The Root of All Evil * (1947, Phyllis Calvert, Michael Rennie, John McCallum) – Classic Movie Review 11,859

Writer-director Brock Williams’s 1947 Gainsborough Pictures studios drama The Root of All Evil stars Phyllis Calvert, who looks unhappy, miscast in a British Joan Crawford-style role as Jeckie Farnish, getting up to dirty business to avenge herself on Albert Grice (Hubert Gregg), the fiancé who scorned her.

The Root of All Evil is laughable stuff. You can believe in Calvert as the nice, poor farmer’s daughter she starts out as, but not as the rich, oil tycoon she becomes.

It is a rare star acting role for BBC radio voice Gregg, who had a 15-year film career from 1942 to 1957 before his popularity on the BBC Radio 2 oldies shows A Square Deal and Thanks for the Memory.

Williams’s screenplay is based on J S Fletcher’s novel, published in 1921.

It is the first film as director for screenwriter Williams.

Filming started in February 1946.

The film was one of a number of expensive dramas financed by J Arthur Rank with budgets over $1 million but was one of the less successful Gainsborough melodramas.

Other notable big-budget Rank films of the era include Daybreak, Odd Man Out and Green for Danger.

It was the first English film for Australian actor John McCallum, who tested for a small part but was given the second male lead. Producer Maurice Ostrer put McCallum under personal contract. Ostrer initiated the film but left Gainsborough during filming and Harold Huth is credited as producer.

The cast are Phyllis Calvert as Jeckie Farnish, Michael Rennie as Charles Mortimer, John McCallum as Joe Bartle, Brefni O’Rorke as Farnish, Moore Marriott as Scholes, Hazel Court as Rushie Farnish, Hubert Gregg as Albert Grice, Arthur Young as George Grice, Reginald Purdell as Perkins, Stewart Rome as Sir George, George Carney as Bowser, George Merritt as Landlord, Ellis Irving as Auctioneer, and Diana Drecker and Patricia Hicks in early appearances.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,859

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