Stolen Life (1939 film)
Stolen Life is a 1939 British drama film directed by Paul Czinner and starring Michael Redgrave, Elisabeth Bergner and Wilfrid Lawson.
| Stolen Life | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) French release poster | |
| Directed by | Paul Czinner |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Philip Tannura |
| Edited by | Frederick Wilson |
| Music by | William Walton |
Production company | Orion Productions |
| Distributed by | Paramount British Pictures |
Release date | 18 January 1939 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Production
The film was made at Pinewood Studios with location filming in Cornwall, the South of France and the Dolomites in Italy. It was adapted from a novel by Karel J. Benes and was remade in 1946 as A Stolen Life.[1] The film score was composed by William Walton. The film's sets were by the art director John Bryan, while the costumes were designed by Joe Strassner.
The film was re-released in 1942 during the Second World War. It premiered in France in 1946 and in 1951 in West Germany. Czinner and Bergner had been forced to leave Germany following the Nazi takeover in 1933 and their films were banned there.
Synopsis
After meeting and apparently falling in love with Martina, a young woman he meets in Switzerland, mountaineer Alan MacKenzie instead marries her more forceful twin sister Sylvina. Later, while he is away leading an expedition to conquer a previously unclimbable mountain in Tibet, the two sisters holiday in Brittany. After Sylvina is drowned in a sailing accident, Martina is mistaken for her after being rescued from the water clutching her sister's wedding ring. Deciding to impersonate her dead sister, she finds that Sylvina had been carrying on an affair with another man and planned to divorce Alan. After Alan arrives in Athens with his team, having successfully climbed the mountain, the couple embrace after he discovers her true identity.
Cast
- Elisabeth Bergner as Sylvina Lawrence / Martina Lawrence
- Michael Redgrave as Alan MacKenzie
- Wilfrid Lawson as Thomas E. Lawrence
- Mabel Terry-Lewis as Aunt Helen
- Richard Ainley as Morgan
- Kenneth Milne-Buckley as Garrett
- Daniel Mendaille as Old Pauliac
- Pierre Juvenet as Doctor
- Stella Arbenina as Nurse
- Kaye Seeley as Maturin
- Ernest Ferny as Superintendent Demangeon
- Cot D'Ordan as Clerk
- Dorice Fordred as Eileen, Sylvina's Maid
- Annie Esmond as Cook
- Clement McCallin as Karal Anderson
- Oliver Johnston as Professor Bardesley
- Roy Russell as British Minister
- Homer Regus as Mayor
References
- Goble p.966
Bibliography
- Goble, Alan. The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.