On Such a Night (1955 film)
| On Such a Night | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Anthony Asquith |
| Screenplay by | Paul Dehn |
| Produced by | Francis Edge |
| Cinematography | Frank North |
| Edited by | Anthony Harvey |
Release date | February 1956 |
Running time | 37 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | English Italian |
On Such a Night is a 1955 British
Le nozze di Figaro, and a fictional first visit to the opera house by an American. The film was "very discreetly aimed at potential American audiences fascinated by British eccentricities".[2]
Background
It was filmed at
Gaumont Haymarket cinema, London, on a bill with Simon and Laura.[3]
Synopsis
An American tourist (David Knight) has been persuaded by to visit
Lewes and is more baffled still when the formally dressed people get on a Southdown bus waiting there. He gets in a taxi and asks the driver to follow the bus. Arriving at the entrance of Glyndebourne, he explains to an upper-class lady (Marie Lohr) he had noticed at Victoria Station who is with her niece (Josephine Griffin) that he does not have a ticket, at which they ask John Christie
who sees that he gets one.
During the performance he watches
Ian Wallace, and the very end of the opera. There is also a scene of Carl Ebert rehearsing Jurinac and Rizzieri and of the conductor Vittorio Gui and the administrator Moran Caplat, and the orchestra playing croquet. The film ends with the lady giving the American her ticket for Don Giovanni the following week so that he can come with her niece.[2]
Cast
- David Knight as David Cornell
- Marie Lohr as Lady Falconbridge
- Josephine Griffin as Virginia Ridley
- Allan Cuthbertson as 1st gentleman
- Peter Jones as 2nd gentleman
In the opera extracts:
- Sesto Bruscantini as Figaro
- Elena Rizzieri as Susanna
- Ian Wallaceas Dr Bartolo
- Monica Sinclair as Marcellina
- Frances Bible as Cherubino
- Franco Calabrese as Count Almaviva
- Hugues Cuénod as Don Basilio
- Sena Jurinac as Countess Almaviva
- Gwyn Griffiths as Antonio
- Jeannette Sinclair as Barbarina
- Daniel McCoshan as Don Curzio[1]
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Vittorio Gui, and the film was issued on DVD in 2010, using a print from the BFI National Archive.[2]
References
External links
- On Such a Night (1956) at IMDb
- Trailer on YouTube
