The Clouded Yellow

Plot synopsis

After leaving the British Secret Service, David Somers (Trevor Howard) finds work cataloging butterflies at the country house of Nicholas and Jess Fenton. (The "clouded yellow" of the title is a rare species of butterfly.) After the murder of a local gamekeeper, suspicion wrongly falls on their niece, Sophie Malraux (Jean Simmons).

Somers helps Sophie to escape arrest and they go on the run together, Somers using his secret-service skills and contacts to evade the police. After a cross-country chase they arrive at Liverpool with the intention of leaving the country by ship. The true identity of the murderer is revealed in a climax on a warehouse roof.

Cast

Development

Ralph Thomas and Betty Box had both worked for Sydney Box, first collaborating when Thomas did the trailer for Miranda (1948). They found they had a rapport, so when Shepherd's Bush Studio shut down, and Thomas left Sydney Box to go under contract to the Rank Organisation, Betty Box came with him. Their first film together was The Clouded Yellow. It was made for Box's company, Carillon Films.

The Clouded Yellow was based on an original script by Janet Green. It was developed by Sydney Box but he had decided to take a year long absence and gave the project to Box and Thomas. Green was paid £1,000.

Betty Box managed to secure a distribution contract with Rank, which enabled her to borrow enough money to finance 70% of the budget. Box managed to raise the rest from Rank and the National Film Finance Corporation, each putting up fifty percent.

Jean Simmons, who had made So Long at the Fair with Box, agreed to play the lead. Trevor Howard was borrowed from Herbert Wilcox, who had him under contract, to play the male lead. Betty Box had signed all 48 of the contracts required by the bank when James Laurie of the NFFC decided he did not like the contract and withdrew his company's finance until that was done. Rank refused to provide Box with finance to tide her over, so the producer borrowed the money against her own home. "I obviously wasn't happy about the situation, particularly as it was through no fault of my own", Box later wrote.

"It was a brave thing for her to do and she didn't tell me until the picture was finished", said Thomas.

Thomas and Box wanted further work done on the script but Janet Green was unavailable. Eric Ambler was hired to do work on it.

Shooting

Shooting took place in Newcastle, Liverpool and the Lake District. Production coincided with a crisis in the British film industry – Betty Box says it was the only film being made in England in the first half of 1950. Finance did not come through until five weeks into the film. Nonetheless Thomas later said he enjoyed making the movie.

Maxwell Reed said his role was "not a big part but it's the best I've ever had." The supporting cast features a young Kenneth More.

A significant proportion of the action in the middle of the film was shot on location in Newcastle upon Tyne, featuring scenes on the quayside, the area around the Castle Keep and the Central Station, and the suburb of Jesmond. Some scenes were filmed in Liverpool's China Town, Toxteth, Liverpool Docks and on the Liverpool Overhead Railway. The railway closed in 1956 and was later dismantled.

Reception

The movie benefited from publicity arising out of Jean Simmons' engagement and marriage to Stewart Granger. It was also helped by the fact Trevor Howard and Simmons were among the most popular stars at the British box office.

Box later wrote "the film finally opened to very good press notices and even better business, and the teething problems were forgotten as the tills started ringing sweet music. I found I'd done a better deal for myself than I realised – every time I'd had to put up another unit of finance I was due for an extra percentage of profit – and I felt that at last justice was being done. The profits were useful for keeping my head above water as Ralph and I prepared our next production and I looked out for good film stories to buy."

"I'm rather proud of that film", said Thomas. "Jean Simmons was lovely in it, so was Trevor Howard; it was a very good movie. And Sonia Dresdel was very good value for money; they don't make them like her any more – wonderful bravura."

The Observer called it "a very foolish picture". However, the New York Times was one of the film's many admirers, saying that 'A first-rate job of fast film-making in a crisp, naturalistic style, up and down the actual face of England, has been accomplished by all hands.'

Thomas and Box would make a number of other thrillers in their career, including The Venetian Bird.