The Man in Grey (1943) User Reviews

Margaret Lockwood in Training for "The Wicked Lady"

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 13 January 2006]

Most of us have seen Gainsborough's film of "The Wicked Lady" (1945) as it is easily commercially available on DVD/Video and is shown on old movie channels and I suppose is arguably Margaret Lockwood's (ML) most famous role in the public's eyes."The Man in Grey" (1943), another Gainsborough costume drama film, was produced two years earlier and must have had a decisive influence when casting for the aforementioned film.Once again Margaret is at her scheming, calculating, evil best in the role of Hesther.In the "Miss Goody Two Shoes" role of Clarissa, Phyllis Calvert oozes genuine charm.James Mason (JM) was developing his character of the upper class sadistic cad as Lord Rohan (he and ML of course had the principal roles in "The Wicked Lady"), while Stuart Grainger inhabits his customary charm in the role of Rokeby.Included in the main supporting character roles (who also appeared in the latter film) were Gainsborough stalwarts Martita Hunt as Miss Patchett and a disguised (it didn't fool me) Beatrice Varley playing a gypsy.Finally consistent direction for these two films was given by its director, Leslie Arliss.

The action opens at an auction when a later generation of Clarissa and Rokeby (played by the same actors mentioned above) form a similar friendship as their forebears.They are bidding on objects which subsequently feature in the "go back in time" drama.Shift back 250 years or so and Lord Rohan needs an aristocratic brood mare to carry on the line of Rohans.Clarissa is put in the starting frame at a time when marriages were more of a property contract between "noble" families, and certainly not bound in love.That's where mistresses came in.I will not provide a "spoiler" but like in "The Wicked Lady" the good lady invites a veritable cobra into her house and soon ML is plotting to take over her role since she and JM have so much in common.

If you enjoyed "The Wicked Lady" you are bound to relish "The Man in Grey".With such a pedigree of actors on hand it cannot fail to please.

Who Dishonours Us, Dies

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 26 October 2020]

"The Man in Grey" was the first of the "Gainsborough melodramas", a series of films made by Gainsborough Pictures; they generally had a period setting and a highly dramatic plot. They can be considered as "women's pictures" in that they were primarily aimed at a female audience. (During the war, with so many men serving in the Armed Forces, women made up the greater part of cinema audiences). Unlike many Hollywood "women's pictures" which revolved around a central female character, however, they often featured strong male characters in prominent leading roles.

The main action takes place during the Regency period, although this is set within the framework of a story set in 1943 and involving a romance between the modern descendants of the families featured in the Regency story. The "man in grey" of the title is Lord Rohan, a man notorious both for his debauched lifestyle and for his savage temper. (He has killed several men in duels). He marries Clarissa, a beautiful heiress, but theirs is a loveless marriage from the start. (He marries her partly for her fortune, partly to provide an heir to his family estates). They lead separate lives, and Clarissa falls in love with a handsome young actor named Rokeby. Rohan begins an affair with a scheming young woman named Hesther, who was a former school friend of Clarissa and an actress in the same troupe as Rokeby.

Some have drawn parallels between the four main characters in this drama with Ashley, Melanie, Scarlett and Rhett in "Gone with the Wind", who like Rokeby, Clarissa, Hesther and Rohan can be divided into "two good and two bad". It seemed to me, in fact, that the main influence on Eleanor Smith, the author of the novel on which the film is based, was Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". Apart from the Regency setting there are parallels between Hesther and Thackeray's Becky Sharp and between Clarissa and Becky's friend Amelia. One similarity with "Gone with the Wind" is that the "bad" characters are more memorable than the "good". We remember "Gone with the Wind" for Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable rather than Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland, and here it is James Mason and Margaret Lockwood who stand out more than Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger. (Of the four it was Lockwood who was the biggest star when the film was made; Mason and Granger, later to become big names in both Britain and Hollywood were young actors in the early part of heir career)'

Mason and Lockwood were later to star together in another Gainsborough melodrama, "The Wicked Lady", probably the best remembered of the series. In that film too, Lockwood played a beautiful but ruthless and amoral woman with a more innocent friend, and Mason played her lover. Her Hesther, like Becky Sharp, is from a lower social station than her friend and an ambitious social climber, although she is more evil than Becky, or for that matter Scarlett, ever knew how to be. Lockwood, however, did not only play villainesses; she was to play the heroine in "Jassy", a third Gainsborough melodrama.

Mason's Rohan is a particularly well-drawn character- a drinker, gambler, womaniser and brawler, an arrogant, cynical, dissolute libertine who never does an honourable thing and yet remains very touchy about his honour, so touchy that he is prepared to kill anyone whom he believes has dishonoured him. His family motto is "Who Dishonours Us, Dies." Lady Caroline Lamb's famous description of Lord Byron as "mad, bad and dangerous to know" could apply to Rohan- perhaps even better than it did to Byron.

Today, Gainsborough melodramas like this one and "The Wicked Lady" can come across as very dated and more than a little camp, with their exaggerated emotion, their exaggeratedly black-and-white view of the world and their exaggerated style of acting. Our tastes in Regency drama today tend more to quiet, well-mannered adaptations of that quiet, well-mannered author Jane Austen, someone whom the British cinema ignored altogether in the forties. (The only screen adaptation of her work from the period was the American-made "Pride and Prejudice"). Yet, if we can make allowances for lurid, blood-and-thunder plots and stylised, non-naturalistic acting, they can still yield plenty of entertainment. 7/10

THE MAN IN GREY (Leslie Arliss, 1943) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 24 January 2010]

A film which has a lot to answer for, since it started both a trend for Gothic romantic melodramas in British cinema which proved ideal escapist fare for a country at war, as well as starting off various star careers (notably James Mason and Stewart Granger). The former, in particular, cornered the market for a while in brooding anti-heroes whose sadistic streak women seemed to find perversely attractive; incidentally, his part here was smaller than I had anticipated – since the protagonists were really the two ladies who suffered at his hands i.e. Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calvert (both of whom would likewise become fixtures in this type of film). Still, this being the prototype, its makers utilized modern-day book-ends – with the conveniently look-alike descendants of the 'good' couple, Calvert and Granger, having better luck coming together – as a safety-pin (not to mention adopting such anachronistic devices as having Calvert's "nigger" servant-boy played by a white child in black-face!). With this in mind, the film is somewhat halting as entertainment when viewed today, but it nevertheless yields pictorial felicities aplenty (courtesy of cinematographer Arthur Crabtree, who would almost immediately graduate to director and dabble in the costume genre for himself), as well as considerable interest throughout. For the record, the latter arrives by way of the occasional powerful scene (Mason and Granger's night-time scuffle in a public garden, Lockwood's come-uppance at the hands of the doting but honor-bound Mason) or humorous incident (a stock-company performance of Shakespeare's "Othello" in which Granger and Lockwood discuss attending aristocrat Calvert, a mutual acquaintance, during the all-important murder scene of Desdemona). Among the film's more notable (and commercially successful) follow-ups, then, were FANNY BY GASLIGHT (1944; which re-united Mason, Calvert and Granger) and THE WICKED LADY (1945; again directed by Arliss and featuring both Lockwood and Mason).

JAMES MASON: THE STAR THEY LOVED TO HATE (TV) (Mike Healey, 1984) **1/2

This adequate, if hardly comprehensive, look at one of the most revered actors of the 20th century (one I greatly admire myself) probably amounted to his last ever interview – since the versatile British thespian would die before the program had even aired! With a career spanning some 50 years, it necessarily skimps over score of titles (even some very good ones) and, given the title, tends towards discussion of his sinister roles (which is actually how he rose to stardom: see my review of THE MAN IN GREY [1943] elsewhere and on whose R2 DVD this documentary was included, albeit in abridged form) rather than being a broad overview of his entire body of work – though, curiously enough, there is no mention at all of Alfred Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) in which the actor did play villainous and is possibly the best film he was ever associated with! Mason, graceful as ever, is quite candid in his recollections – from the peculiar circumstances surrounding his first marriage (actress/writer Pamela Kellino would leave her cinematographer/director husband Roy for him, yet the three would form a lasting if not very successful film-making alliance!), his famous criticism of the British movie industry in a series of articles (what was seen as career suicide at a time when it had basically peaked did lead to a move to Hollywood, though his beginnings there were inauspicious) and when it came to choosing the three pictures he was least fond of, namely LADY POSSESSED (1952; one of the Kellino collaborations), FOREVER DARLING (1956; in which he appeared as an angel alongside Lucille Ball) and KILL! (1971; Romain Gary's bizarre thriller about drug-smuggling). In direct counterpoint, then, the two roles he had singled out over the years as his favorites – ODD MAN OUT (1947) and LOLITA (1962) – are likewise given their due. All in all, a nice record of one of filmdom's most compelling and intelligent presences in rare self-appraisal mode.

Don't Mess With The Rohan

[Lejink · 7/10 · 5 August 2020]

A good old-fashioned bodice-ripper, it was the first big success for Britain's Gainsborough Studios which decided to take on the big costume dramas of Hollywood with home-grown talent. Introducing to the masses soon-to-be-familiar names like Mason, Granger, Lockwood and Calvert, it set the template for succeeding and ever more successful variations on this particular formula, often employing different combinations of this same quartet of acting talent.

High art it isn't, based as it is on a popular novel of the day, but it's easy to imagine its populist and escapist appeal to a wartime audience. James Mason, for one, hated the film and his own acting in it but the fact of the matter is that it's his presence in the titular role, as the misogynistic, sadistic and decadent Lord Rohan, who despite his despised and feared personal characteristics has the fabulous wealth and high status which make him the most desirable bachelor of the day. This is how he meets the pretty, sparky, trusting debutante Clarissa Marr, played by Phyllis Calvert, whose mother offers her to Rohan at what can only be described as a female cattle market, indeed just like all the other mothers and daughters of the day in attendance.

However it's not long before the young bride comes to her senses after she does her wifely duty in siring him a son and heir at which opportune moment just when she feels doomed to a loveless marriage, into her life enters Granger's Peter Rokesby, an adventurer fallen on hard times but otherwise dashing, handsome and sincere in his feelings for her which she soon reciprocates.

Soon she gets him a place as librarian, of all things, at Rohan Hall but there's a viper in this new love-nest in the shape of the darkly beautiful Hesther Shaw, played with relish by Lockwood. Of low birth but with high ambitions, she uses Clarissa's desire for one good friend in her life to also enter the household and usurp her position as Rohan's woman of choice, becoming effectively his live-in mistress. This ABBA-esque set-up with all four new and ex-lovers under the one roof of course can't last with machinations on all sides of the quadrangle leading up to not one but two murders, one of them infamous for its brutality as Rohan gets the whip-hand over his wife's murderer.

Maybe I shouldn't have, but I really enjoyed this Regency romp. I found the "two-good, two-bad" interplay of the four main characters added a degree of psychological intrigue as the plot developed in sometimes surprising ways. It's not perfect, the young black boy (in obvious blackface, and why did he have to be black anyway?) who plays an important part in the denouement seems to be reading his lines off-screen, the background music is far too intrusive and I disliked the present-day framing device which threw together the descendants of Calvert and Granger to sweeten the ending.

But with its handsome and pretty leads, whirlwind action and impressive sets, it's easy to see why it was so successful in its day.

Costume melodrama from Gainsborough Pictures...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 20 December 2022]

...and director Leslie Arliss. Clarissa Marr (Phyllis Calvert) is a young woman from a prominent family who is married off to Lord Rohan (James Mason). The cruel Lord only wants her to produce an heir, and otherwise leaves her to her own devices, especially once their son is born. Clarissa reconnects with a school acquaintance, Hesther Shaw (Margaret Lockwood), who had created a scandal with the way she had left. Hesther is now an itinerant actress, but Clarissa insists that she move in with her and become her companion. Hesther longs for the wealth and respectability that the Rohan name could give her, so she sets out to manipulate Clarissa's affections for an actor named Rokeby (Stewart Granger) in order to get her own hands on Lord Rohan. Also featuring Martita Hunt, Antony Scott, Helen Haye, Beatrice Varley, Raymond Lovell, and Nora Swinburne.

Released during the height of WW2, this period piece romantic melodrama became a surprise hit. The costumes and settings are finely wrought, particularly during a time of privation such as the war. Three of the lead performers are exceptionally good: Granger as the swaggering bon vivant Rokeby, Lockwood as the amoral scheming Hesther, and James Mason as the mercurial Rohan, who is at times detestable in every way, but rises to the ultimate occasion. Phyllis Calvert isn't bad either, but she's merely called on to be the innocent center around whom these other, showier, characters orbit. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, especially the great ending crescendo, but there was one odious aspect that keeps my score lower. There's a character named Tobey, a black servant boy played by a white kid for no discernible reason. I'm also not even sure if he's supposed to be a kid or not, since he never changes, always looking like a 12 year old, despite years passing in the story. This character proves to be important to the plot, so he doesn't fade into the background as many insensitive characters do in films of the 30's and 40's. There's also some unfortunate dialogue related to this character. Yeah, it was a different time, but that doesn't make it anymore palatable. This is listed as one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

As the Wheels Turn....

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 20 February 2013]

...in the mind of a scheming woman. She doesn't start out as evil as the ruthless murderess in "The Wicked Lady", but Margaret Lockwood's Hester is formidable nonetheless. She is a pauper hired on as a junior teacher who creates scandal at a girl's school while befriending highbrow Phyllis Calvet, a student who marries a wealthy Lord (James mason) for convenience yet who remains strangely unfulfilled as a wealthy wife and neglectful mother. When she runs into Lockwood at a performance of "Othello" (which Lockwood is appearing in), she invites her to come to her country home as her companion, and Lockwood, getting over a miserable short-lived marriage, sets her sights on becoming Mason's mistress. Calvet falls in love with Lockwood's "Othello" co-star (Stewart Granger) while warnings from gypsy Beatice Varley curse the women's friendship, leading into much turmoil and a shocking finale.

This costume variation of "Old Acquaintance" doesn't apologize for its less than noble characters, giving us a look into the minds of the nobility of a supposed romantic age that here comes off as anything but. Lockwood gets to start off subtle, build up melodramatic emotion as she goes forward, and finally become so evil you may find herself hissing her. Calvet isn't some wimpy Gothic heroine here; She gives out as good as she gets, which unfortunately isn't strong enough to beat her supposed friend or rascal husband, played by Mason in a delightful moody performance. The only weak link in this strong chain is the presence of young Hary Scott, obviously in blackface, playing an Indian youth, based more on the audacity of his casting rather than his performance.

The Man in Grey

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 29 August 2009]

The critics may only give it three out of five stars, but as long as it features in the book 1001 Movies You must See Before You Die, I'm not complaining or missing it. Set in World War II, two strangers meet each other at an estate auction, and through a series of flashbacks you see how they might have known each other before through family history and connection. The flashbacks reveal beautiful Clarissa Marr (Phyllis Calvert) and her friendship with bitter, reduced to poverty Hesther Shaw (Margaret Lockwood). As their fates entwine and paths divide, Clarissa marries into higher class with handsome but cruel Lord Rohan (James Mason), while Heather becomes an actress. But the two women meet again with Clarissa bringing scheming Heather into her house. Clarissa tries to find true love, but Heather is plotting to take everything that belongs to her. Also starring Stewart Granger as Peter Rokeby, Nora Swinburne as Mrs. Fitzherbert, Martita Hunt as Miss Patchett and Raymond Lovell as The Prince Regent. The performances are good, and there are some eye-catching scenes, so I can certainly see reasons it is a must see. Good!

The Man in Grey is high drama and escapism.

[gazaman · 10/10 · 21 July 2001]

The Man in Grey was the first and probably the most successful of the Gainsborough melodramas. The lavish regency tale centres around the aristocratic Clarissa Richmond (Phyllis Calvert) who dutifully enters into an loveless arranged marriage with the cold hearted Lord Rohan (James Mason)- the Man in Grey of the title.

Love and intrigue are to enter Clarissa's life when a chance meeting with an old school friend, the scheming Hester (Margaret Lockwood), leads her to the dashing Rokeby (Stewart Granger).

The story reaches its dramatic conclusion through twists and turns of plot and excellent performances from who can be called the four cornerstones of the war time British cinema - Stewart Granger, James Mason, Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood.

The Man in Grey is my personal favorite of all the Gainsborough films, it is high drama and escapism. The Man in Grey is definitely worth another look.

Can't blame anybody here

[bob998 · 7/10 · 3 April 2021]

Lord Rohan isn't to be blamed for wanting to marry a healthy young woman who will produce a male heir for him, nor is Clarissa to blame for so quickly accepting his proposal, after all her prospects weren't all that great. Nor can I blame Hester for wanting all the things she could never have growing up. No, this is just how it was in those days. I enjoyed Margaret Lockwood's performance the most; it's hard to show remorse in a cold, calculating character and she brings it off well. Calvert, Mason and Granger give her excellent support.

Classic bodice heaver

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 25 July 2020]

My mom always wonders why James Mason got typecast as bad guys when he was handsome, had a lovely speaking voice, and sometimes got the chance to play leading men. Well, folks, it wasn't just North by Northwest that did it; even back in 1943, he played bad guys.

In The Man in Gray, he may look handsome with his wavy hair and period-piece costumes, but he's not a nice man. He sweeps Phyllis Calvert off her feet and whisks her away to his castle, but he's far from an ideal husband. Phyllis has a friend from school, Margaret Lockwood, who's more daring and sultry, and when she visits the married couple, she catches James's eye. Soon, Margaret has moved into the castle with them. Poor Phyllis has to endure an awful lot: not only the loss of her childhood friend, but the knowledge that that friend has become her husband's mistress!

This is a classic "bodice heaver" period piece, akin to Rebecca. If you like those sorts of mysteries, with castles on top of cliffs and angry men in ascots, you'll like this one. It's very melodramatic and very British, though, so know what you're getting into.

The first and the best

[calvertfan · 10/10 · 20 October 2002]

'The Man In Grey' was the first film in the cycle of Gainsborough costume melodramas (which ended in 1948 with 'The Bad Lord Byron') and it's easily one of the very best. At the time, it was the pairing of a superstar (Lockwood), a star (Mason), a rising star (Calvert) and a newcomer (Granger), a combination which catapulted all four to the top of their profession, and made them the four names most associated with the costume. It's a pity that the four never made another movie all together!

Margaret Lockwood as Hesther was just pure evil - a cold, calculating woman. One does get the idea that there is a small glimmer of kindness inside her, but she squashes it pretty quickly. Phyllis Calvert was as sweet as honey, as usual the beloved heroine. Her Clarissa is the main character of the tale - married off to Lord Rohan (Mason) because he desires an heir, she soon tires of his indifference and falls for traveling player Rokeby (Granger). Hesther (Lockwood) in turn falls for Rohan and he for her. And of course you know that's set for trouble. A hint of how much trouble? THIS is the film with the infamous horse-whip thrashing scene.

What's also interesting is the whole story is told in flashback, when Calvert and Granger, descendents of the Rohan and Rokeby families, meet at an auction of the Rohan estate. Nice to see a bit of modern dress for a change!

it's actually the boy in black

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 13 July 2020]

I'll explain the subject of my review later.

I won't lie and say I enjoyed this film, though I certainly loved seeing all the actors so young, and their acting was marvelous.

"The Man in Grey" begins at a modern-day auction where Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger meet. Granger is hoping to pick up something from the Rohan family - one of his ancestors was involved with a Roham. Calvert actually is a Rohan.

As they look over the various small items available, the film dissolves to an earlier time period. We see how these items were connected to the various people in the story.

The lovely Clarissa (Calvert) marries the wealthy, arrogant Lord Rohan (James Mason) not for love, but so he can have an heir while he continues with his hedonistic life. While in school, Clarissa befriended a poor girl, Hester (Margaret Lockwood). One night she sees that Hester, who had run off to get married, is in a play, and makes contact with her.

It's not long before Hester is living in the manse with Clarissa and Lord Rohan and decides that three's a crowd. The unhappy Clarissa meets Rokeby (Granger), and they fall in love. He wants her to leave Rohan. What will happen to the lives of these four?

Apparently this film was a huge hit and really established these stars. For me it was problematic. The first complete turn-off was a discussion of a disgusting dogfight. Thank God it was just a discussion. I nearly stopped watching then but soldiered on. It solidified Lord Rohan for me as a revolting human being.

And then we have little Toby (Antony Scott). You're kidding, right? He plays a boy slave who is devoted to Clarissa. He's a white kid in blackface. Stupefying. Or was he? Supposedly he is the son of Harry Scott, part of the minstrel team of Scott and Whaley. Scott and Whaley supposedly actually were black. But boy this kid looked like he had on blackface. A little mystery that I couldn't solve.

The Man in Grey is a story where good is good and evil is evil, no in betweens. Hester and Lord Rohan are nasty pieces of work.

See it for the fine actors and as an example of Gainsborough films - this is probably the most successful one.

Pointless Period Piece

[mls4182 · 3/10 · 24 November 2021]

You can't beat the actors ... but you might want to beat the screenwriter. Good god. This 90 minute movie seems to drag on and on and yet the characters never become believable let alone compelling and the plot is spread thin. A bunch A people walking around in big heavy costumes, wigs, and James Mason has a bad perm.

To make matters worse, a Caucasian child actor is made up in blackface. Very annoying to say the least. I'm not sure if the boy was supposed to be African or Eastern Indian. I let it go because at least the character was very loyal, loving and brave. Then Granger dressed up in black face while performing in a play. He uses a word later on that just made it intolerable.

We all realize things were different 70 years ago and can choose to be glad things have changed. A stupid movie isn't worth getting angry or upset about. I don't think there was any hateful intent just the stupefying ignorance of the time.

Good watch, but heads up on a few possible triggers.

[gpcheng87 · 6/10 · 24 November 2021]

An entertaining watch, but definitely of it's time. A word of warning to those who might possibly be triggered by some jarring racial elements - young actor Antony Scott plays a young African servant in blackface, and unfortunately also attempts to speak in the caricature of one. Lead actor Stewart Granger also plays Othello in blackface, and later refers to an African in his employ as "his n****r".

Other than these understandably distasteful moments, it's well-acted.

For those who like an indulgently lavish melodrama!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 10 October 2017]

Producer: Edward Black. Executive producer: Maurice Ostrer. (The U.K. version is available on an otherwise excellent Network DVD. The full-length version seems to have vanished).

A Gainsborough Picture, copyright 30 November 1945 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. U.S. release through Universal. New York opening at the Winter Garden: 29 November 1945. U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 23 August 1943. Australian release through Gaumont British Dominions/2Oth Century-Fox: 12 October 1944. 10,812 feet. 120 minutes. (The full-length version was released only in Australia. In the U.K., the film was cut to 116 minutes, in the U.S.A., to 93 minutes).

SYNOPSIS: When the home of the Rohans is being sold up, Lady Clarissa Rohan meets a young airman from Jamaica, Rokeby, who tells her that his mother's ancestor was in love with the nineteenth- century Clarissa Rohan; and in flashback we see . . .

NOTES: Number seven at British ticket windows for 1943. The film did less well in Australia, but was still a big success, coming in at number thirty-one for 1944.

It was inevitable that such a colossal box-office success be followed by some sort of "sequel". This followed in 1944 when Calvert, Mason and Granger were re-united for Fanny by Gaslight (pointedly re-titled Man of Evil in the U.S.A.). The Wicked Lady, which re-teamed Lockwood and Mason with writer/director Arliss, appeared in 1945.

COMMENT: Superbly photographed and most expansively produced with dazzling sets and period costumes galore, "The Man in Grey" is directed with such style and occasional inventiveness (taking full advantage of its magnificent sets and liberal production values), that one's mind and certainly one's eye are distracted from the penny-dreadful plot. (One's ear, alas, is still assailed by some choice samples of cumbersome dialogue).

More than competent acting by a sterling cast of players also helps immeasurably. Lockwood is perfectly cast as the wicked lady, Calvert is in her element as the hapless and hopeless heroine, while Mason snarls delightfully as the surly "grey", and Stewart Granger (not always photographed too flatteringly) wanders along in top tongue- in-cheek form as a winning librarian until smothered by the excessive demands of a ridiculous plot.

A wonderful group of support artists lend their talents too, among which one must single out Martita Hunt as a fussy schoolmistress, Helen Haye as Mason's resigned if dutiful mother, Beatrice Varley as a slipsy Gypsy, Jane Gill-Davis as Calvert's genteel mother, Raymond Lovell as the somewhat dithery prince regent, and Ann Wilton as the put-upon teacher, Miss Edge.

Despite the absurdities and excesses of its script (doubtless directly derived from the original novel), such lavish squandering of talent and money has produced a most enjoyably escapist slice of quasi- historical melodrama.

The first slice of Gainsborough Gothic

[jem132 · 7/10 · 11 May 2009]

The first official "Gainsborough Gothic" bodice-ripper was a smash hit for WW2 weary audiences in Britain, making instant stars out of James Mason, Stewart Granger, Phyllis Calvert and Margaret Lockwood. Audiences went back to the cinema time and time again to see the diabolical exploits of the nasty and sexy Mason, the cruel and calculating Lockwood and the doomed lovers Granger and Mason. The Regency-era setting is cleverly contained in a flashback from a WW2 black-out. Lovely, fair-headed and popular Clarissa Richmond (Calvert) befriends a poor pupil at her school, the raven-haired and almost humourless Hesther(Lockwood). Big mistake! In the years to come Clarissa has married the dastardly Lord Rohan (Mason), who only wants her as a broodmare. Things are looking up when she comes across Hesther again, and meets the dashing Rokeby (Granger). But then Hesther has her eye on Lord Rohan...

So, how does this melodrama with a rather hokey plot (though it's very much "Vanity Fair" spun-off) hold up today? Not bad, not bad at all, if you can forgive the creakiness and chunks of awful dialogue. The four stars all create such believable persona's that they were all pretty much typecast forever. Interesting that Lockwood only really played three "wicked" women in her career, but she's forever immortalised by this and her subsequent "The Wicked Lady". While Mason, Granger and Lockwood stick out firm in the memory, Calvert is really the glue that holds it all together though. Her Clarissa is almost so sugary to induce diabetes, but Calvert makes her believable and sympathetic.

castle intrigue from eleanor smith

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 13 August 2022]

Two girls at boarding school get off on the wrong foot. Hesther is poor and dour, while clarissa is bright, rich, and bubbly. They agree to be friends, but a gypsy fortune teller has predicted sadness ahead for them. Clarissa marries lord rohan (james mason ), a nasty nobleman who likes to start fights. But he needs an heir. Later, while clarissa is distracted by a handsome stranger (granger), lord rohan gets cozy with hesther. None of these people are nice humans. Drama and scheming. The gypsy was right. Much sadness ahead. Stand back... they do use the N word, a sign of the times. Directed by les arliss. Written by lady eleanor smith, who died so young at 43. Wrote several novels. Harry scott, the young porter, also died young at 49. Castle intrigue. Good stuff, for the most part.

Regency Romance

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 20 October 2009]

The four stars who were the cornerstone of the British Film Industries Gainsborough Pictures, James Mason, Phyllis Calvert, Margaret Lockwood, and Stewart Granger got to star in The Man In Grey. It's a brooding tale of unhappily married wife during the Regency Period, probably after the Napoleonic Wars. There certainly is no mention of the war in the plot.

Two people Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger meet during an auction sale during wartime Great Britain. An estate is being sold off as the last of the male heirs has died. Calvert is the last surviving woman who can't inherit and Granger is the descendant of a man who was involved with one of the ancestors and has an heirloom or two of his own. The camera focuses on a series of mundane antiques and then it dissolves to the Regency period where the story is told and we see the connection of all these objects to the lives of the four stars.

James Mason is in the title role and he's a titled Earl who is haughty and arrogant and revels in being an aristocrat. He has to take a wife to begat an heir, but he wants one who won't get too much in the way of the rakish lifestyle he has no intention of changing. Among Regency aristocrats even he's giving them a bad name, a fact that Raymond Lovell and Nora Swinburne as the Prince Regent and Mrs. Fitzherbert are quick to notice.

Who Mason has chosen for a bride is Phyllis Calvert, a pretty and somewhat naive young thing. Naive so much that she takes as a friend a young woman not of her class when they were both in Martita Hunt's finishing school.

Calvert's ill chosen friend is Margaret Lockwood who gets thrown out of the school for some indiscreet behavior. Years later when Calvert is married to Mason she finds Lockwood now with an acting troupe. Back then being an actor if you weren't William MacCready or Edwin Forrest you were not considered respectable. And note those two examples were men.

Calvert's like Melanie Hamilton who sees only the good in people. But Lockwood is one exponential Scarlett O'Hara. Imagine Scarlett on steroids and you have Lockwood's character. She wants Mason with all that the title and privileges will bring. And his mojo really gets going with her.

And Calvert's mojo gets going for the first time in years with likable gypsy Stewart Granger. This was Granger's first real big part in film and it brought him great critical notices and fulfilled promises of future stardom.

Good as Granger and Calvert are, they pale beside the evil characters that Mason and Lockwood essay. I would have to say Lockwood is the more evil mainly because she hides it so well until the end. Mason's a lot, but he isn't a hypocrite.

One curious piece of casting is young Harry Scott as the young black slave Toby is interesting. It could be the only case of blackface in the British cinema. Since this was the only credit young Mr. Scott had we don't know for sure, but I think this was a white kid in makeup.

The Man In Grey is one of the best films the British cinema turned out during World War II. Like the lead characters who wonder about the connection between them, the British movie-going public went to see this film and put themselves in the places of the leads and wondered about their ancestors and their doings during a postwar period of peace. It's got some of the best acting going by four very skilled players and a good cast in support. And it holds up very well today.

Put out the light

[AAdaSC · 7/10 · 15 May 2016]

Posh girl Phyllis Calvert (Clarissa) gets roped into a loveless marriage with playboy Lord James Mason (Rohan). She bumps into an old schoolfriend, lowly actress Margaret Lockwood and brings her into the Rohan household. However, Lockwood has an agenda of her own.

The film is told in flashback as it starts with Calvert and Stewart Granger bidding at an auction for items on sale from the Rohan Estate which is now being sold off. The film takes us through the history of several items found in a box at the auction before returning to the present day for a happy conclusion. Calvert and Granger are descendants of the characters in the main story in which Mason is a bad ass and Lockwood is pure evil.

It's an entertaining film with sharp dialogue and the cast are excellent with the exception of the boy that never ages and is insultingly blacked up to be a black boy. He tries to affect a black man accent at times with black man dialogue and he fails miserably. Then, he attends the theatre and dresses like an Indian. Is he meant to be Indian? Whatever is going on, it is really insulting. He is rubbish. Back to the film, it's great except when he's in it. There is just one thing missing from that box of items that Granger is bidding for – the whip!

Good but it could have been so much better.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 1 February 2021]

The basic story in "The Man in Grey" is quite good. However, the choices made for how to tell the story were a bit odd and really prevented a good movie from being exceptional. One problem is that instead of the viewer learning about the characters as the story takes place, there are MANY occasions when the twists in the story are told early on...so that there's little in the way of suspense. For example, Hester warns Clarissa that she's a no-goodnick (or something like that) AND the gypsy sees Hester and immediately knows she's evil...long, long before you see Hester behave abominably! Another problem is that there isn't a lot of suspense about the story...little comes as a surprise.

After a prologue that is both unnecessary AND foreshadows what will take place, the story switches to the early 19th century. Hester (Margaret Lockwood) arrives at a finishing school and soon is befriended by Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert). However, Hester, in a moment of frankness, tells Clarissa that she (Hester) is no good and will hurt anyone who gets in her way. A bit later, Hester runs away from the school and disappears.

So time later, Clarissa graduates and now it's time for her to find a husband. Without even knowing her, Lord Rohan (James Mason) marries her and soon she realizes he has zero interest in her and she is essentially a brood mare...otherwise, he lives his life and she lives hers quite separately. Naturally she's lonely and sad...that is until she happens upon Hester once again. She invites Hester to come live with her....and all sorts 'o bad stuff then happens. Exactly what, you can see for yourself.

As I mentioned above, the story is excellent...the way you KNOW what's going to happen long before it does is simply bad storytelling. Worth seeing but totally lacking in suspense. And the ending, while wild to watch, really seemed out of place considering the sort of man Rohan had been.

By the way, this is a very offensive film when it comes to black people. The language they use and having a white child in black makeup playing a servant is pretty shocking stuff in the 21st century.

Also, two years after this, Margaret Lockwood and James Mason starred in "The Wicked Lady" and they played very similar sorts of roles. However, this later film never telegraphed its moves like "The Man in Grey" and was a much, much better and very satisfying movie.

He Whips To Glory!

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 21 October 2006]

James Mason (like Richard Burton, Edward Arnold, and many other splendid actors - and actresses) never received the Oscar for any of his performances. This is one of the unfair side issues regarding the Academy Awards, as a measuring stick to film stardom. Everyone who has seen Mason's performances (and the others I mentioned) may know they are appearing in a "turkey", but they are serving their sections of the "turkey" with deluxe dressing. When they are appearing in "filet mignon" or the like, they really reach the heights. So, despite his lack of Academy recognition, Mason is remembered with great fondness by everyone who enjoys movies. To this day his voice is imitated in cartoons if you want to see a snooty, aristocratic villain.

Yet I said "villain". How can I call the wounded, deserted IRA gunman Johnny (ODD MAN OUT) or Norman Main (A STAR IS BORN) or Humbert Humbert (LOLITA) a "villain". Yes, he did play Mr. Van Dam in NORTH BY NORTHWEST, but even that fellow had his less villainous moments (too few perhaps).

The fact is, when Mason came to the U.S. to appear in Hollywood films in the late 1940s, it was as one of Britain's best villains. This was odd. He had been in films since the late 1930s, and had played a shell shock victim in THE HILL HAVE EYES as well as other parts. In FIRE OVER ENGLAND (an early role) he was an English Catholic nobleman who is planning to aid King Philip of Spain (for reasons of politics and religious freedom) but who is drowned fleeing the police of Elizabeth I. None of these performances had gained him his fame, deserved as it was. It was THE MAN IN GRAY that gained him fame.

Set in Regency England (c. 1790 - 1837), Mason was what was termed "a Regency Buck". This was a fashionable, upper crust Regency aristocrat or wealthy man who enjoyed his privileges - frequently at the expense of everyone else around them. When Leslie Howard played Sir Percy Blakeney in THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, his character is a foppish version of "the Regency Buck", acting the buffoon at the expense of Col Higgensbottom and even the Prince of Wales - regarding cravats - to hide his serious mission). Mason's character is actually a more openly forceful version of this character. The Marquis of Rohan is a great grandee of England (despite having the last name of a noted French Aristocratic house - connected to the "Affair of the Diamond Necklace"). He is fully aware of his position, and the subservient position of everyone else involved with it.

Phyllis Calvert is Clarissa, the daughter of a local good family, who was a close friend of Margaret Lockwood (Hester). Their relations is similar to that of Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp in VANITY FAIR, as good girl and bad girl. Rohan chooses to marry Clarissa because she is a proper (and subservient) wife to breed an heir. Clarissa tries to help Hester by getting her a good position in the household (bad mistake). Rohan is soon bored by marriage, and Clarissa mistakes this as a signal that she is on her own. She meets a traveling actor named Rokeby (Stewart Granger) and starts a relationship with him - egged on by Hester.

Hester intention is to reveal it at the right time to Rohan, and replace the disgraced Clarissa. And she does. But it actually does two things. He does go after Rokeby to kill him. But after taking care of that problem, Rohan finds Clarissa going into physical decline. And his better character comes out. He tries to help his wife, but nothing he does helps...and she finally dies. The Marquis is heartbroken.

SPOILER COMING UP:

Hester still blind to the reality of the situation, confronts Rohan, and reveals her own passions. But now Rohan is fully aware of why Hester made her revelations, and what it has led to. Furious at being used, and at his own cost and of the woman he got to love, Rohan grabs a horse whip and whips Hester to death!

It is an orchestrated, violent conclusion (and it's violence may be why the film is rarely shown on television). Despite making Rohan a killer at the end, because he is killing the real villain in the plot Rohan gets the audience to cheer him on! He becomes the "anti-hero" of the story. It gained Mason his international standing as "a man you love to hate". And it opened the doors to future Hollywood stardom.

The Regency Era Dark Side

[ldeangelis-75708 · 6 March 2023]

For those who enjoy films set in the Regency period, this may be right for you, though fair warning: this is NOT a Jane Austen type story! This is more in line with Emily Bronte, though Lord Rohan (James Mason) makes Heathcliff look like Mister Rogers!

Phyllis Calvert plays the part of Clarissa (Lady Rohan) very well.

She's a wealthy young society woman, who was told by a gypsy at a fair that she'd marry well, but not for love, that true love would come from across the sea, and that she must be wary of trusting a woman who claims to be a friend.

Clarissa, meanwhile, has lots of friends, being kind, friendly and good natured. She befriends Hester (Margaret Lockwood), a troubled young woman with a chip on her shoulder, a lot of ambition, and a ruthless streak. After Hester elopes with a navy ensign, Clarissa leaves school before completing her studies, because she can't bear to hear her friend's name trashed.

Typical of the era, as a young society woman, Hester's marriage to Rohan is arranged, with no love on either side, not even much liking. Rohan informs her that all she needs is to give him an heir, then she can live her own life, provided there are no scandals. After doing her duty, she meets Rokeby (Stewart Granger), an itinerant actor, who lost his Jamaican estate due to slave uprisings and political turmoil and is now performing alongside Hester, who's now a widow. Soon, Hester becomes Clarissa's companion, and then Rohan's mistress, (each recognizing a kindred spirit) while Clarissa realizes Rokeby is the man the gypsy told her about, and - with Hester's encouragement - they plan to run off together.

However, things do not work out as planned, leading to separation, heartbreak, crime, death and revenge!

Jane Austen would be shocked! (But not Emily, I'd bet!)

It's interesting how the story is told in flashbacks, with the movie beginning and ending in contemporary times, with Phyllis and Stewart playing a modern-day Clarissa and Rokeby, descendants of the originals, and with - hopefully - a better fate.

It's a good film and the story will hold your attention, but it can be brutal at times.

Dark Grey

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 4 January 2008]

One line of dialogue stood out for me and actually made the film; Lockwood and Calvert are travelling by coach to Calvert's London home and she asks Lockwood (who has just played Desdemona to Granger's Othello) how long Granger has been an actor. 'As far as I'm concerned he never was' replies Lockwood, a brilliant summation of Granger's talent, the lack of which, of course, failed to prevent him achieving film stardom. This Regency meller stands up remarkably well and if Mason and Lockwood are slightly over the top, Calvert a tad TOO twee, as if auditioning for any parts Olivia de Havilland might reject, and Granger too inept probably at the time - and wartime at that - they were all quite acceptable. Certainly worth a look.

the man in grey

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 4 December 2022]

This melodramatic offering from the Gainsborough folks leads me to muse on how British 1940s, steamy, soap opera differed from the Hollywood kind. On the up side you have more literate, indeed, at times, even witty dialogue, plus the sexual envelope gets pushed a bit more forcefully than it would have been in Hays/Breen dominated Tinseltown, especially during World War Two when the moral superiority of the American home front was sacrosanct. So congrats to the English for allowing us to sense the brutality of James Mason's idea of a honeymoon night as well as using the word "mistress" which was banned from U. S. films until sometime in the late 50s.

On the down side the acting is, if anything, even more florid than it would have been on the left side of the pond. Mason called his performance in this film "atrocious" and I would have to agree. Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calvert are only slightly less hammy. The only member of the cast to soft peddle it, and thus turn in the best work, is Stewart Granger. I also could have done without the racism which is, if anything, even more visceral than anything MGM was concocting at the time, what with multiple actors in blackface and casual use of the N word along with the very offensive term, "Sambo".

Bottom line: Rank racism outweighs relative sexual freedom. In other words, I'll take "Kings Row" anytime. Give this one a C.

Well written but too much of a chick flick for my taste.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 17 January 2009]

You can regard this movie as an '40's chick flick that has a story of a typical romantic-dramatic novel, women love to read. It has all of the ingredients you could expect, like true love, friendship and rivalry. It has not just a triangular love story but its even more complicated than that. It's all well constructed though but this nevertheless doesn't mean I can regard this movie as being something different than a chick flick.

The story truly saved this movie for me, or else it would had been a real dreadful one to watch. It has all of the typical clichés women seem to care about but as a man it just isn't all as compelling to watch. The story is solid and keeps you interested throughout. The love stories are original since it doesn't always picks the easiest road to walk on. Marriage and friendships turn bitter and characters are changing throughout. I like movies in which its characters are slowly but steadily changing into someone different.

It also is of course thanks to the acting that this all works out so well, even though the dialog and directing style are all extremely old fashioned. But oh well, this is of course consistent and normal for the genre. In the '40's director Leslie Arliss made several movies like this one, often with the same actors involved, without ever gaining real fame for it really.

Women will surely appreciate this movie even better than I did already.

7/10

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