Written by Margaret Kennedy Setting Europe Adapted from The fool of the family | Playwright Margaret Kennedy Adaptations Escape Me Never (1947) | |
Escape Me Never is a play written by Margaret Kennedy based upon her 1930s novel The Fool of the Family.
Set in pre World War I Europe, it tells the story of two brothers (Caryl and Sebastian Durbok) who are composers, share a flat, and are both in love with two women—an heiress and a young innocent.
The original West End run of the play at the Apollo Theatre starred Elisabeth Bergner for whom the play was written.
Adaptations
The 1935 film was adapted from the play by Robert Cullen and Carl Zuckermann. It was directed by Paul Czinner and produced by Herbert Wilcox. The film was edited by David Lean, and the cinematography was by Freddie Young, with music composed by William Walton.
It starred Elisabeth Bergner (as Gemma Jones), Penelope Dudley-Ward (as Fenella McClean), Rosalinde Fuller (as Teremtcherva), Lyn Harding (as Prof. Heinrich), Griffith Jones (as Caryl Sanger), Leon Quartermaine (as Mr. McClean), Hugh Sinclair (as Sebastian Sanger) and Irene Vanbrugh (as Mrs. McClean).
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (Elisabeth Bergner).
Escape Me Never was remade by Warner Brothers in 1947, starring Errol Flynn, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker and Gig Young. It was adapted by Lenore J. Coffee (uncredited) and Thames Williamson and was directed by Peter Godfrey, with music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.