The Woman with No Name * (1950, Phyllis Calvert, Edward Underdown, Helen Cherry, Richard Burton, James Hayter) – Classic Movie Review 12,481

Director Ladislao Vajda’s 1950 British drama film The Woman with No Name stars Phyllis Calvert as Yvonne Winter, who has lost her memory because of wartime air-raid trauma in London during World War Two, and feels threatened by everyone around her – especially her depressed, incapacitated husband (Edward Underdown) and her wicked, scheming sister (Helen Cherry).

The amnesiac Yvonne falls in love with Nick Chamerd (Richard Burton), the RAF pilot who saved her life, but he gets killed on active duty. Later, Yvonne’s injured husband Lake Winter hires detectives to find her and he tells her is his wife. She goes home with him to his mansion, where her bedroom has a panelled door. [The film was released as Her Panelled Door in the US].

Slowly she starts to put together the pieces of her past, but she remembers that her husband was cruel to her after his accident, However, she falls in love with him again and regains her memory.

The Woman with No Name is a rather off-puttingly odd post-World War Two British drama that drags its feet and fails to please very much, though the stalwart acting from a good cast helps, especially Helen Cherry.

The screenplay by Ladislao Vajda and Guy Morgan is based on Theresa Charles’s novel Happy Now I Go.

Calvert invested her own savings of around £15,000 in the film, which turned out to be a good idea as the film earned £105,000 for the producers.

The cast are Phyllis Calvert as Yvonne Winter, Edward Underdown as Lake Winter, Helen Cherry as Sybil, Richard Burton as Nick Charmerd, Anthony Nicholls as Doctor, James Hayter as Captain Bradshawe, Betty Ann Davies as Beatrice, Amy Veness as Sophie, Andrew Osborn as Paul Hammond, Patrick Troughton as Colin, Leslie Phillips as 1st sapper officer, Terence Alexander as 2nd sapper officer, Richard Pearson as Tony, Kathleen Boutall, Willoughby Gray, David Keir, Andrew Osborn, Tony Parsons, Harold Scott, Jean Shepeard, Bill Shine, Vi Stevens, Will Ambro, and June Bardlsey.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,481

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