The Vicar of Bray

1937
1h 8m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Musical set in the Civil War period about a vicar who, by adjusting his policies, manages to retain his living under both king and Cromwell. Based on a traditional story and song.Musical set in the Civil War period about a vicar who, by adjusting his policies, manages to retain his living under both king and Cromwell. Based on a traditional story and song.Musical set in the Civil War period about a vicar who, by adjusting his policies, manages to retain his living under both king and Cromwell. Based on a traditional story and song.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.5/10

YOUR RATING

4User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The film is based on the satirical 18th century song, The Vicar of Bray, about a clergyman who changes his religion and allegiance to suit whichever monarch comes to power and thus always retains his position. The chorus of the song is: "And this is the law I will maintain until my dying day, Sir, That whatsoever King shall reign I'll be the Vicar of Bray, Sir!" Although the film is set in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland, the original song was about a certain vicar of the village of Bray in Berkshire, England, more than 250 miles away.

Goofs
Prince Charles' lover is an actress, at a period when women were banned from legitimate theater.

Crazy credits
Opening credits prologue: The tragic reign of Charles the First. At the palace of Whitehall, the King, beset by problems, receives his Irish friend and Counsellor, Lord Brendon.

Soundtracks
Gaelic Patrol
(uncredited)
Music by Sol Mercado
De Wolfe Music Ltd

User reviews4

Review

Featured review

3/10

Ambitious But Misguided

Presumably producer Julius Hagen was prompted by the Abdication Crisis of 1936 to make this elaborate and literate but superficial and rushed history lesson with songs with a subdued Stanley Holloway with a brogue heading a large cast (all looking rather self-conscious in wigs), in yet another expensive folly of the kind that was soon to plunge Hagen into bankruptcy.