The Constant Nymph (1928 film)
Encyclopedia
The Constant Nymph is a 1928
1928 in film
-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...

 British silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 drama, directed by Adrian Brunel
Adrian Brunel
Adrian Brunel was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s...

 and starring Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...

 and Mabel Poulton
Mabel Poulton
Mabel Poulton was an English film actress, popular in Britain during the era of silent films.Born in London, England, Poulton was working as a stenographer and entered films by chance. Her first role in George Pearson's Nothing Else Matters was opposite Betty Balfour, who was also making her...

. This was the first film adaptation of the 1924 best-selling and controversial novel of the same name by Margaret Kennedy
Margaret Kennedy
Margaret Kennedy was an English novelist and playwright.-Family and education:Margaret Kennedy was born in Hyde Park Gate, London, the eldest of the four children of Charles Moore Kennedy , a barrister, and his wife Ellinor Edith Marwood...

. The theme of adolescent sexuality reportedly discomfited the British film censors, until they were reassured that lead actress Poulton was in fact in her 20s.

Location filming took place in the Austrian Tyrol
Tyrol (state)
Tyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts–called North Tyrol and East Tyrol–by a -wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian province of...

, and the film proved a commercial and critical success, being named the best British feature film of 1928. Jo Botting of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

 notes: "The progression through the film is from light to darkness, from space to enclosure and from hope to despair."

Plot

Young composer Lewis Dodd (Novello) travels to Austria to visit his mentor Albert Sanger (Georg Henrich). He meets Sanger's teenage daughters Tessa (Poulton), Antonia (Benita Hume
Benita Hume
Benita Hume was an English film actress. She appeared in 44 films between 1925 and 1955.She was married to actor Ronald Colman from 1938 to his death in 1958; they were the parents of a daughter, Juliet...

) and Pauline (Dorothy Boyd
Dorothy Boyd
Dorothy Boyd was an English film actress. She appeared in 38 films between 1926 and 1940. She was born in Sanderstead, Surrey and died in England.-Career:...

) and Sanger's third wife Linda (Mary Clare
Mary Clare
Mary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...

), who does not appear to be liked by Sanger's daughters. The atmosphere is jovial and celebratory, until Sanger dies very suddenly.

Lewis contacts the girls' uncle in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, who comes to Austria accompanied by his daughter Florence (Frances Doble). After a whirlwind courtship Lewis proposes to Florence, who eagerly accepts his offer of marriage. Tessa is distraught at the news. It is decided that Tessa and Pauline will be sent to a boarding school in England. Meanwhile Lewis and Florence attempt to settle down in London, but find that in the home setting things are very different and Lewis comes to feel trapped by the superficiality of London society and the realisation of his wife's ambitious, pushy nature.

Tessa and Pauline are unhappy at school and decide to run away, arriving at the home of Lewis and Florence on the evening on which Florence has arranged a musical recital designed to showcase Lewis' talents to her influential friends. Florence is extremely annoyed by the interruption to her evening and allows the girls to stay, but with ill-disguised bad grace. Lewis is angry at his wife's attitude, and ends up taking her to task in front of the gathering, leaving her humiliated.

The atmosphere in the household deteriorates as the attraction between Lewis and Tessa becomes increasingly obvious. Lewis begins to treat Florence with increasing disdain and lack of respect. As the date of Lewis' first public performance draws near, he decides to leave Florence after the concert, and Tessa agrees to leave with him. Florence is suspicious that something is afoot, challenges Tessa and the two end up in a serious argument, after which Florence forbids Tessa from attending the concert.

Left locked in alone at home on the evening of the concert, Tessa manages to escape through a window and makes her way to the theatre. Lewis' performance is a big success, but afterwards he ignores the congratulatory gathering Florence has assembled in his dressing room, and instead heads off with Tessa to catch the boat train for Belgium. Tessa begins to feel ill as she boards the boat and her condition deteriorates as the journey progresses. When they finally arrive at a dreary back-street lodging house in Brussels, it is clear that Tessa is seriously ill and the guilt-stricken Lewis begins to write a letter to Tessa's uncle begging for help and attempting to make it clear that he alone is responsible for the situation and Tessa has done nothing to merit reproach. Before he can finish the letter however, Tessa collapses and dies.

Cast

  • Ivor Novello
    Ivor Novello
    David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...

     as Lewis Dodd
  • Mabel Poulton
    Mabel Poulton
    Mabel Poulton was an English film actress, popular in Britain during the era of silent films.Born in London, England, Poulton was working as a stenographer and entered films by chance. Her first role in George Pearson's Nothing Else Matters was opposite Betty Balfour, who was also making her...

     as Tessa Sanger
  • Frances Doble as Florence
  • Mary Clare
    Mary Clare
    Mary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...

     as Linda Sanger
  • Dorothy Boyd
    Dorothy Boyd
    Dorothy Boyd was an English film actress. She appeared in 38 films between 1926 and 1940. She was born in Sanderstead, Surrey and died in England.-Career:...

     as Pauline Sanger
  • Benita Hume
    Benita Hume
    Benita Hume was an English film actress. She appeared in 44 films between 1925 and 1955.She was married to actor Ronald Colman from 1938 to his death in 1958; they were the parents of a daughter, Juliet...

     as Antonia Sanger

  • Georg Henrich as Albert Sanger
  • Tony de Lungo as Roberto
  • Peter Evan Thomas as Ike
  • Yvonne Thomas as Kate Sanger
  • Clifford Heatherley
    Clifford Heatherley
    -Selected filmography:* The Tavern Knight * The Autumn of Pride * Mademoiselle from Armentieres * The King's Highway * The Constant Nymph * Champagne * The W Plan...

     as Sir Berkeley
  • Elsa Lanchester
    Elsa Lanchester
    Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....

    as Lady
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