They Were Not Divided
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They Were Not Divided | |
---|---|
Directed by | Terence Young |
Written by | Terence Young |
Produced by | Herbert Smith |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Harry Waxman |
Edited by | Vera Campbell Ralph Kemplen |
Music by | Lambert Williamson |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date | 29 March 1950 |
Running time | 137 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £167,000[1] |
They Were Not Divided is a 1950 British war film, which depicted the Guards Armoured Division in Second World War Europe. It was written and directed by Terence Young, a former Guards officer who served in the campaigns depicted in the film.
The cast consists of little known professional actors, and real soldiers with speaking parts. The male leads are Edward Underdown and Ralph Clanton with Michael Trubshawe. Two supporting actors who became famous later on are Christopher Lee as a tank commander and Desmond Llewelyn as a tank gunner. Anthony Dawson later made appearances in a large number of Terence Young's films.
Sections of the action are interspersed with documentary footage from the war creating the "scene-setting".
Plot
During the middle years of the war, three men are called up to serve in the
The film follows the three main characters as the Guards Armoured Division lands at
Cast
- Edward Underdown as Philip Hamilton
- Ralph Clanton as David Morgan
- Helen Cherry as Wilhelmina
- Stella Andrew as Jane
- Michael Brennan as Smoke O’Connor
- Michael Trubshawe as Major Bushey Noble
- Rupert Gerard as Earl of Bentham
- John Wynn as ’45 Jones
- Desmond Llewelyn as ’77 Jones
- Anthony Dawson as Michael
- Estelle Brody as War Correspondent
- Rufus Cruikshank as Sergeant Dean
- R.S.M. Brittain as Regimental Sergeant Major
- Christopher Lee as Chris Lewis
Charles Stuart Payton (Welsh Guards) as Corporal Instructor at the guards depot Caterham.
Featured vehicles
A large number of actual Second World War armoured vehicles are featured or make brief appearances, including scenes featuring a German Tiger tank (namely Tiger 131)[citation needed] and a disabled Panther.
Reception
Trade papers called the film a "notable box office attraction" in British cinemas in 1950.[2] According to one account it was one of the most popular British films of the year along with The Happiest Days of our Lives, Morning Departure, Odette and The Wooden Horse.[3] According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1950 Britain were The Blue Lamp, The Happiest Days of Your Life, Annie Get Your Gun, The Wooden Horse, Treasure Island and Odette, with "runners up" being Stage Fright, White Heat, They Were Not Divided, Trio, Morning Departure, Destination Moon, Sands of Iwo Jima, Little Women, The Forsythe Saga, Father of the Bride, Neptune's Daughter, The Dancing Years, The Red Light, Rogues of Sherwood Forest, Fancy Pants, Copper Canyon, State Secret, The Cure for Love, My Foolish Heart, Stromboli, Cheaper by the Dozen, Pinky, Three Came Home, Broken Arrow and Black Rose.[4]
References
- ^ Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. p. 281.
- ^ Robert Murphy, Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939–48 2003 p213
- ^ "Six British films get top box-office rating". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 10 December 1950. p. 62. Retrieved 9 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 233.
External links
- They Were Not Divided at IMDb