ID

FBW001388      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1944

Original Title

The White Cliffs of Dover

Directed by

Clarence Brown

Produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) (Loew's, Inc.), Culver City, CA (New York, NY)

Staff

Producer: Sidney A. Franklin; Script: Claudine West, Jan Lustig, George Froeschel; Based on: Alice Duer Miller ("The White Cliffs of Dover" / poem), Robert Nathan (Additional Material); Camera: George Folsey; Special optical effects: Warren Newcombe; Editing: Al Jennings, Robert J. Kern; Art direction: Randall Duell, Cedric Gibbons; Set decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Jacques Mesereau; Special Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie; Costumes: Irene (=Vorname); Makeup: Jack Dawn; Musical arrangements: Herbert Stothart

Cast

Irene Dunne (Susan Dunn Ashwood); Alan Marshal (Sir John Ashwood); Frank Morgan (Hiram Porter Dunn); Roddy McDowall (John Ashwood II as a Boy); Peter Lawford (John Ashwood II at age 24); Dame May Whitty (Nanny); C. Aubrey Smith (Colonel); Gladys Cooper (Lady Jean Ashwood); Van Johnson (Sam Bennett); John Warburton (Reggie); Jill Esmond (Rosamund); Brenda Forbes (Gwennie); Norma Varden (Mrs. Bland); Elizabeth Taylor (Betsy, at Age 10); June Lockhart (Betsy, at Age 18); Charles Irwin (Farmer Kenney); Jean Prescott (Mrs. Kenney); Tom Drake (American Soldier); Isobel Elsom (Mrs. Bancroft); Edmund Breon (Maj. Bancroft); Miles Mander (Maj. Loring); Ann Curzon (Miss Lambert); Steven Muller (Gerhard); Norbert Muller (Dietrich); Molly Lamont (Helen); Lumsden Hare (The Vicar); Arthur Shields (Benson); Emily Fitzroy (Spinster in Boarding House); Emily Massey (Elegant Lady in Boarding House); Guy D'Ennery (Curate in Boarding House); Lal Chand Mehra (Indian Student in Boarding House); Clifford Brooke (Indian Major in Boarding House); Ethel Griffies (Woman on Train); Elton Burkett (Twin in Boarding House); Eldon Burkett (Twin in Boarding House); Herbert Evans (Footman); Ian Wolfe (Skipper); Alec Craig (Billings); Clyde Cook (Jennings); Bunny Gordon (John, at 6 Months); Leo Mostovoy (Bandmaster); Arthur Gould-Porter (Capt. Portage); Gavin Muir (Capt. Griffiths); Charles Coleman (Capt. Davis); Kay Deslys (Blonde); George Davis (Boots); Vera Graaf (Duchess); Anita Sharp Bolster (Miller); Wilson Benge (Chauffeur); Harry Allen (English Cabby); Nelson Leigh (British Naval Officer); Mabel Row (Housemaid); James Menzies (Telegraph Boy); George Kirby (Old Man); Matthew Boulton (Immigration Officer); Doris Lloyd (Plump Lady at Boarding House); Keith Hitchcock (Duke of Waverly)

Length

126'

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Abstract

Susan Dunn Ashwood is a Red Cross supervisor in England, awaiting casualties of WWII. At her desk, she ruminates about her past and flashes back to 1914, when she comes to England with Hiram Porter Dunn, her father. Susan meets, falls in love with, and marries wealthy and titled Sir John Ashwood. They are ecstatic, but their happiness is brief; WWI breaks out, and Sir John Ashwood must serve his country in France, where he is killed on the battlefield. By the time of his death, Susan Dunn Ashwood has given birth to a son. WWII breaks out and Ashwood becomes a worker for the Red Cross assigned to a hospital in London. The wounded servicemen are brought in for surgery and she is shocked to see that one of them is her son, John Ashwood II, now 24. He is dying of his injuries and she is powerless to help. At the conclusion, Susan Dunn Ashwood looks out a window and observes a battalion of American soldiers as they march past, the first such warriors to reach the British shores.

Subject Terms

Americans; Anti-Nazi films (US); England; World War I; France; London; Red Cross; World War II

Bibliography

- Nash, Ray R. / Ross, Stanley R. / Conelly, Robert B. (Ed.): Motion Picture Guide. Chicago, IL: Cinebooks, 1987