Wikipedia

Dear Octopus (film)

Dear Octopus (aslso known as The Randolph Family) is a 1943 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding and Celia Johnson.[1][2] It was written by Patrick Kirwan and R. J. Minney from an adaptation by Esther McCracken of the 1938 play Dear Octopus by Dodie Smith.

Dear Octopus
Directed byHarold French
Written byPatrick Kirwan
R. J. Minney
Esther McCracken (adaptation)
Based onthe play by Dodie Smith
Produced byEdward Black
StarringMargaret Lockwood
Michael Wilding
Celia Johnson
CinematographyArthur Crabtree
Edited byMichael C. Chorlton
Music byHubert Bath
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • 20 September 1943 (1943-09-20) (UK)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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Well-to-do couple Dora and Charles Randolph are celebrating their golden wedding, and three generations meet at the Randolph country home. As the relatives gather, each reveals his or her personal quirks and shortcomings. Caught in the middle is family secretary Penny Fenton, who has the unenviable task of sorting and smoothing out the family's deep-set hostilities and jealousies so that a good time can be had by all.[3][4]

Cast

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Production

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The film was a rare comedy from Gainsborough at the time in that it was not a vehice for a specific comic.[5]

Lockwood made it after The Man in Grey in the spring of 1943. She wrote in her memoirs that "there had been some trouble over the script of this film. Neither Herbert [her agent] nor I had considered the part which was offered to me sufficiently good. After much arguing my part was built up, but even so I was not pleased with the film, and felt that for me it had been a backward step."[6]

Director Harold French later said "I'd liked the play and thought I could make a picture of it and I think I did some of it well." He called it "a lovely film to make, very harmonious cast. I was delighted to get away from war films and make something light and frothy. It was just what the public wanted."[7]

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Production is conscientious and direction adequate, but the play – it remains a play photographed – is primarily an actors' piece."[8]

TV Guide described the film as a "routine English comedy of manners", but added, "it has its moments."[9]

Allmovie wrote "the film is variations on a single theme, albeit consistently amusing ones."[10]

Box office

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Kinematograph Weekly listed this film among those which were "runners up" in its survey of the most popular films in Britain in 1943.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Dear Octopus". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  2. ^ "Dear Octopus". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  3. ^ "Dear Octopus". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  4. ^ "The Randolph Family (1943) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie.
  5. ^ Vagg, Stephen (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black". Filmink. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
  6. ^ Lockwood, Margaret (1955). Lucky Star: The Autobiography of Margaret Lockwood. Odhams Press Limited. pp. 99–100.
  7. ^ mcFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. Metheun. p. 212.
  8. ^ "Dear Octopus". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 10 (109): 99. 1 January 1943 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ "The Randolph Family". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
  10. ^ "The Randolph Family (1943) – Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast". AllMovie.
  11. ^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 231.
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