The Lamp Still Burns
- 29 November 1943 (1943-11-29)
The Lamp Still Burns is a 1943 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Rosamund John, Stewart Granger and Godfrey Tearle.[1] Its plot concerns a woman architect who changes careers to become a nurse.
It was based on the 1942 novel One Pair of Feet by Monica Dickens. Like the novel, the film is a plea for better conditions in English hospitals – and, more specifically, for better treatment of England's selfless nurses.[2]
The Lamp Still Burns was produced by actor Leslie Howard, who was killed in the service of his country not long after the film was released.[3]
Plot
Laurence Rains is annoyed when architect Hilary Clarke insists he must enlarge the first aid room in his factory to satisfy government regulations, even though it has the best safety record in the country. He encounters her once again, now a nurse trainee assisting a doctor treating one of his employees.
He finds out that Clarke only became an architect to please her father, who had no sons to follow in his profession. When she saw how her young assistant at her firm, seriously injured in a traffic accident, was tended to by the nurses, she found her true vocation. Pamela Siddell, a violinist and Rains' fiancée, sees his attraction to Clarke.
Through the influence of Sir Marshall Freyne, one of her clients and a member of the board of Queen Eleanor's Hospital, Clarke is allowed to embark on a tough nurse training course, though she is somewhat older than the typical nineteen- or twenty-year-old candidate. Her independence gets her into trouble time and time again with the strict, by-the-book matron in charge of the nurses when she questions some of the numerous regulations (for example, nurses are not allowed to speak directly to the doctors).
Romantic complications arise when both Rains and Siddell become patients at the hospital after a factory explosion. Rains and Clarke fall in love. Siddell eventually releases her fiancé from their engagement. However, nurses are expected to devote themselves body and soul to their profession and do not have time for personal relationships. Clarke's friend and fellow nurse Christine Morris decides in favour of love, and gives up her career and a promotion to "sister" to marry the man she loves. Clarke chooses differently, but Rains vows to wait until she or someone else manages to improve conditions for both the hospital and its nurses.
Cast
Actor | Role |
---|---|
Rosamund John | Hilary Clarke |
Stewart Granger | Laurence Rains |
Godfrey Tearle | Sir Marshall Freyne |
Sophie Stewart | Christine Morris |
Cathleen Nesbitt | Matron |
Margaret Vyner | Pamela Siddell |
John Laurie | Mr. Hervey |
Joan Maude | Sister Catley |
Mignon O'Doherty | Sister Tutor |
Leslie Dwyer | Siddons |
Wylie Watson | Diabetic Patient |
Eric Micklewood | Trevor |
Joyce Grenfell | Doctor Barrett |
Ernest Thesiger | Chairman |
Brefni O'Rorke | Lorrimer |
Aubrey Mallalieu | Rev. J. Ashton |
Megs Jenkins | Nurse |
Production
According to Rosamund John, Stewart Granger's character was "supposed to have a head injury, which would have meant having his hair shaved off and a bandage like a turban. He flatly refused so they had to change it to a broken rib."[4] She also recalled Granger "got a contract because they knew he was on the up and up at that stage nobody had heard of him and he started throwing his weight around and that didn't go down well with people like the electricians and carpenters. I remember they painted his name and spelt it wrongly."[5]
Critical reception
The Radio Times wrote, "every hospital cliché has been scrubbed down and pressed into service – the cold efficient matron, the cantankerous patient and the handsome young doctor – and the wartime references give the film a home-front heroism that, while comforting for audiences of the time, now makes the whole thing seem as stiff as a starched uniform."[6]
TV Guide noted "outstanding performances by the entire cast in this evenly directed and edited feature. The film is endowed with high production values that, at this time in the history of British cinema, were unusual."[7]
References
- ^ The Lamp Still Burns at the British Film Institute[better source needed]
- ^ C.A. LEJEUNE (2 May 1943). "THE LONDON FILM SCENE: Noel Coward Supervises Production of 'This Happy Breed' by Remote Control". New York Times. p. X3.
- ^ Hal Erickson (2015). "The-Lamp-Still-Burns – Trailer – Cast – Showtimes". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ^ Brian MacFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Methuen 1997 p 329
- ^ Giesler, Rodney (26 May 1993). "Rosamund John". British Entertainment History Project.
- ^ "The Lamp Still Burns | Film review and movie reviews". Radio Times. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ^ "The Lamp Still Burns Review". TV Guide. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
External links
- The Lamp Still Burns at IMDb
- The Lamp Still Burns at BFI Screenonline
- Review of film at 'Variety
- v
- t
- e
- Maria Marten (1913)
- The Suicide Club (1914)
- The Loss of the Birkenhead (1914)
- Her Luck in London (1914)
- The Idol of Paris (1914)
- There's Good in Everyone (1915)
- Honeymoon for Three (1915)
- Gilbert Gets Tiger-It is (1915)
- Midshipman Easy (1915)
- Gilbert Dying to Die (1915)
- Florence Nightingale (1915)
- From Shopgirl to Duchess (1915)
- Her Nameless Child (1915)
- Home (1915)
- Love in a Wood (1915)
- Fine Feathers (1915)
- Charity Ann (1915)
- A Will of Her Own (1915)
- Meg the Lady (1916)
- Esther (1916)
- Driven (1916)
- Vice Versa (1916)
- Money for Nothing (1916)
- When Knights Were Bold (1916)
- Trouble for Nothing (1916)
- The Princess of Happy Chance (1916)
- The King's Daughter (1916)
- Mother Love (1916)
- Smith (1917)
- The Grit of a Jew (1917)
- The Woman Who Was Nothing (1917)
- Justice (1917)
- The Gay Lord Quex (1917)
- Flames (1917)
- Mary Girl (1917)
- Hindle Wakes (1918)
- The Greatest Wish in the World (1918)
- Goodbye (1918)
- Adam Bede (1918)
- The Life Story of David Lloyd George (1918)
- Nelson (1918)
- Comradeship (1919)
- Quinneys (1919)
- Keeper of the Door (1919)
- Dombey and Son (1919)
- The Rocks of Valpre (1919)
- God's Good Man (1919)
- Mr. Wu (1919)
- The Swindler (1919)
- The Elusive Pimpernel (1919)
- Bleak House (1920)
- The Amateur Gentleman (1920)
- At the Villa Rose (1920)
- The Hundredth Chance (1920)
- A Question of Trust (1920)
- The Tavern Knight (1920)
- The Victory Leaders (1920)
- Innocent (1921)
- A Gentleman of France (1921)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921)
- The Fruitful Vine (1921)
- A Romance of Wastdale (1921)
- The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921)
- The Passionate Friends (1922)
- Running Water (1922)
- Dick Turpin's Ride to York (1922)
- A Debt of Honour (1922)
- The Wandering Jew (1923)
- The Sign of Four (1923)
- Guy Fawkes (1923)
- The Royal Oak (1923)
- Sally Bishop (1923)
- Don Quixote (1923)
- Henry, King of Navarre (1924)
- Slaves of Destiny (1924)
- The Love Story of Aliette Brunton (1924)
- My Husband's Wives (1924)
- Folly of Vanity (1924)
- Curlytop (1924)
- She Wolves (1925)
- Every Man's Wife (1925)
- The Woman Tempted (1926)
- The Flag Lieutenant (1926)
- Mademoiselle from Armentieres (1926)
- Roses of Picardy (1927)
- Tragedy of a Marriage (1927)
- Hindle Wakes (1927)
- The Flight Commander (1927)
- Quinneys (1927)
- The Glad Eye (1927)
- Mademoiselle Parley Voo (1928)
- Balaclava (1928)
- Palais de danse (1928)
- You Know What Sailors Are (1928)
- High Treason (1929)
- The School for Scandal (1930)
- Potiphar's Wife (1931)
- Sally in Our Alley (1931)
- A Honeymoon Adventure (1931)
- Frail Women (1932)
- In a Monastery Garden (1932)
- The Marriage Bond (1932)
- The Water Gipsies (1932)
- Diamond Cut Diamond (1932)
- The Lodger (1932)
- The Lost Chord (1933)
- I Lived with You (1933)
- This Week of Grace (1933)
- Soldiers of the King (1933)
- Love, Life and Laughter (1934)
- Road House (1934)
- Lily of Killarney (1934)
- The Clairvoyant (1935)
- The Tunnel (1935)
- Heat Wave (1935)
- Spy of Napoleon (1936)
- The Man in the Mirror (1936)
- A Romance in Flanders (1937)
- Who Killed John Savage? (1937)
- Melody and Romance (1937)
- Change for a Sovereign (1937)
- Lightning Conductor (1938)
- Who Goes Next? (1938)
- The Return of the Frog (1938)
- Sword of Honour (1939)
- Sons of the Sea (1939)
- Under Your Hat (1940)
- The Spider (1940)
- For Freedom (1940)
- Room for Two (1940)
- Salute John Citizen (1942)
- The Lamp Still Burns (1943)
- Medal for the General (1944)
- Strawberry Roan (1945)
- Beware of Pity (1946)
- The Third Visitor (1951)
- The Late Edwina Black (1951)
- My Wife's Lodger (1952)
- The Great Game (1953)
- Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? (1953)
- House of Blackmail (1953)
- The Harassed Hero (1954)
- What Every Woman Wants (1954)
- The Gay Dog (1954)
- The Happiness of Three Women (1954)
- You Lucky People! (1955)
- Room in the House (1955)
- Fun at St. Fanny's (1956)
- Dry Rot (1956)
- Stars in Your Eyes (1956)
- Second Fiddle (1957)