British National who mainly made cheaply made programmers really decided to push the boat out with this film which they made in Technicolour.Probably an attempt to challenge Gainsboroughs lead in costume films.It stars Webster Booth and Ann Ziegler,an English equivalent to the Macdonalld-Eddy partnership.However in America these sort of films seemed to have had their heyday.It is therefore difficult to know why this film was made at this time.It is a light operetta based at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.Curiously the Prince of Wales is played by a slim Peter Graves rather than the virulent Francis L Sullivan.Sullivan gambles more than he owns and tries to get his daughter to marry Summer who will in consideration pay off his gambling debt.However to nobody's surprise she is in love with Booth.At lots of times the couple burst into song.The Technicolour on the copy I viewed was pretty bad.Michael Been fine appears briefly in a gambling scene.
7 Reviews
The conventions of romantic operetta now seem rather dated, even quaint.
JohnHowardReid1 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. A British National film, made at British National studios, Elstree. Released in the U.S. by Anglo-American Films Corporation. New York opening at the Riviera, Beacon and Seventy-second Street Trans-Lux Theatres: 21 January 1950. U.K. release through Associated British-Pathe: 3 February 1947. U.K. registration date: November 1946. Australian release through 20th Century-Fox: 26 August 1948. 8,448 feet. 94 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Obviously inspired by The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, this is a French Revolution drama in which a French aristocrat is sent to England to recover Marie Antoinette's pearls.
COMMENT: The husband-and-wife team, Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler were popular BBC radio singers who also starred on the London stage. The Laughing Lady is their only film. This is understandable. Miss Ziegler is a most attractive heroine and sings delightfully; but while Mr. Booth hits the notes effectively enough, he is no Nelson Eddy in looks. His large nose is unflatteringly profiled and he seems far too old for the romantic lead. Photographer Geoffrey Unsworth often tries to keep him in the shade while lavishing light on the radiant Ziegler. The script also contrives to give her slightly more footage and she has 3 solos (including the enchanting "I'll Change My Heart") to Mr Booth's drinking song which he shares with a large chorus. The duets, "Laugh at Life", "Love Is the Key" and "Here in the Magical Moonlight" are as romantically melodious as any of the better-known Eddy-MacDonald couplings - especially if you close your eyes!
My own closed eyes gave me the clue to the script's wordiness: It has been conceived as a radio play. Every visual is aurally explained - often at tedious length - while the characters remain stubbornly one-dimensional cardboard-cut-outs which even fine actors like Francis L. Sullivan and Felix Aylmer have difficulty fleshing. This is why Peter Graves seems such an inadequate Prince of Wales. It's not just that he lacks charisma and is too politely bland but that the role as written lacks any visual substance or weight.
Allowing for all the posed tableaux and outmoded attitudes, the film is fairly entertaining. Within this confined framework, the direction is competent enough without being particularly distinguished, though the lavish climax deploying hundreds of extras is handled with slightly more style. And even poor sound recording (at least in the 16 mm print under review) cannot enfeeble the catchy melodies of Hans May's romantic songs.
OTHER VIEWS: Lavish musical romance outrageously plotted by stealing from Dumas' Three Musketeers but enthusiastically acted and sung. Very expansively produced in enormous sets peopled by hordes of colorfully-costumed extras - all most attractively photographed. It takes a reel and a half for the first song to get under way, but once started the melodies and the choruses are liltingly captivating. Certainly a rare film - its huge negative cost was nowhere near recouped at the boxoffice - The Laughing Lady was Elstree's first and last fling with Technicolor.
SYNOPSIS: Obviously inspired by The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, this is a French Revolution drama in which a French aristocrat is sent to England to recover Marie Antoinette's pearls.
COMMENT: The husband-and-wife team, Webster Booth and Anne Ziegler were popular BBC radio singers who also starred on the London stage. The Laughing Lady is their only film. This is understandable. Miss Ziegler is a most attractive heroine and sings delightfully; but while Mr. Booth hits the notes effectively enough, he is no Nelson Eddy in looks. His large nose is unflatteringly profiled and he seems far too old for the romantic lead. Photographer Geoffrey Unsworth often tries to keep him in the shade while lavishing light on the radiant Ziegler. The script also contrives to give her slightly more footage and she has 3 solos (including the enchanting "I'll Change My Heart") to Mr Booth's drinking song which he shares with a large chorus. The duets, "Laugh at Life", "Love Is the Key" and "Here in the Magical Moonlight" are as romantically melodious as any of the better-known Eddy-MacDonald couplings - especially if you close your eyes!
My own closed eyes gave me the clue to the script's wordiness: It has been conceived as a radio play. Every visual is aurally explained - often at tedious length - while the characters remain stubbornly one-dimensional cardboard-cut-outs which even fine actors like Francis L. Sullivan and Felix Aylmer have difficulty fleshing. This is why Peter Graves seems such an inadequate Prince of Wales. It's not just that he lacks charisma and is too politely bland but that the role as written lacks any visual substance or weight.
Allowing for all the posed tableaux and outmoded attitudes, the film is fairly entertaining. Within this confined framework, the direction is competent enough without being particularly distinguished, though the lavish climax deploying hundreds of extras is handled with slightly more style. And even poor sound recording (at least in the 16 mm print under review) cannot enfeeble the catchy melodies of Hans May's romantic songs.
OTHER VIEWS: Lavish musical romance outrageously plotted by stealing from Dumas' Three Musketeers but enthusiastically acted and sung. Very expansively produced in enormous sets peopled by hordes of colorfully-costumed extras - all most attractively photographed. It takes a reel and a half for the first song to get under way, but once started the melodies and the choruses are liltingly captivating. Certainly a rare film - its huge negative cost was nowhere near recouped at the boxoffice - The Laughing Lady was Elstree's first and last fling with Technicolor.
British National's Only Technicolor Production
richardchatten8 July 2020
The second of two ruinously boring and expensive British Technicolor musicals showcasing stars from other media that hit screens in 1946 (the former being 'London Town' with Sid Field). Both abruptly ended burgeoning screen careers and complemented their use of colour onscreen by spraying ledgers with red ink. (Within two years British National had gone into receivership.)
Anne Ziegler looks good in Technicolor in the title role but husband Webster Booth is wisely heard rather than seen most of the time.
Anne Ziegler looks good in Technicolor in the title role but husband Webster Booth is wisely heard rather than seen most of the time.
British musical costume drama.
Mozjoukine16 November 2013
This passable British costume romance takes us to the wake of the French revolution, where La Canaille are busily putting an Aristo countess on trial. Robespierre / Goldner sends her son as a highwayman to England, to hold up the always excellent Sullivan and the man's daughter Ziegler, who is destined for the Prince of Wales' clutches, while they finalize Brighton Pier.
The middle aged working class leads just about get away with the dialogue ("What brutes are all of you men") and unsynchronised numbers about magical moonlight. The character actors and good costumes are a help to this old fashioned sub operetta.
The middle aged working class leads just about get away with the dialogue ("What brutes are all of you men") and unsynchronised numbers about magical moonlight. The character actors and good costumes are a help to this old fashioned sub operetta.
Mediocre.
David-Grant27 June 2021
Quaint costume drama that has not aged well. Insipid lead actor certainly not helping. A bit of French Revolution, a touch of Highway Robbery and a giant blob of English Royal Court drama.is a messy stew and then they start singing!
Booth and Ziegler showpiece!
rxelex8 July 2020
Lovely Anne and Webster as an improbable pair in a silly plot about the French Revolution.
Good long shot filming allowing for full body language acting instead of the later years tight close ups on faces.
Music score constantly seems about to break into Gianinna Mia but its very watchable!
A vehicle for Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth in 1946.
collenjm2 April 2022
Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth had appeared in other films before this one but usually as guest artists. This was the first film where they had starring roles. I have read the other rather scathing reviews here. I'm afraid Anne Ziegler must be turning in her grave to hear herself described as "working class" by one reviewer.
Very little was said about the singing and the music in this film I thought it was very well done and although the whole thing might appear to be dated by now - after all, it was made in 1946 - I enjoyed it.
Very little was said about the singing and the music in this film I thought it was very well done and although the whole thing might appear to be dated by now - after all, it was made in 1946 - I enjoyed it.
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