Sir John Mills

[deckard]

Hello all! Just finished reading an excellent book: Still Memories - an autobiography in photography, by Sir John Mills. It's an absolute blinder! I thoroughly recommend this wonderful personal collection of photographs spanning nearly eight decades of this fine actor and the British film industry. Each photo has a little anecdote or short discription with it and some are very funny and some are very revealing! I was a little saddened to see the more recent photos of Sir John and how old he now is, but to be so active at his age is truly remarkable. Fan or not this is a must read. Regards, Deckard. :)

[Gibbie]

Excellent suggestion, Decks! Sir John is truly one of the all time acting greats...and very versatile, too.



Gibbie

[thisolegit]

There's an interview with Sir John Mills on peoples-tv, filmed this year for the Felixstowe Film Festival. If you've got broadband, its worth watching.



The sound is a bit rubbish, though - you have to turn it well up.

[Freddy]

If anyone has broadband please watch it,

you will not be disappointed.

Freddy

[Allen Dace]

How could we miss this? One of the great British film stars was 97 on Tuesday 22nd February! :grin:

[Gibbie]

To the tops - Happy B - Sir John!

[Marky B]

Happy belated birthday to you,Sir John from one of your greatest admirers,

Marky B :clap:

[julian_craster]

John Mills, 1930s 'song and dance man'



Check out 'Car of Dreams' for Sir John Mills as a dapper 'song and dance

man' in the mid 1930s.....



Film: Car of Dreams (1935)

Starring: Grete Mosheim, John Mills Director: Graham Cutts, Austin Melford

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00016119C/



Available to rent or buy in the USA (and very cheap from Amazon.com

resellers)





In this musical comedy, a youthful John Mills stars as the playboy son of a

music factory tycoon who woos the girl of his dreams by anonymously giving

her a Rolls-Royce. This charming film offers fascinating glimpses of 1930’s

London and features British comedian Robertson Hare



Reviewer: Elaine S. Hallett "hallett&hallett" (New York, NY)



I thought I had seen all of John Mills' films--his performances in Tunes of

Glory and Hobson's Choice are among my favorites--but I had never heard of

Car of Dreams. It's apparently one of Mills' first films. The plot is

simple, but John Mills and Grete Mosheim are charming as the young lovers,

and the character roles surrounding them add humor (how can one not laugh,

for example, at an antique shop dealer whose failure is that he can't be

persuaded to SELL the items in his store). Miss Mosheim gets her first job

in a factory owned by Mr. Mills' father. What is her work? "Stamping," she

says, and viewers will be surprised at how many different (and mistaken)

responses she gets to the simple word "stamping." Her life changes when

Mills gives her a Rolls-Royce. The charm of the film is its

light-heartedness: it IS a film of dreams. But it keeps you laughing,

sometimes at the campiness of it and other times at the clever twists and

turns in this comedy of mistaken identity. An added plus: both sound and

picture are of high quality.



Cast:

Grete Mosheim as Vera Hart, John Mills as Robert Miller, Norah Howard as

Anne Fisher, Robertson Hare as Henry Butterworth, Mark Lester as Miller

Senr., Margaret Withers as Mrs. Hart, Paul Graetz as Mr. Hart, Glennis

Lorimer as Molly, Jack Hobbs as Peters, Hay Plumb as Chauffeur...

[AndrewLA]

(julian_craster @ Mar 1 2006, 09:22 AM)

John Mills, 1930s 'song and dance man'



Check out 'Car of Dreams' for Sir John Mills as a dapper 'song and dance

man' in the mid 1930s.....

What a nice surprise. Does anyone know how this came to be released in the U.S.? It's totally unknown here. Are there any other Gaumonts planned for Region 1...?

[nellybly]

I just purchased the last cheapest copy. It hasn't got an insert and there's a punch hole through the ISBN but the DVD is said to be in good shape and the seller has a good record. I can't holler too much for what I paid for it: 2.50 USD which is 1.44060 GBP and the shipping and handling is just one US cent less than the cost of the DVD. I don't recognize the distributor but at least it isn't Alpha Video which is notorious for awful transfers.



The cover picture they show is a hoot. He's more painted up than his leading lady! LOL



Who knows with distribution companies? One movie I want isn't available in any form on either side of the Atlantic. It's Brittania Mews (although I saw it on TV as Forbidden Street and apparently it's been shown under one or two other titles), a 20th Century Fox film starring Dana Andrews and Maureen O'Hara and has, in the supporting cast, Dame Sybil Thorndike and A. E. Matthews. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios. You'd think, between the studio, the stars, and the director Jean Negelescu (sp?) that it would be _somewhere_! I think I'm going to retire to Bedlam.

[julian_craster]

Do let us know if you enjoy 'Car of Dreams'.

I think it is rather charming in a sort of 1930s way !



Hope the print quality on the US DVD is good...

[theuofc]

(julian_craster @ Mar 10 2006, 09:05 AM)

Do let us know if you enjoy 'Car of Dreams'.

I think it is rather charming in a sort of 1930s way !



Hope the print quality on the US DVD is good...

I'm really glad you posted the information on "Car of Dreams" because I'd never have guessed it would be available in the US and for pennies. I bought it right away (of course, it's still waiting for me to get time to view it) because I was fascinated with clips from it I had seen last year in Mills' "Moving Memories." It was that documentary that brought home to me how fine a singer and dancer Mills actually was and that he'd started out that way v. the actor we all know.



If NellyB doesn't report back, when I finally view it, I'll let you know how the quality is.



Best,



Barbara

[theuofc]

(nellybly @ Mar 10 2006, 04:41 AM)

.... One movie I want isn't available in any form on either side of the Atlantic. It's Brittania Mews (although I saw it on TV as Forbidden Street and apparently it's been shown under one or two other titles), a 20th Century Fox film starring Dana Andrews and Maureen O'Hara and has, in the supporting cast, Dame Sybil Thorndike and A. E. Matthews. It was filmed at Pinewood Studios. You'd think, between the studio, the stars, and the director Jean Negelescu (sp?) that it would be _somewhere_! I think I'm going to retire to Bedlam.

Hi, Nellybly,



Send me a PM, and I'll tell you where to get "Brittania Mews," aka "The Forbidden Street", directed by

Jean Negulesco.



There is a Santa Claus

Best,



Barbara

[nellybly]

I got it today. It's a very good quality transfer. It hasn't any extras so the missing insert wasn't a problem (wouldn't have been anyway as I pay no attention to them). The DVD was in excellent shape. The contrasts are good.



The story is fun and the dialogue is snappy. The cover has John Mills looking painted but he isn't in the movie. It's a good light romantic musical comedy. He sings, very nicely and the tunes are pretty catchy. I liked it very much and will watch it again (and again). I'm glad it turned out to be a good movie and not just something to be seen for it's historic or nostalgic value. Nice to see a little seen facet of Sir John's career, too. :)

[nellybly]

I was remembering that I had heard John Mills sing before. It was in The Baby and The Battleship. He was singing "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" to the baby in the title on the ship in the title. Haven't seen it in years and it doesn't appear to be out on DVD.

[julian_craster]

The Baby and The Battleship was on UK tv a couple of weeks ago...



I am sure sombody recorded it....

[theuofc]

(julian_craster @ Mar 30 2006, 08:08 AM)

The Baby and The Battleship was on UK tv a couple of weeks ago...



I am sure sombody recorded it....

Julian!



You're wearing a tux and the cigarette holder has been replaced by a revolver! is it Casino Royale fever?

Very suave, Mr. Bond.



Barbara

[AndrewLA]

I enjoyed the movie. It had just a little of the feel of a Fred and Ginger story, though they missed a chance for more fun with the mistaken identity scenes at the end, which F&G would have milked much more. My father-in-law interviewed Grete Mosheim for German radio many years ago -- mainly about German theatre before and after the Nazi era -- and he remembers her as a very energetic and articulate lady. Nothing much about her film career, which seems to have been a disappointment to her because of her heavy accent. Actually, I didn't think it was so heavy, but it was noticable, and the movie covered it by having her father be a European shopkeeper. I'm wondering if most moviegoers in the 30s would interpret this as a Jewish family. If so, that was pretty enlightened for the time -- the idea of a rich English fellow going off with a working class Jewish girl. (C.P. Snow later wrote a novel, "The Conscience of the Rich," about a wealthy Jewish family and the difficulties they had being accepted into English society.)



(I never realized until recently that Mills, though he had a very solid head of hair -- I met him in the mid 80s and he was still well-endowed, follicle-wise - often wore a toupee. Having watched CAR OF DREAMS and ICE COLD IN ALEX, where he's like a blonde Warren Beatty, and TUNES OF GLORY almost back to back, I couldn't help but notice that twenty five years had only enriched his noble pate.)

[theuofc]

(AndrewLA @ Mar 31 2006, 08:03 PM

I enjoyed the movie. It had just a little of the feel of a Fred and Ginger story, though they missed a chance for more fun with the mistaken identity scenes at the end, which F&G would have milked much more. My father-in-law interviewed Grete Mosheim for German radio many years ago -- mainly about German theatre before and after the Nazi era -- and he remembers her as a very energetic and articulate lady. Nothing much about her film career, which seems to have been a disappointment to her because of her heavy accent. Actually, I didn't think it was so heavy, but it was noticable, and the movie covered it by having her father be a European shopkeeper. I'm wondering if most moviegoers in the 30s would interpret this as a Jewish family. If so, that was pretty enlightened for the time -- the idea of a rich English fellow going off with a working class Jewish girl. (C.P. Snow later wrote a novel, "The Conscience of the Rich," about a wealthy Jewish family and the difficulties they had being accepted into English society.)



(I never realized until recently that Mills, though he had a very solid head of hair -- I met him in the mid 80s and he was still well-endowed, follicle-wise - often wore a toupee. Having watched CAR OF DREAMS and ICE COLD IN ALEX, where he's like a blonde Warren Beatty, and TUNES OF GLORY almost back to back, I couldn't help but notice that twenty five years had only enriched his noble pate.)

Hello, AndrewLA,



Thanks for a most interesting film review. About John Mills' hair changes. Funny you should mention it. I recently viewed "The Human Factor" with Mills and George Kennedy and was surprised to note how very thin across the top Mills' hair was. Not that I mind. But it was Mills' varying amounts of hair from film to film, as you say, which struck me.



Best,



Barbara

[nellybly]

(julian_craster @ Mar 30 2006, 03:08 AM)

The Baby and The Battleship was on UK tv a couple of weeks ago...



I am sure sombody recorded it....

A recording in the UK wouldn't help me much as I'm in the good old U S of A with NTSC.



BTW the man who played Vera's father in Car of Dreams isn't but brings to mind Felix Bressart (Shop Around The Corner).



I'll take a gander around the net (and a few saved sites) for a compatible copy of The Baby And The Battleship.