The Mudlark (1950)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Jean Negulesco

Writers:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)
Theodore Bonnet (novel)

Release Date:

28 November 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In 1875 London, young Wheeler, who lives by scavenging, finds a cameo of Queen Victoria which he thinks so beautiful he risks his life to save it...

Plot Keywords:

Historical | Victorian Era | Period Piece | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Irene Dunne	...	Queen Victoria
Alec Guinness	...	Benjamin Disraeli
Andrew Ray	...	Wheeler, the Mudlark
Beatrice Campbell	...	Lady Emily Prior
Finlay Currie	...	John Brown
Anthony Steel	...	Lieutenant Charles McHatten
Raymond Lovell	...	Sergeant Footman Naseby
Marjorie Fielding	...	Lady Margaret Prior
Constance Smith	...	Kate Noonan
Edward Rigby	...	The Watchman
Ronan O'Casey	...	Slattery

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #14628) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Productions

Trivia:

First film of Andrew Ray.

Quotes:

Disraeli: Such proposals as slum clearance, public housing, educational facilities for the poor, are all wise and worthy measures and consequently will be opposed vigorously. The British are a proud and independent people, ma'am, and will not yield to improvement without a stout struggle.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Hallmark Hall of Fame: Victoria Regina (#11.2)" (1961)

A good family film.

Quite an under-stated classic with some superb film-noir scenes shot on the river-bank.

Mudlarks, scavengers for anything at all on the Thames' tidal mud-banks, were only one of the Victorian under-class of homeless, often orphan kids forced to scratch a living, some-how, or die without raising an eye-brow in the great metropolis. This film tells how one of these poor kids attempts to see "The Mother of the Country". Andrew Ray, who plays 'Wheeler' died in 2003. The rest of the cast can never quite out-act the young lad though Findlay Currie as the boozy, kind and understanding John Brown comes close.