells them he is an Australian sheepman and steals some of their files.

Dancehall hostess Pat Cooper is fed up with her life. She is paired with self-described "country bumpkin" Martin Roberts. He makes a good first impression; then she learns he is a clergyman and backs out. However, he persists and wins her over. He is on the point of asking for her hand in marriage when Brenda Delamere, her flatmate, inadvertently reveals her true occupation. After digesting the news, he decides he still wants her, but she pretends she was only toying with him and sends him away.

Frenchwoman Marcelle Duclos' permit is expiring, so she seeks a husband to remain in Britain, offering £500 as further inducement. Andrew Scott needs some capital to purchase a partnership. They are honest with each other about their reasons for marriage. After they fall in love, she informs him that she was the girlfriend of a charming, handsome man who turned out to be a thief and murderer named Louis Renier. When she learned he had escaped from prison, she fled to England. She is horrified to spot him. She confesses to Scott that she is actually Renier's wife. He refuses to leave her, despite the danger. Renier finds her and waits for Scott with a pistol. The two men struggle, and Renier falls over the balcony to his death.

Saunders, Sir Gordon Scott's valet, is retiring and buying a farm. The cynical Scott disapproves of marriage and women in general. Scott impersonates Saunders on the spur of the moment when Saunders' match, schoolteacher Enid Lawson, telephones. Upon meeting the woman, Scott deliberately behaves obnoxiously, but is impressed by her spirited rejection. When she starts to leave, he tries to explain his behaviour, but she slaps him. She returns, having forgotten her gloves, and all becomes clear to her when the real Saunders appears. She stays for dinner, served by Saunders. Afterwards, she is astonished to learn that not only has Saunders quickly deduced her identity, he also believes that she is not good enough for him. She departs posthaste. Scott cannot get her out of her mind and goes to the marriage bureau to try to obtain her address. Lawson has just left, but returns for her gloves, and all is eventually forgiven.

Miss Beamish is selected for Haig. He is unimpressed and leaves after a brief conversation. On the street, he bumps into Doris Pearson, the second choice of the bureau. They get along, but are each lying to the other. She claims she is from the upper class, whereas she is constantly making up fantasies about herself. When Haig's article is published, complete with a photograph, she sees it and breaks up with him, stating that she hates liars. He cannot find her, until he goes to the restaurant where she works as a waitress. He manages to persuade her to agree to marry him.

Cast

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Reception

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The film was a box office flop, recording a loss of £67,600.[1]

Producer's receipts were £38,200 in the UK and £12,100 overseas.[3]

Bosley Crowther in The New York Times found the first third of the film "a delight to watch," but, despite convincing dialogue and an "excellent cast", "the film as a whole is a disappointingly contrived package job". Crowther thought that the best story, with Guy Middleton, "rates inclusion in one of the Somerset Maugham showcases", but he concluded that the writers "have blunted their ingenious stories with some melodramatic and whimsical resolutions. Terrence Fisher's direction is strictly assembly-line."[8] 

References

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  1. ^ a b c Spicer, Andrew (5 September 2006). Sydney Box. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719059995 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Spicer, Andrew (April 2006). 'The Apple of Mr. Rank's Mercatorial Eye': Managing Director of Gainsborough Pictures. p. 106. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  3. ^ a b c Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 354. Income is in terms of producer's share of receipts.
  4. ^ "Marry Me (1949)". BFI. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Marry Me! (1949) - Terence Fisher | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie" – via www.allmovie.com.
  6. ^ "Irish Actor "Choosy"". The Argus. Melbourne. 15 February 1949. p. 3 Supplement: The Argus Woman's Magazine. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ Vagg, Stephen (23 September 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink.
  8. ^ T, Bosley Crowtherh H. (14 March 1952). "The Screen: Two New Films On Local Scene; "The Marrying Kind," With Judy Holliday and Aldo Ray, Has Premiere at Victoria British Film, "Marry Me," Comes to Art Theatre -- Patrick Holt and Susan Shaw in Cast". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
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