Trottie True
| Trottie True | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Directed by | Brian Desmond Hurst |
| Produced by | Hugh Stewart |
| Written by | Denis Freeman |
| Based on | a novel by S.J. Simon and Caryl Brahms |
| Starring |
Jean Kent James Donald Hugh Sinclair |
| Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
| Cinematography | Harry Waxman |
| Edited by | Ralph Kemplen |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
General Film Distributors (UK) Eagle Lion (USA) |
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Release date
|
9 August 1949 (London)(UK) 1949 (US) |
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Running time
|
96 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Trottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was known as The Gay Lady in the U.S., and is a rare British Technicolour film of the period. According to the BFI Screenonline, "British 1940s Technicolor films offer an abundance of visual pleasures, especially when lovingly restored by the National Film Archive. Trottie True is not among the best known, but comes beautifully packaged, gift wrapped with all the trimmings."
Trottie True is a Gaiety Girl of the 1890s who, after a brief romance with a balloonist, marries Lord Digby Landon, becoming Duchess of Wellwater when he succeeds to the dukedom. I
The film was based on a novel published in 1946. The New York Times called it "a typical Gay nineties success story... amuses but never convulses the reader."
Producer Hugh Stewart read the story when he was recovering from jaundice. He bought the film rights and tried to finance the film through MGM, with whom Stewart had a contract. MGM did not want to make the film but Stewart got it financed at Two Cities. MGM loaned Stewart to Two Cities to produce the film.
Stewart says that a number of directors were considered, including Harold French, before going with Brian Desmond Hurst.
Jean Kent called it her "favourite film. And Harry Waxman was a marvellous cameraman. They weren't good with the music, though. I had a battle about that." Kent went on to elaborate:
We were scheduled to start and I hadn't heard a word about the music, so I rang up whoever was the head of Two Cities... I finally managed to get half the music done and then I had another argument about the first number. It dissolves from the brown eyed young Trottie to the hazel eyed big Trotttie, which was hysterical. They wanted me to sing something in schottische... I said 'It's a very nice number but I come from the music halls and I tell you you cannot use a schottische at this point. So he [the music director] changed it to 6/8 time.
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Wikipedia