Flesh and Blood ** (1951, Richard Todd, Glynis Johns, Joan Greenwood, André Morell, Ursula Howells, Freda Jackson, George Cole, James Hayter) – Classic Movie Review 11,576

Richard Todd stars in a dual role in the 1951 British drama film Flesh and Blood, based on the play A Sleeping Clergyman by James Bridie, about three generations of the Scottish Cameron family.

Director Anthony Kimmins’s 1951 British black and white drama film Flesh and Blood stars Richard Todd in a dual role, Glynis Johns, Joan Greenwood, André Morell, Ursula Howells, Freda Jackson, George Cole and James Hayter.

Dr Marshall (Morell) sees the genius of his young Scots doctor friend Charles Cameron the First (Todd), who dies from TB after giving him a granddaughter (Greenwood), reappear in his great-grandson, Charles Cameron the Second (Todd).

James Bridie’s two-act heredity play A Sleeping Clergyman, in which we follow the lives and loves of three generations of the Glaswegian Cameron family from 1867 to 1927 makes for a dour, over-complicated, sprawling film. The acting is passable though, with Todd in his two roles better than expected in a performance created on stage by Robert Donat, and with fondly remembered British players Glynis Johns as Katherine, Joan Greenwood as Wilhelmina, and André Morell as Dr Marshall all good value.

The word heredity defines as the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to another.

Also in the cast are Michael Hordern, Ronald Howard, Walter Fitzgerald, Muriel Axted, Helen Christie, Lily Kann, Patrick Macnee, Molly Weir, Hugh Dempster, Betty Paul, Alexander Gauge, Archie Duncan, John Kelly, Joan Heal, Sally Owen, and Nina Parry.

Flesh and Blood is directed by Anthony Kimmins, runs 102 minutes, is made by De Grunwald Productions (as Harefield), is released by British Lion, is written by Anatole de Grunwald, is shot in black and white by Otto Heller, is produced by Anatole de Grunwald and is scored by Charles Williams.

It was shot some long way from Glasgow, at Teddington Studios in London. There may be some Scottish actors in the film, Molly Weir and Archie Duncan among them, but Todd is not one of them: he was born in Dublin.

James Bridie’s play A Sleeping Clergyman play opened at Malvern’s Festival Theatre in July 1933 and moved to London’s Piccadilly Theatre in September 1933 for 230 performances, transferring to Broadway’s Guild Theatre in October 1934 for 40 performances, with Robert Donat as the two Charles Camerons. It was revived, again with Donat, at London’s Criterion Theatre in 1947. It is a shame that Donat did not get to star in the film.

James Bridie (born 3 January 1888 in Glasgow; died 29 January 1951 in Edinburgh) was the pseudonym of Osborne Henry Mavor.

Bridie was the founder of the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. He was the first chairman of the Arts Council in Scotland and was instrumental in the establishment of the Edinburgh Festival. He founded the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art in 1950.

Bridie worked with Alfred Hitchcock in the late 1940s on The Paradine Case (1947), Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,576

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