All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Rachel Field (by)
Casey Robinson (screen play)

Release Date:

13 July 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

When lovely and virtuous governess Henriette Deluzy comes to educate the children of the debonair Duc de Praslin...

Plot Keywords:

Children | Duke | Governess | Jealous Wife | Scandal

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Henriette Deluzy-Desportes
Charles Boyer	...	Duc de Praslin
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Henry Martyn Field
Barbara O'Neil	...	Duchesse de Praslin
Virginia Weidler	...	Louise
Helen Westley	...	Madame LeMaire
Walter Hampden	...	Pasquier
Henry Daniell	...	Broussais
Harry Davenport	...	Pierre
George Coulouris	...	Charpentier
Montagu Love	...	Marechal Sebastiani
Janet Beecher	...	Miss Haines
June Lockhart	...	Isabelle
Ann E. Todd	...	Berthe (as Ann Todd)
Richard Nichols	...	Reynald
Fritz Leiber	...	Abbe Gallard
Ian Keith	...	DeLangle
Sibyl Harris	...	Mlle. Maillard
Edward Fielding	...	Dr. Louis
Mary Anderson	...	Rebecca Jay
Ann Gillis	...	Emily Schuyler
Peggy Stewart	...	Helen Lexington
Victor Kilian	...	Gendarme
Madge Crane	...	Madame Gauthier (as Mrs. Gardner Crane)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Egon Brecher	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Doris Bren	...	Agnes Brevoort (uncredited)
Carmen Bretta	...	Maxine - Frances' Maid (uncredited)
Virginia Brissac	...	Nun (uncredited)
Georgia Caine	...	Lady at the Theatre (uncredited)
Glen Cavender	...	Jean (uncredited)
Cora Sue Collins	...	Louise de Rham (uncredited)
Claire Du Brey	...	Nun (uncredited)
Gloria Fisher	...	Kate Delancey (uncredited)
Mary Forbes	...	Lady at the Theatre (uncredited)
Brenda Fowler	...	Nun (uncredited)
Betty Jane Graham	...	Clara Parker (uncredited)
Betty Jean Hainey	...	Elizabeth Ward (uncredited)
Creighton Hale	...	Ship's Officer (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Captain (uncredited)
Anne Howard	...	Isabelle Loullard (uncredited)
Marilyn Knowlden	...	Marianna Van Horn (uncredited)
Vera Lewis	...	Queen Amélia of France (uncredited)
Eric Mayne	...	Member of the Court (uncredited)
Natalie Moorhead	...	Lady at the Theatre (uncredited)
Susanne Ransom	...	Dora Vanderbilt (uncredited)
Frank Reicher	...	Police Official (uncredited)
Christian Rub	...	Loti (uncredited)
Ellinor Vanderveer	...	Opera Spectator in King's Group (uncredited)
Jeanne Wells	...	Mary Simpson (uncredited)
Lottie Williams	...	Servant (uncredited)

Directed by
Anatole Litvak

Writing credits
Rachel Field		(by)
Casey Robinson		(screen play)

Produced by
David Lewis	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer
Anatole Litvak	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Ernest Haller		(director of photography) (as Ernie Haller)

Film Editing by
Warren Low		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Carl Jules Weyl

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly		(costumes)

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jack L. Warner	....	in charge of production
Al Alleborn	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Irving Rapper	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Sherry Shourds	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert B. Lee	....	sound

Special Effects by
Byron Haskin	....	special effects
Rex Wimpy	....	special effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Don Siegel	....	montage (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestral arrangements

Other crew
Bernard DeRoux	....	technical advisor (as Bernard Deroux)
Irving Rapper	....	dialogue director

Production Companies

• Warner Bros (presents) (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.) (A Warner Bros.-First National Picture) (An Anatole Litvak Production)

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Home Video (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6089) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros

Trivia:

Was June Lockhart's second film, and first credited role. Out of the four children starring in the movie, she was the only one to continue acting in to adulthood.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): As he lays sick, the governess has Raynald count the segments of tangerine. She starts out counting the first three with him. She interrupts her own count to speak with the Duke, but Raynald continues on. When the governess resumes the count with Raynald, the actual tangerine piece is segment number 7. She mistakenly calls it number 10 and continues with the count from there.

Quotes:

Duc de Praslin:May I have Pierre come for your luggage?
Duchesse de Praslin:Theo, last night I poured my heart out to you in a letter. I crept to your doorway which I am foridden to enter and stooped in humility and pushed it under the seal!
Duc de Praslin:I received it, Frances.
Duchesse de Praslin:But look! You didn't even open it! Oh Theo, do you suppose this empty pretense is what I hoped for?Lastnight I begged for you to come to me! I hoped we might start this journey today united as we once were! Theo, Theo! Have you completely forgotten the life we once shared together?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Desperation (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lullaby

The Murder that Helped Topple a Monarchy

This excellent period drama is based on a popular novel of 1939 by Rachel Field. It told a version of the story of the murder, in Paris in 1847, of Fanny Sebastiani Choiseul-Praslin, Duchesse and wife of Theobald, Duc de Choiseul-Praslin. Fanny was the daughter of Marachal Horace Sebastiani, one of the leading political and social figures in the July Monarchy or Orleans Monarchy of France, under King Louis Phillippe (1830 - 1848). This was a middle-class supported monarchy, and was far more liberal than it's predecessor monarchy under King Louis's cousins the Bourbons. But by 1847 it had grown corrupt, and it was suffering a series a serious scandals. The murder of Duchesse Fanny by her husband was the last real blow. Supposedly the marriage had collapsed due to the growing relationship between Theobald and the children's governess, Mlle. Helene Deluzy-Desportes. The actual relationship between the governess and the Duc remains questioned, although most believe she was his lover. Rachel Field, a descendant of Fanny and her later husband, Rev. Martyn Field, presented the governess as the victim of circumstances (working in a household that was falling apart). Finally, whatever the cause, Theobald beat Fanny to death, and tried to make it look like a burglar did it. Instead the Surete was not fooled, and Theobald was arrested. But while under arrest he took poison, and he died denying his guilt and denying the involvement of the governess. Fanny came to America, where she taught school and married into the Field family (her brother-in-law Cyrus was a financier who laid the Atlantic Cable, and her brother-in-law Stephen was an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court). As for the French, they blamed the government for allowing the Duc to escape justice, and within a year the July Monarchy was overthrown. Marachel Sebastiani (Montague Love in the film) died prematurely in 1851 - the last victim of the crime.

The film, except for the pro-Deluzy-Desportes slant, is excellent with a fine, restrained performance by Davis, an intense one by Boyer (who finally explodes in one scene where he shows his thorough hatred for his wife), and a marvelous performance by Barbara O'Neill as Fanny. I would thoroughly recommend this one for movie fans - a fine example of the best of Warner's historical films.