The Magic Box
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Magic Box | |
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| Directed by | John Boulting |
| Produced by | Ronald Neame |
| Written by | Ray Allister and Eric Ambler |
| Starring | Robert Donat Margaret Johnston Maria Schell Robert Beatty |
| Music by | William Alwyn |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Editing by | Richard Best |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films |
| Release date(s) | 1951 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Magic Box is a Technicolor British film released in 1951. It was a project of the Festival of Britain. Adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister, it gave a biographic account of William Friese-Greene, who first designed and patented a working cinematic camera. This claim is subject to some controversy, but evidence now tends to support it. The film was notable for its cast: many well-known British film actors appeared in cameos (as listed below). It was completed and shown just before the end of the Festival, but the general release was not until 1952.
It was nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 1952—Best Film and Best British Film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (July 2009) |
William Friese-Greene is played by Robert Donat. Told in flashback, the film details Friese-Greene's tireless experiments with the "moving image," leading inexorably to a series of failures and disappointments, as others hog the credit for the protagonist's discoveries.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Robert Donat as William Friese-Greene
- Margaret Johnston as Edith Harrison
- Maria Schell as Helena Friese-Greene
- David Oake as Claude Friese-Greene
- Janette Scott as Ethel Friese-Greene
- John Howard Davies as Maurice Friese-Greene
- Robert Beatty as Lord Beaverbrook
- Richard Attenborough as Jack Carter
- Basil Sydney as William Fox Talbot
- Bernard Miles as Cousin Alfred
- Eric Portman as Arthur Collings
- Mary Ellis as Mrs Collings
- Muir Mathieson as Sir Arthur Sullivan
- Joyce Grenfell as Mrs Claire
- Dennis Price as Harold
- Margaret Rutherford as Lady Pond
- Mervyn Johns as Goitz
- Glynis Johns as May Jones
[edit] Cameos
- Barry Jones as a doctor
- Bessie Love in wedding group
- Cecil Parker at the Connaught Rooms
- David Tomlinson as a Lab Assistant
- Emlyn Williams as a Bank Manager
- Ernest Thesiger as "man"
- Kay Walsh as a receptioness
- Laurence Olivier and Jack Hulbert as Police officers
- Leo Genn as a doctor
- Marius Goring as an estate agent
- Michael Denison as a reporter
- Michael Hordern as the Official Receiver
- Miles Malleson as an orchestra conductor
- Peter Ustinov as an "industry man"
- Sheila Sim as a nursemaid
- Sid James as a police sergeant in storeroom
- Stanley Holloway as a broker's man
- Thora Hird as a housekeeper
- William Hartnell as a Recruiting sergeant
- Ronald Shiner as a fairground barker
- Googie Withers, A. E. Matthews, John McCallum, Patric Holt, Robertson Hare, Richard Murdoch and Sybil Thorndike as sitters
- Henry Edwards as the Butler at Fox Talbot's
[edit] References
TimeOut Film Guide - published by Penguin Books - ISBN 0-14-029395-7
[edit] External links
- The Magic Box at the Internet Movie Database
- The Magic Box at the TCM Movie Database
- The Magic Box at Allmovie
