Lorna Doone *** (1934, Victoria Hopper, John Loder)– Classic Movie Review 13,087

Basil Dean’s 1934 film Lorna Doone stars Victoria Hopper as the lovely heroine of R D Blackmore’s dramatic love story about a peasant’s passion for a criminal’s daughter.

‘In the lawless times of which I write, a band of outlaws lived in the wilds of Exmoor. Their savage cruelty struck terror into the peaceful countryside so that mothers would hush their babes with the cry: “The Doones are coming!”‘

Victoria Hopper stars as Lorna Doone, the lovely heroine of R D Blackmore’s dramatic love story about a peasant’s passion for a criminal’s daughter, who is actually a rich young lady. John Ridd wants revenge on the Exmoor criminal Doone family in the English West Country, seeking vengeance for his father’s death that he has witnessed as a boy, but falls in love with Lorna, the daughter of the family. Unfortunately, Lorna is already betrothed against her will to Carver Doone.

Director Basil Dean’s 1934 British film Lorna Doone is a jolly English period (1620s) romantic adventure romp, starring Victoria Hopper as Lorna Doone, John Loder as John Ridd and Roy Emerton as Carver Doone, plus a fruity cast (including Margaret Lockwood who appears in her film début, uncredited, as Annie Ridd), decent settings and a rich vein of romance.

It is the fourth British version of R D Blackmore’s classic 1869 novel (after silents in 1912, 1920 and 1922) but the first with sound. The 1912 silent is the first British five-reel feature film.

It was shot in ATP Studios, Ealing, London, but also on location in Exmoor, Somerset.

Release date: 19 December 1934 (London) and April 8, 1935 (UK).

It is released on DVD by Network in the UK in 2013 in The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Volume 11.

It is released on DVD by Sinister Cinema in the US in 2016.

Italian poster for Lorna Doone (1951).

It is remade as an American Technicolor feature film in 1951 as Lorna Doone, with Barbara Hale and Richard Greene.

It is remade in 1963 as a TV miniseries with Jane Merrow as Lorna Doone and Bill Travers as John Ridd, and again in 1976 as a TV miniseries with Emily Richard as Lorna Doone and John Sommerville as John Ridd.

Lorna Doone is remade by Thames Television as a TV movie by director Andrew Grieve in 1990 with Polly Walke as Lorna Doone and Clive Owen as John Ridd, and Sean Bean, Kenneth Haigh, Robert Stephens, Rachel Kempson and Billie Whitelaw. And again as a TV movie in 2000, with Amelia Warner as Lorna Doone and Richard Coyle as John Ridd.

Lorna Doone is directed by Basil Dean, runs 90 minutes, is made by Associated Talking Pictures, is released by Associated British Film Distributors (UK), is written by Dorothy Farnum (screenplay), Miles Malleson (dialogue) and Gordon Wellesley (screenplay), is shot in black and white by Robert G Martin, is produced by Basil Dean, is scored by Rutland Broughton and C Armstrong Gibbs, and is designed by Edward Carrick.

The cast include Victoria Hopper, John Loder, Margaret Lockwood, Roy Emerton, Edward Rigby, Mary Clare, Roger Livesey, George Curzon, D A Clarke-Smith, Laurence Hanray, Amy Veness, Eliot Makeham, Frank Cellier, Herbert Lomas, Wyndham Goldie, Peggy Blythe, Alexis France, Arthur Hambling, June Holden, Thea Holme, Peter Penrose, Toska Bissing (uncredited) as The Queen (Mary of Modena), and Jack Hawkins (uncredited) as Member of the Court.

Margaret Lockwood replaced Dorothy Hyson.

Victoria Hopper was married to Basil Dean from August 1934 till their divorce in 1939. She appeared in a dozen films between 1933 and 1948 and had a long stage career. She died on 22 January 2007 aged 97.

The cast are Victoria Hopper as Lorna Doone, John Loder as John Ridd, Margaret Lockwood (uncredited) as Annie Ridd, Roy Emerton as Carver Doone, Mary Clare as Mistress Sara Ridd, Edward Rigby as Reuben ‘Uncle Ben’ Huckaback, Roger Livesey as Tom Faggus, George Curzon as King James II, D A Clarke-Smith as Counsellor Doone, Laurence Hanray as Parson Bowden, Amy Veness as Betty Muxworthy, Eliot Makeham as John Fry, Wyndham Goldie as Chief Judge Jeffries, Frank Cellier as Captain Jeremy Stickles, Herbert Lomas as Sir Ensor Doone, Arthur Hambling as Soldier, Peggy Blythe, Alexis France, Arthur Hambling, June Holden, Thea Holme, Peter Penrose, Toska Bissing (uncredited) as The Queen (Mary of Modena), and Jack Hawkins (uncredited) as Member of the Court.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,087

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com