21 Days
21 Days | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Basil Dean |
Written by | Graham Greene Basil Dean |
Produced by | Alexander Korda |
Starring | Vivien Leigh Laurence Olivier Leslie Banks |
Cinematography | Jan Stallich |
Edited by | Charles Crichton William Hornbeck |
Music by | Muir Mathieson John Greenwood |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | 7 January 1940 |
Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
21 Days (also known as 21 Days Together, The First and the Last and Three Weeks Together) is a 1940 British drama film based on the short play The First and the Last by John Galsworthy. It was directed by Basil Dean and stars Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Banks. The film was renamed 21 Days Together for the US market.[1]
Plot
Larry Durrant (Laurence Olivier) is a bit of a disappointment to his family, and even more so when he kills Henry Wallen (Esme Percy), the disreputable foreign husband of his lover Wanda (Vivien Leigh). The long-missing Henry shows up on Wanda’s doorstep and threatens to kill her. Larry accidentally kills him in the ensuing fight.
Larry stows Henry’s corpse away in an abandoned archway at Glove Lane. Afterwards he goes to his do-good brother Keith (Leslie Banks) for some advice. Keith is a successful attorney with a brilliant mind, well on his way to becoming a judge. When Larry tells him what he has done, Keith wants him to leave the country for a while, and spare them both some trouble, not spoiling Keith’s career by having a murderer for a brother and saving Larry from going to jail.
However, Larry refuses to leave, and returns to the alley where he left the body. There he encounters John Evan (Hay Petrie), a former minister turned bum. Evan unfortunately picks up the gloves Larry had dropped in the street, which results in him later being arrested for Wallen's murder. The police claims there is enough circumstantial evidence with the bloody gloves he had on him.
When Larry learns of Evan's arrest, he considers himself a free man and decides to marry Wanda. For the next three weeks before Evan goes on trial, they plan to squeeze in 30 years of idyllic life because Larry will then turn himself in for murder. On the day that Evan is sentenced to hang, Keith begs his brother to remain silent and let the condemned man die. Larry, set on doing the right thing for once in his life, refuses and leaves for the police station, only to be stopped on the steps by Wanda. She has read the newspaper, telling of Evan’s demise from a heart attack on his way to jail.
One of the few movies that avoided the production code that a criminal must face justice for his/her crime during the movie.
Cast
- Vivien Leigh as Wanda Wallen
- Laurence Olivier as Larry Durrant
- Leslie Banks as Keith Durrant
- Francis L. Sullivan as Mander
- David Horne as Beavis
- Hay Petrie as John Aloysius Evan
- William Dewhurst as the Lord Chief Justice
- Esme Percy as Henry Wallen
- Frederick Lloyd as Swinton
- Robert Newton as Tolly
- Victor Rietti as Antonio
- Morris Harvey as Alexander MacPherson
- Elliott Mason as Frau Grunlich
- Arthur Young as Ascher
- Meinhart Maur as Carl Grunlich
Production
Producer Alexander Korda tooled 21 Days to be a star vehicle for Vivien Leigh, but his constant interference caused great problems on the set. He rearranged shooting schedules and even added a sequence; director Basil Dean reputedly never saw a rough cut or the finished product. The title change to 21 Days was attributed to Korda.[2] Principal photography took place in 1937 at Denham Film Studios, with the production shot in black and white. Vincent Korda, Alexander's younger brother, was the art director on 21 Days and responsible for the sets.[3]
Reception
With Vivien Leigh's star turn due to her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), Korda shelved 21 Days for two years before releasing it to Columbia Pictures.[4] Bosley Crowther in his review for The New York Times, said, "True, it is no deathless drama—is little more than a cultivated penny-thriller, in fact—and Miss Leigh, as the party of the second part, is required to devote her charm and talents to nothing more constructive than making the apparently inevitable parting from poor Mr. Olivier seem exceedingly painful, indeed. But it is a highly charged "meller," rigid throughout with suspense and nicely laced with much tender emotion."[5]
References
Notes
- ^ "21 Days Together".
- ^ "Notes: '21 Days Together'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: 2 February 2015.
- ^ "Original print information: '21 Days Together'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: 2 February 2015.
- ^ Walker 1987, pp. 48, 51.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley. "The Screen." The New York Times, May 23, 1940.
Bibliography
- Walker, Alexander. Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh. New York: Grove Press, 1987. ISBN 0-8021-3259-6.
External links
- 21 Days at the TCM Movie Database
- 21 Days at IMDb
- Films based on works by John Galsworthy
- 1940 films
- 1940s drama films
- British films
- British drama films
- British black-and-white films
- English-language films
- British films based on plays
- Films directed by Basil Dean
- London Films films
- Screenplays by Graham Greene
- Films produced by Alexander Korda
- Columbia Pictures films
- Films set in 1938