The selection for the third Royal Film Performance was the biopic Scott of the Antarctic (1948), about the ill-fated 1912 South Pole Terra Nova Expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott (as this is a true story there are "spoilers" in this post).
NOTE: Please make sure you visit all the links, especially for the videos, for the full experience :)
September 9, 1904
On board the "Discovery," homeward bound from the Antarctic. I have added a little, I hope, to the knowledge gleaned by Captain Cook, Sir James Ross, and other Explorers before me. But I have only touched the fringe of things. I leave behind a whole continent - vast, mysterious, inhospitable, and still to all intents and purposes unknown.
The film opens with sweeping views of the icy continent and the wails of siren-like singing, leaving the viewer with a desolate and eerie feeling.
Our first glimpse of Captain Scott, played by John Mills, is as he is being sculpted by his wife, Diana Churchill (step-mother to actress Glynis Johns). He wonders if he will be able to raise enough money for a second expedition to the Antarctic, this time with the South Pole as his goal (Scott's first expedition was from 1901-1904 where he discovered the Antarctic Plateau on which the South Pole lies). If he succeeded, he would also be the first man to reach the South Pole.
I can't help feeling that we should use every modern invention that comes along. Somebody's got to try these things out!
There are numerous Royal references in the film, with portraits of the current Monarch, George V and his wife Queen Alexandra, as well as locations in Antarctica named after the current queen and Queen Victoria (at the time of the first expedition she would have just died).
After the long Antarctic night is over - six months - the explorers set out on the first leg of their journey. As they go along, depots of supplies are buried for the return trip and men sent back with samples, letters home, and most importantly news of their progress. They start out with horses and dogs and for the last two legs before they reach the Pole, man-power.
Finally, there are five men left. The going is arduous and when they arrive at the South Pole they discover that the Norwegians have already come and gone, using dog power all the way. Dejected, they pose for a photo and begin the long way back.
Record breaking cold temperatures, low fuel for their cookstove, and frostbite hinder their progress. One man dies and then another, so that there are only three left: Capt. Scott, scientist Edward Wilson, and Henry Robertson Bowers. Finally, with only eleven miles left to go, they died on March 29, 1912. Their frozen bodies were found by a searching party in October and a cross was erected with the names of the five men. You can watch the movie here.
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The Royal Command Performance was held at the Empire Theatre on November 29, 1948. King George VI was ill and unable to attend. Princess Elizabeth had just given birth to Prince Charles on the 14th and so was unable to go as well. The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Prince Philip, and a host of Hollywood stars made it a glittering evening nonetheless. Click here to see a photo of John Mills meeting the Queen.
Click here to watch the British Pathe video footage of the stars and Royals arriving (videos from the British Pathe have to be licensed and I'm nervous of putting them directly in my post). And here is the AP Archive newsreel. The little girl presenting flowers to Princess Margaret is a cute moment. And note 25 year old Glynis Johns in attendance supporting her step-mother! At the end of the video (next to Jean Simmons) you can see Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Taylor, but they are not named by the narrator.
Myrna Loy, in England filming If This Be Sin with Roger Livesy and recovering from appendicitis, devoted an entire page in her autobiography, Being and Becoming, about the evening:
Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh led the British stars, and the U.S. studios sent over a contingent of their best. The women wore fabulous gowns - mine was a new Dior of rose-colored net and lace - which we were expected to show off while descending a steep, treacherous stairway into the lobby. As we started down, Elizabeth Taylor, delicate and lovely with her white, white skin and violet eyes, turned to Robert Taylor and groaned, "I'm gonna throw up!"
I had sat on those stairs during rehearsals with the cream of English actors at my feet, the acting knights urging me to perform the show's big skit with them. But Hollywood studio representatives said, "No, one of our regular contingent has to do it!" The fact that I was living in England made me ineligible to represent my country, for some reason. They finally worked me into a bit with Sid Field, one of England's most popular comedians, a much-beloved man. When he kissed me during our turn, the entire audience went wild. You could hear them screaming - it was a great moment for them. After the show, we lined up alphabetically for presentation to the royal family. King George, gravely ill, could not attend, but Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother) appeared with her daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret [Princess Elizabeth did not attend, as mentioned above and in the news article below. This account was written in 1987, many years after the fact]. A little tremor ran through me as the Queen took my hand; you could tell she hadn't slept for nights. That round, pretty face was drawn, those bright eyes bloodshot. But she was swathed in glittering silver and covered with jewels, all done up in a diamond tiara and bracelets, emerald necklace and earrings. She clearly believed that if you're a queen, you look a queen.
"You are a great friend of England," she said, her sweet smile transcending fatigue and finery. "Mrs. Churchill told me about the hospital beds you sent over during the war." I was amazed as she recounted my wartime services in England - amazed not by what she said, but because she had done her homework. With the King perilously ill, she had taken time to learn about all the show people she would meet that evening. She was not born a queen, she became one reluctantly when her brother-in-law abdicated and her husband succeeded him, but she was everything a queen should be (234).
Alan Ladd seems to have made quite a splash is England! Not only is he spotted numerous times in the Reception video, he was also greeted by hysterical fans who chanted "We want Alan!" as recounted in the newspaper article above. Read more about his trip to England and see more photos here.
Meeting the Queen is such a ceremony, and we were very nervous about it. We had to learn scenes for the live presentation, Alan was particularly nervous and shy about that. My husband did a scene with Alan and helped him out because Alan was a little unsteady on the stage. He wasn't accustomed to it. It was a gangster sketch, and it worked out very well. They were crazy about Alan in England. After the actors did their bit on the stage we went back to our seats to see the rest of the show. We had the box next to Laurence Olivier, who had been knighted earlier, and Vivian Leigh, and were very awed (Ladd: The Life, The Legend, The Legacy of Alan Ladd. Beverly Linet. Page128).
Patricia Neal, 23, was also on board. She too recalled Alan Ladd (neither of them liked flying) in her autobiography As I Am:
I learned a lot about being a movie star while crossing the country with Alan Ladd. Alan loved people. He would get off the train and walk among hundreds of fans and never lose a button off his suit or have a necktie pulled awry. I learned that you set the tempo for the crowd. If you respect them and let them know it, they'll do the same with you (109).
Soon after our arrival we were told that the king of England was deathly ill. I was surprised to learn that I was to offer a sympathetic message from the American people at the Command Performance for the royal family. It did not seem proper to be so excited about such a grave matter, but I was, after all, going to appear on the same stage with Sir Laurence Olivier. He would introduce me.
I stood in the wings waiting for what I knew would be a magical moment between us. But a messanger interrupted Olivier's entrance with a telegram. Everything stopped.
Impetuously I left my place and rushed to Olivier's side. "What is it?" I asked.
He looked at me as if I were the most revolting thing in the world. "It has nothing to do with you, dear," he said sharply [It was a message from the King expressing his regrets at being unable to attend, which Olivier then read aloud to the audience].
I got through my speech that evening, but I was so humiliated that I had blown my big moment with the idol of my life (110).
Afterward the event, the Queen "politely greeted her and then moved on. Suddenly she stopped, came back to Patricia, and said, 'I will give the King your message.' She then stepped away" (Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. Stephen Michael Shearer. Page 72).
Figured out how to embed images from Getty! Here's a slideshow with photos of Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Taylor, Alan Ladd and his wife, Myrna Loy, Patricia Neal and Ronald Reagan, and Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh.
Neal attended the Performance with Ronald Reagan, with whom she was about to start filming The Hasty Heart. "When [we] were not needed on the set, we were sent anywhere that would make good copy. Fortunately, we got on well enough to choose each other's company even when we were not working" (111). She wore a green velvet presentation gown (Shearer).
There was also a reception at the Savoy Hotel the night before for the movie stars. Footage of that can be viewed by clicking here. You can see Alan Ladd, Jean Simmons, John Mills, Robert Donat, Googie Withers, Margaret Lockwood, Patricia Neal, Virginia Mayo, Stewart Granger, and Joan Caufield.
Neal recalls a compliment she received that night from Robert Donat. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life!" (Shearer, 71).
Linet, Beverly. Ladd: The Life, The Legend, The Legacy of Alan Ladd. Arbor House. 1979.
Loy, Myrna & Kotsilibus-Davis, James. Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming. Alfred A. Knopf. 1987.
Neal, Patricia & DeNeut, Richard. Patricia Neal: As I Am. Simon and Schuster. 1988.
Shearer, Stephen Michael. Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life. The University Press of Kentucky. 2006.
Ooooh, in "immaculate evening dress," no less. Good for those bobby-soxers! :-D
ReplyDeleteI really wonder now, though, what he and Stewart Granger were talking about. Hmmmm.
Granger: Well that ending was depressing!
DeleteLadd: Yep, sure was.
;)
Hee!
Delete