The Three Weird Sisters
Encyclopedia
The Three Weird Sisters is a 1948
British melodrama with Gothic
influences, directed by Daniel Birt
and starring Nancy Price
, Mary Clare
, Mary Merrall
and Raymond Lovell
. The screenplay was adapted by Dylan Thomas
and Louise Birt from the novel The Case of the Weird Sisters by Charlotte Armstrong
. The film was Birt's directorial debut, while marking the last screen appearance of Nova Pilbeam
who retired from the acting profession after it was completed.
. The local coal mine out of which the family made their fortune is almost worked-out and its tunnels and shafts are dangerously unstable. When a section of the underground workings collapses catastrophically, destroying a row of local cottages and unsettling the foundations of the mansion, the sisters feel honour-bound to finance repairs but have no capital with which to do so.
The sisters' younger half-brother Owen (Lovell), who left the village as a young man to pursue his education and has subsequently become a wealthy businessman in London, is sent for on the assumption that he will agree to underwrite the necessary finances from his own personal funds. Owen and his secretary Claire (Pilbeam) arrive from London, and the sisters are disconcerted to discover that his view on the matter is informed by capitalism rather than altruism, he has no sense of responsibility towards either them or the community and he feels no obligation to throw good money after bad by restoring what he considers outdated.
As the conflict between the sisters' sense of tradition and Owen's modernity grows, strange events start to happen which eventually convince Claire that the sisters are plotting to murder Owen in order to lay hands on his money. She tries to alert members of the local community to her suspicions, but at first is not taken seriously. Gradually however the local doctor (Anthony Hulme) comes round to Claire's point of view and deduces that there is indeed a plot under way, instigated by the dominant Maude to restore things to their former state by the convenient death of Owen.
1948 in film
The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :...
British melodrama with Gothic
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
influences, directed by Daniel Birt
Daniel Birt
Daniel Birt was an English film director and editor. Birt began his career as an editor in 1932 with an assistant credit on The Lucky Number, and went on to edit twelve films during the 1930s....
and starring Nancy Price
Nancy Price
Nancy Price, CBE , was an English actress on stage and screen, authoress and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, silent films, talkies and finally television. In addition to appearing on stage she became involved in...
, Mary Clare
Mary Clare
Mary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...
, Mary Merrall
Mary Merrall
Mary Merrall , born Elsie Lloyd, was an English actress whose career of over 60 years encompassed stage, film and television work.-Stage career:...
and Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell
Raymond Lovell was a Canadian-born film actor who performed in British produced films. He mainly played supporting roles, and was often seen as slightly pompous characters...
. The screenplay was adapted by Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
and Louise Birt from the novel The Case of the Weird Sisters by Charlotte Armstrong
Charlotte Armstrong
Charlotte Armstrong Lewi was an American author. Under the names Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine she wrote 29 novels, as well as working for the New York Times advertising department, as a fashion reporter for Breath of the Avenue , and in an accounting firm.Armstrong Lewi graduated from Vulcan...
. The film was Birt's directorial debut, while marking the last screen appearance of Nova Pilbeam
Nova Pilbeam
Nova Margery Pilbeam is a British film and stage actress. She was born in Wimbledon. Her father was RADA-trained actor Arnold Pilbeam.-Career:Pilbeam had widely noted roles as a child stage actress...
who retired from the acting profession after it was completed.
Plot
The elderly Morgan-Vaughan sisters Gertrude (Price), Maude (Clare) and Isobel (Merrall) live in a decaying and claustrophobic mansion in a Welsh mining village. Maude is blind, Gertrude almost deaf and Isobel crippled by arthritisArthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
. The local coal mine out of which the family made their fortune is almost worked-out and its tunnels and shafts are dangerously unstable. When a section of the underground workings collapses catastrophically, destroying a row of local cottages and unsettling the foundations of the mansion, the sisters feel honour-bound to finance repairs but have no capital with which to do so.
The sisters' younger half-brother Owen (Lovell), who left the village as a young man to pursue his education and has subsequently become a wealthy businessman in London, is sent for on the assumption that he will agree to underwrite the necessary finances from his own personal funds. Owen and his secretary Claire (Pilbeam) arrive from London, and the sisters are disconcerted to discover that his view on the matter is informed by capitalism rather than altruism, he has no sense of responsibility towards either them or the community and he feels no obligation to throw good money after bad by restoring what he considers outdated.
As the conflict between the sisters' sense of tradition and Owen's modernity grows, strange events start to happen which eventually convince Claire that the sisters are plotting to murder Owen in order to lay hands on his money. She tries to alert members of the local community to her suspicions, but at first is not taken seriously. Gradually however the local doctor (Anthony Hulme) comes round to Claire's point of view and deduces that there is indeed a plot under way, instigated by the dominant Maude to restore things to their former state by the convenient death of Owen.
Cast
- Nancy PriceNancy PriceNancy Price, CBE , was an English actress on stage and screen, authoress and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, silent films, talkies and finally television. In addition to appearing on stage she became involved in...
as Gertrude Morgan-Vaughan - Mary ClareMary ClareMary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...
as Maude Morgan-Vaughan - Mary MerrallMary MerrallMary Merrall , born Elsie Lloyd, was an English actress whose career of over 60 years encompassed stage, film and television work.-Stage career:...
as Isobel Morgan-Vaughan - Raymond LovellRaymond LovellRaymond Lovell was a Canadian-born film actor who performed in British produced films. He mainly played supporting roles, and was often seen as slightly pompous characters...
as Owen Morgan-Vaughan - Nova PilbeamNova PilbeamNova Margery Pilbeam is a British film and stage actress. She was born in Wimbledon. Her father was RADA-trained actor Arnold Pilbeam.-Career:Pilbeam had widely noted roles as a child stage actress...
as Claire Prentiss - Elwyn Brook-JonesElwyn Brook-JonesElwyn Brook-Jones was a British film and television actor.-Life:Brook-Jones was born in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. After a private education, he attended Jesus College, Oxford. His public debut was in Australia, aged 11, as a concert pianist; he later made cabaret appearances in America...
as Thomas - Edward RigbyEdward RigbyEdward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...
as Waldo - Hugh GriffithHugh GriffithHugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Griffith was born in Marianglas, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Mary and William Griffith. He was educated at Llangefni County School and attempted to gain entrance to university, but failed the English examination...
as Mabli Hughes - Marie AultMarie AultMarie Ault was a British actress.Born at Wigan, Lancashire, she was a star in many British films of the silent era but is most remembered for her role as Daisy Bunting's mother in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog directed by Alfred Hitchcock.She also had bit parts in films such as Jamaica...
as Beattie - Anthony Hulme as David Davies
- Doreen Richards as Mrs. Probert
External links
- The Three Weird Sisters at BFI Film & TV Database