The name is absent

Appendix 3.2: Sample films - synopses and character lists

MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS UK 44

PICCADILLY INCIDENT dir Wilcox UK 1945

The film tells the story of the tragic love and marriage of
Wren Diana Fraser (Anna Neagle) and Marine Alan Pearson
(Michael Wilding)∙ It is told in flashback from a point either
late in, or just after the end of, the second world war, and
covers a period of three or four years from the blitz of
London in 1940. The hero is a member of the minor British
aristocracy: this is made clear by his titled father, his
lifestyle which involves a London flat and a country mansion
both of which are staffed by resident servants. The heroine on
the other hand is alone in the world apart from an aged aunt
in Scotland whom we do not meet. Her mother had been a dancer
and Diana herself is seen dancing the star part in a naval
revue, early in the film: her behaviour and accent suggest
that she is middle class. They meet in Piccadilly during an
air raid, fall in love and marry within a few weeks. Diana
receives service orders to go to Singapore, during the
subsequent evacuation her ship is torpedoed and she is
missing, presumed dead. The central part of the film cuts
between her experience, shipwrecked on a tropical island from
which, after more than a year, she and her fellows set sail
again and are subsequently rescued, and that of the 'bereaved'
Alan in the UK. He is devastated by the news of her death and
is himself then badly wounded in action. During his recovery
he meets an American servicewoman, Joan Draper. By the time
Diana returns to England after three years absence Joan and
Alan have been married for eighteen months and have a baby

208

<<   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   >>

More intriguing information