Piccadilly Incident *** (1946, Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Michael Laurence, Frances Mercer, Coral Browne, A E Matthews, Edward Rigby, Brenda Bruce) – Classic Movie Review 6,973

The 1946 British wartime drama film Piccadilly Incident stars Anna Neagle as a World War Two W.R.E.N, who encounters stranger Michael Wilding in a blacked-out Piccadilly, London, during an air raid.

Producer-director Herbert Wilcox’s 1946 British wartime drama film Piccadilly Incident stars the popular screen team of Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding. The Piccadilly incident of the title is vital to the plot but disappointingly mundane in that World War Two W.R.E.N. Neagle encounters stranger Wilding in a blacked-out Piccadilly, London, during an air raid. They quickly get married, enjoy a two-day honeymoon and she is sent off to Singapore.

Neagle shows her mettle as a wartime heroine Diana Fraser, thought killed in World War Two service when her ship is torpedoed, but who turns up to confront her husband Captain Alan Pearson (Wilding), now re-wed to Virginia Pearson (Coral Browne), who have a child of their own.

Neagle keeps smiling through a highly fanciful plot (written by Nicholas Phipps from a story by Florence Trantor) involving A E Matthews as Wilding’s knighted dad Sir Charles Pearson, air raids, a desert island ordeal and startling period slang.

Piccadilly Incident has its charms, both in terms of the period and the performances, but it all seems very dated and quite silly now, and it seems so extraordinary that it was such a delight to the immediately post-war audiences – mainly in the UK – and that it set off the run of hugely popular Neagle and Wilding vehicles.

Also in the cast are Michael Laurence, Frances Mercer, Edward Rigby, Brenda Bruce, Reginald Owen, Leslie Dwyer, Maire O’Neill, Neville Mapp, Harry Locke, Michael Medwin and Roger Moore.

The 19-year-old Roger Moore plays Guest Sitting at Pearson’s Table in Piccadilly Incident (1946).

Michael Laurence receives an Introducing credit, as Bill Weston, but made only two more features. It is the first film of Michael Medwin, as the Radio Operator. In his fourth film, the 19-year-old Roger Moore plays Guest Sitting at Pearson’s Table.

Piccadilly Incident (also known as They Met at Midnight) is directed by Herbert Wilcox, runs 102 minutes, is made by Associated British Picture Corporation and Herbert Wilcox Productions, released by MGM, is written by Nicholas Phipps, is shot in black and white by Mutz Greenbaum [Max Greene], is produced by Herbert Wilcox, and is scored by Anthony Collins, with Art Direction by William C Andrews.

It was the third most successful film at the British box office in 1946 after The Wicked Lady and The Bells of St Mary’s. Yes, 1946 was a very good year.

The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS, known as the Wrens) was the women’s branch of the UK Royal Navy, first formed in 1917 for the First World War, revived in 1939, and integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993.

Michael Wilding made his London stage debut in 1933 and his first appearance in 1940, and he and Anna Neagle became one of the most popular couples on the British screen, making seven films together.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,973

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