The Amateur Gentleman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Thornton Freeland |
Produced by |
Marcel Hellman Douglas Fairbanks Jr. |
Written by |
Jeffery Farnol (novel) Clemence Dane Edward Knoblock Sergei Nolbandov |
Starring |
Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Elissa Landi Gordon Harker Margaret Lockwood |
Music by |
Richard Addinsell Walter Goehr |
Cinematography | Günther Krampf |
Edited by | Conrad von Molo |
Production
company |
Criterion Films
|
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date
|
20 January 1936 |
Running time
|
102 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Amateur Gentleman is a 1936 British drama film directed by Thornton Freeland and starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Elissa Landi, Gordon Harker and Margaret Lockwood, with music by Richard Addinsell. It is based on the 1913 novel The Amateur Gentleman by Jeffrey Farnol. In an effort to prove his father's innocence of a charge of stealing, a young man disguises himself as a gentleman and travels to Regency London.
It was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by Edward Carrick. The story was previously filmed in the silent era in Britain The Amateur Gentleman and in Hollywood as The Amateur Gentleman 1926 with Richard Barthelmess.
Innkeeper and ex-boxer John Barty is bent on making his son Barnabas a gentleman, but has his doubts after he finds out that the younger Barty is appalled when a man is hanged for stealing a mere five shillings. Then some aristocrats arrive at the inn. Barnabas is entranced by the beautiful Lady Cleone Meredith. She is engaged to Louis Chichester, who does not conceal from her the fact that he is marrying her for her wealth. Also in the party is the equally poverty-stricken Pauline Darville, the woman Chichester had romanced before Cleone.
As Cleone's grandfather, the Marquess of Comberhurst, prepares for bed, he gives John Barty a valuable string of pearls to put away for safekeeping. This is seen by Chichester. That night, the Marquess is robbed. Chichester accuses the innkeeper. Some of the stolen items are found in John Barty's possession, though not the pearls, and the unfortunate man is taken away, to be hanged in six weeks.