1944 British film starring James Mason
Fanny by Gaslight (US title – Man of Evil) is a 1944 British drama film, directed by Anthony Asquith and produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a 1940 novel by Michael Sadleir (also adapted as a 1981 TV serial).
It was the second of its famous period-set "Gainsborough melodramas", following The Man in Grey (1943). Its US release was delayed for its breaking the Hays Purity Code and 17 minutes were removed.
Stewart Granger later said he "didn't like" the film because of its "drippy characters" but thought "Asquith was much the best of those directors I worked with at Gainsborough."[6]
Plot
The story unfolds in Victorian London. Fanny is only nine years old and is in the street with her young friend. They wander down to a basement, which appears to be a brothel and nightclub (Hopwood Shades). She is given a coin and then pulled out by Joe, her father's handyman. Back at home she is having a birthday party by her father (John Laurie). Her mother and father decide to send her away to boarding school.
We jump to her birthday in 1880, Fanny has finished at boarding school and returns to London. It is clearer that her father owns and runs the nearby nightclub and brothel and has a secret door in his house that links down to it, But he has no desire for his daughter to be involved in any way with the business. Only when her father is killed in a fight with Lord Manderstoke, is it revealed to her at the inquest that her father ran a brothel.
She is sent to work for the Heaviside/Seymore family far from her home. The husband Clive Seymore reveals he is her true father and he paid William Hopwood to look after her (it is implied he was a client). She is introduced to other servants as Mrs Heaviside's niece and given the name Fanny Hooper. Her father takes her on holiday and gets to know her and wants to tell the world that she is his daughter.
In the idyllic countryside during the holiday she is painting by the lake when a dog spoils her picture. The dog belongs to Harry Somerford. They chat.
Back in the mansion where they stay the dog appears at her door. She looks out of the window and Harry is talking business with her father. He is a young friend of the father, who then has to return to London without her. She is now calling him "father".
Back at the huge Seymore house she returns to duties as a maid. One day a visitor Lord Manderstoke encounters her on the stair and recognises her as Hopwood's daughter. He is revealed as the lover of Mrs Seymore.
Mr Seymore reveals to his wife that Fanny is his daughter. She asks for a divorce to marry Manderstoke. Mr Seymore commits suicide rather than face disgrace.
Fanny leaves and goes back to home territory. Somerford is trustee to Mr Seymore's will and delivers property shares to Fanny. A letter reveals that Fanny was Seymore's daughter and also that he loved Somerford like a son.
Somerford's sister comes and tells her Somerford wants to marry her but it must not happen as it will ruin his reputation. Somerford appears and asks her to marry him.
In the final scene Somerford has been shot in the chest and Fanny and a physician are caring for him. The sister again appears and demands to take him into her own care. This could be fatal but the sister says she would rather he die than be with Fanny. He chooses to live.
Production
The film was based on a novel published in 1940.[7][8]
Phyllis Calvert and Anthony Asquith were attached to the project by October 1942.[9]
The film's release in the US was delayed over three years due to American censor concerns over scenes set in a brothel.[10]
Jean Kent played a Margaret Lockwood style role.[11]
Reception
The BFI listed it as one of the most popular British films of all time, with an estimated attendance of 11.7 million.[12]
According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1944 Britain were For Whom the Bell Tolls, This Happy Breed, Song of Bernadette, Going My Way, This Is the Army, Jane Eyre, The Story of Dr Wassell, Cover Girl, White Cliffs of Dover, Sweet Rosie O'Grady and Fanny By Gaslight. The biggest British hits of the year were, in order, Breed, Fanny By Gaslight, The Way Ahead and Love Story.[13][14] However, it performed very badly at the box office in the US.[3]
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