The Magic Box

For the shop in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, see The Magic Box (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

The Magic Box
Directed by	John Boulting
Produced by	Ronald Neame
Written by	Ray Allister and Eric Ambler
Starring	Robert Donat Margaret Johnston Maria Schell Robert Beatty Ronald Shiner
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	UK
Language	English

The Magic Box is a 1951 British, Technicolor, biographical drama film, directed by John Boulting and starring Ronald Shiner as the Fairground Barker, Sid James, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Charles Victor. It was produced by Ronald Neame and distributed by British Lion Film Corporation. The film was a project of the Festival of Britain and adapted by Eric Ambler from the controversial biography by Ray Allister.

Plot summary

This biographical drama gives an 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. 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.

It was nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 1952—Best Film and Best British Film.

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
• Frederick Valk as Maurice Guttenberg
• Ronald Shiner as the Fairgraond Barker
• Peter Reynolds as Bridegroom

Cameos

• Barry Jones as a doctor
• Bessie Love as wedding group member
• 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, Patrick Holt, Robertson Hare, Richard Murdoch and Sybil Thorndike as sitters
• Henry Edwards as the Butler at Fox Talbot's

References

TimeOut Film Guide - published by Penguin Books - ISBN 0-14-029395-7

External links

• The Magic Box at AllRovi
• The Magic Box at the BFI Film & TV Database
• The Magic Box at the Internet Movie Database