I Lived with You

An early feather in the cap of Julius Hagen's nascent Twickenham Films is this valuable screen record of Ivor Novello's 1932 West End hit.

There's a bit of unobtrusive opening out - notably the scene shot in Hampton Court maze where hero and heroine first meet - but the play's the thing, complete with dialogue and situations that would not have got past the Hays Office the following year; and are now a bit gamy for 21st Century sensibilities.

The predominantly female cast includes the young Ursula Jeans and Ida Lupino ("She's charming! Is she still a good girl?") and preserves for posterity the extraordinary Cicely Oates - who died the year my father was born aged only 45 not long after featuring in a much smaller role in Hitchcock's original version of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' - as "Little Mrs Sunshine".

Ivor Novello was a composer, musician, playwright, screenwriter, theatre actor/producer ....and... as this shows, a genuinely funny comedy actor too. He wrote this as well confirming what a talented, witty and insightful writer he was.

First of all, as a few others have said - what a surprise to find how funny he is. This is not what you'd expect from Ivor Novello. His very Welsh Russian accent is hilarious. His style is campy fabulosa - like a 1930s Kenneth Williams. Were he around today he'd have a weekly prime time tv slot. Like the best writers, he shares out to all of his cast equal funny lines and equal opportunities to shine. It's very democratic inasmuch that all the main cast have about the same amount of screen time and all have properly developed characters.

Another surprise is what a well made film this is. It's produced, directed and acted much better than a lot of films from 1933. The reason for its high quality is due to a guy called Julius Hagen, an incredibly ambitious German emigre who for a short time ran his own British film studio, Twickenham Studios. Two things now happened at the same time. 1. The Depression in America resulted in the American studios cutting production so they needed to outsource films to fill their cinemas. 2. Noticing that Korda at London Films made a fortune with his big budget HENRY VIII, Hagen thought he'd do the same. So in 1933 when UA needed product for the cinemas he abandoned churning out cheap 'quota quickies' and invested heavily into making a few high quality films like this. There weren't too many English films in 1933 made this well so this is something quite special which is what makes it still so entertaining today.

It's instantly engaging, intelligent and great fun. It's not the typical silly slapstick nonsense that was popular at the time but neither is it a high-brow, pretentious bore. In fact , it's got as many one-liners and subtle innuendos as you'd find in any Carry On film thirty years later. And one last observation - Ida Lupino sure was pretty!

At first glance when this came on TV I thought 'Ivor Novello, meh, probably some cheesy songs and dated, creaky humour'. But how wrong I was. The fast-paced dialogue and frenetic plotting are imbued with a casual but knowing wit that gives the piece an amazingly modern feel for a film made in 1933. Novello himself is the big surprise, there's real panache in the way he drives it all along from within his character's louche, offhand manner. The rest of the cast are well up for it, conveying the chaos caused by Novello's superficial and fickle (though fatally charismatic) character - an exotic stranger who quietly invades the suburban family home in which he becomes a temporary guest, heedless of the trail of disruption he leaves in his wake.

Despite the reservations one has to have when a Russian prince has a Welsh accent barely disguised and a character disappears after a couple of scenes (young Albert the son takes 10 shillings to place a deposit on a wireless and is never seen again), this film is really sweet and extremely funny. To those of us who are familiar with Novello as a composer of luscious melodies of the likes of We'll Gather Lilacs it shows a new side to his genius. Great fun, especially the ladies' tea party and the early scenes in Hampton Court Maze.

I for Novello was principally a stage actor and he only made a handful of film appearances in the sound era.In fact it has to be said watching this film that he looks every bit the stage star.Every time he appears on screen the focus is really on him.He plays a Russian Prince who has found his way to London with a cache of priceless jewels.He is discovered at the maze at Hampton Court by Ursula Jeans who decides to take him home to her parents home where he is invited to stay.This disrupts everyone including young her boyfriend,an impossibly young Jack Hawkinns and her younger sister,Ida Lupino.He is used by the film as a sort of device to solve all of the characters problems,not the least being that of Elliott Markeham who has becomec romanticallybinvolved with his secretary,who is determined to take him for all that he has.