A Man About the House (film)
7.4 /10 1 Votes
Director Leslie Arliss Duration Language English | 7.2/10 Genre Drama Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date 3 October 1947 (1947-10-03) Writer Leslie Arliss, John Perry (dramatisation), J.B. Williams, Francis Brett Young (novel) Initial release October 3, 1947 (United Kingdom) Music director Nicholas Brodszky, Philip Green Screenplay Leslie Arliss, J.B. Williams, John Perry Cast Margaret Johnston (Agnes Isit), Dulcie Gray (Ellen Isit), Kieron Moore (Salvatore), Guy Middleton (Sir Benjamin Dench)Similar movies Leslie Arliss directed A Man About the House and Saints and Sinners |
A Man About the House is a black-and-white British film directed by Leslie Arliss and released in 1947. The film is a melodrama, adapted for the screen by J. B. Williams from the 1942 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young. It was produced by Edward Black and edited by Russell Lloyd, with cinematography by Georges PĂ©rinal and music by Nicholas Brodszky.
Contents
Plot
Two impecunious English sisters, Ellen and Agnes Isit (Dulcie Gray and Margaret Johnston), unexpectedly inherit a Neapolitan villa from a deceased uncle and move to Italy to view and sell their property. A local man, Salvatore (Kieron Moore), has since a boy been employed by the deceased uncle becoming major domo and he now manages the villa and its vineyard. Exploring her late uncles' studio, Ellen uncovers a painting of a nude Salvatore as Bacchus.
Soon Ellen becomes drawn to the carefree life of the locals and the romantic charisma of Salvatore, while the prudish Agnes resists. During the raucous revelry of the grape-treading festival, Agnes succumbs to her suppressed desire. Rushing to the balcony she cries out for Salvatore who drops Ellen and climbs from the grape vat and to her bed. The pair are quickly married, and husband Salvatore now is master of the estate.
Soon, Ellen becomes aware of a change in Salvatore's behaviour towards Agnes. Not long after the marriage, Agnes' health begins to deteriorate and Ellen's suspicions are aroused. She expresses her concerns to a visiting English doctor, Benjamin Dench (Guy Middleton) who is Agnes's former fiance'. Ellen is convinced that Agnes is being poisoned. She enlists Dench's help in trying to prove that Salvatore is slowly murdering her sister with arsenic. The villa once belonged to Salvatore's family and he has long been determined to regain ownership. Having poisoned his employer to inherit he had not anticipated the sisters arrival on the scene.
The film culminates in a clifftop struggle between Salvatore and Dench, who beats Salvatore and tells him to leave at once or face the consequences. Ellen and Dench return to the villa to tend the sickened and weak Agnes. Suddenly they learn that Salvatore is dead. His body is borne from the bay by villagers, having cast himself from the clifftop in despair rather than lose his family property. Ellen and Dench, who have fallen in love, depart together and leave the recovered Agnes who is determined to remain at the villa and to fulfil her dead husbands' wishes restoring the vineyards.
Cast
References
A Man About the House WikipediaA Man About the House (film) IMDb A Man About the House (film) themoviedb.org