The Seventh Veil

Plot

Francesca Cunningham (Ann Todd) is a suicidal mental patient under the care of Dr. Larsen (Herbert Lom). Under hypnosis, Larsen leads her to describe her life events that brought her to attempt suicide. The film largely consists of a series of flashbacks in which Francesca talks about her life, removing successive "veils" to recover memories.

Only her second cousin and guardian, Nicholas (James Mason), a crippled musician, is interested in her. Nicholas, though, is a bitter man, faintly jealous of her talent and misogynistic, with a difficult relationship with his mother. However, he is a brilliant music teacher who encourages Francesca to excel, but also to avoid all emotional entanglements. At the Royal College of Music, Peter (Hugh McDermott), an American studying in London, becomes romantically interested in Francesca. Although she is initially unresponsive, Francesca and Peter later become engaged, but she has not yet reached her majority (then 21) and Nicholas, as her guardian, withholds his consent and insists she leave for Paris with him the next morning. She completes her education and begins her music career on the continent.

Years pass. Nicholas and Francesca return to Britain when she is invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, but she discovers Peter has married someone else. An artist, Maxwell Leyden (Albert Lieven), is invited by Nicholas to paint her portrait; they soon fall in love and agree to live together. Still apparently her guardian, Nicholas becomes angry at the news and strikes her hands with his cane while she plays. She flees from him, but, while with Max, is involved in a serious car accident and suffers burns to her hands. Francesca becomes convinced she will never play again.

After therapy — and now cured, according to Dr Larsen — Francesca realizes that Nicholas is her real love rather than Peter (now divorced) or Max.

Cast

Production

The film score was written by Benjamin Frankel (credited as Ben Frankel) with original piano works by Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven, as well as parts of the Grieg and Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concertos.

Eileen Joyce, whose name does not appear in the credits, was the pianist who substituted for Todd on the soundtrack. She also made a short film for Todd to practise to, and even coached Todd personally in her arm movements. It is Joyce's hands that are seen in all the close-ups.

Reception

Filmed on a relatively low budget of under £100,000, the film was the biggest British box-office success of its year. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival and won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (for Sydney and Muriel Box) in 1946. The film has the 10th top audience of all films, 17.9 million, placing it above most modern box-office successes.

The movie also earned over $1 million in rentals in North America.

By July 1953, it had earned a reported £253,000 in the UK.

In 1951, Ann Todd, Herbert Lom and Leo Genn appeared in a stage adaptation in London.

In 2004, the British Film Institute compiled a list of the 100 biggest UK cinematic hits of all time based on audience figures, as opposed to gross takings. The Seventh Veil placed 10th in this list with an estimated attendance of 17.9 million people.

Radio adaptation

On 5 October 1946, This Is Hollywood presented The Seventh Veil. Ray Milland and Ann Todd starred in the adaptation. The Seventh Veil was presented on Philip Morris Playhouse 3 February 1952. The 30-minute adaptation starred David Niven and University of Oklahoma student Edrita Pokorny.