Quiet Wedding **** (1941, Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr, Marjorie Fielding, Muriel Pavlow, Peggy Ashcroft, Athene Seyler, A E Matthews) – Classic Movie Review 8126

Margaret Lockwood and Derek Farr star in the extremely jolly 1941 British romantic comedy film Quiet Wedding as a young couple whose wedding plans are comically undermined by the constant interruptions of their relatives.

Muriel Pavlow appears in the 1941 British romantic comedy film Quiet Wedding with her husband Derek Farr, whom she married on 7 January 1947 (and remained together with until his death on 22 March 1986). She presented an introduction to a screening of their film Quiet Wedding (1941) in the Margaret Lockwood season at the British Film Institute, London, on 5 January 2008.

In director Anthony Asquith’s extremely jolly 1941 film version of Esther McCracken’s 1938 hit stage play, it is going to be a far from quiet wedding when this attractive cast of expert British farceurs get through with upsetting all the best laid plans of young couple-to-be Janet Royd (Margaret Lockwood) and Dallas Chaytor (Derek Farr). The couple become engaged, but their wedding plans are of course comically undermined by the constant interruptions of their relatives.

[Spoiler alert] Among the players who stand out are A E Matthews as Arthur Royd, Marjorie Fielding as down-to-earth mum Mildred Royd, Peggy Ashcroft as winsome lass Flower Lisle, Muriel Pavlow as Miranda and Athene Seyler as bright-as-a-button auntie Aunt Mary, who resolves the plot by getting Dallas (Farr) to spirit Janet (Lockwood) off to their new apartment.

Also in the memorable cast are Margaretta Scott, Frank Cellier, Roland Culver, Jean Cadell, David Tomlinson, Bernard Miles, Sydney King, Michael Shepley, Roddy Hughes, O B Clarence, Margaret Rutherford, Wally Patch, Martita Hunt, Muriel George, Margaret Halstan, Hay Petrie, Valentine Dunn, Amy Dalby, Viola Lyel, Charles Carson, Lawrence Hanray, Mark Stone, Peter Bull, Ivor Barnard and Esma Cannon.

Quiet Wedding is terribly British, but – or maybe that should be and – a lot of fun and lots of high spirits. It was very popular and a sequel followed: director Harold French’s so-so 1946 Quiet Weekend, with Derek Farr, Marjorie Fielding, George Thorpe, Frank Cellier, Helen Shingler and Edward Rigby.

Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald adapt Esther McCracken’s stage play for the screen. Bernard Knowles shoots in black and white.

Quiet Wedding is remade as Happy Is the Bride (1958).

RIP gracious Muriel Pavlow, who died on 19 January 2019, aged 97.

The cast are Margaret Lockwood as Janet Royd, Derek Farr as Dallas Chaytor, Marjorie Fielding as Mildred Royd, Athene Seyler as Aunt Mary, Jean Cadell as Aunt Florence, Margaretta Scott as Marcia, David Tomlinson as John Royd, Sidney King as Denys, Peggy Ashcroft as Flower Lisle, Frank Cellier as Mr. Clayton, Roland Culver as Boofy Ponsonby Michael Shepley as Marcia’s Husband, Muriel Pavlow as Miranda, Margaret Halstan as Lady Yeldham, Roddy Hughes as Vicar, O. B. Clarence as First Magistrate, Margaret Rutherford as Second Magistrate, Wally Patch as Third Magistrate, Martita Hunt as Madame Mirelle, the dressmaker, Charles Carson as Johnson, Bernard Miles as Constable, Terry-Thomas (uncredited) as an extra, Muriel George, Hay Petrie, Valentine Dunn, Amy Dalby, Viola Lyel, Lawrence Hanray, Mark Stone, Peter Bull, Ivor Barnard and Esma Cannon.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8126

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