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Calendar Events / Announcements '23 I / Semi OT: DRAGONWYCK (1946)
« on: February 20, 2019, 01:37:42 AM »
Over the holiday weekend, I finally had time to watch DRAGONWYCK (1946), which I had checked out of the library on DVD. Co-starring Vincent Price and Gene Tierney, this movie was based on a novel by Anya Seton. It was considered to be a kind of follow-up to REBECCA (1940), but the 1946 film was set in the 1840s and included material about the feudalistic patroon landholding system in the Hudson Valley (and made reference to the events that led to the system's ultimate demise).
I was surprised at how much like DS the movie seemed. The titular mansion (which is seen in various shots that are obviously paintings) actually does look somewhat like Lyndhurst, but the resemblances to our show have more to do with mood, dialogue, story elements, and atmosphere. The lead ingenue, played by Gene Tierney, has dialogue in an early scene about wanting to meet "people I've never met, places I've never seen" that seemed to foreshadow a certain young governess's thoughts as she boarded a train to Collinsport, Maine in 1966.
Apparently there were some heavy script cuts both during and immediately after filming. Two of the most interesting characters, a creepily mocking housekeeper (named Magda!) played by Spring Byington, and the disturbed daughter of the Patroon of Dargonwyck, simply disappear about two-thirds of the way through the picture, without any explanation.
If you scroll down here, a film buff mentions the influence of DRAGONWYCK on DS.
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-%E2%84%A2-dragonwyck.272533/
The movie seems to be shown somewhat regularly on TCM.
G.
I was surprised at how much like DS the movie seemed. The titular mansion (which is seen in various shots that are obviously paintings) actually does look somewhat like Lyndhurst, but the resemblances to our show have more to do with mood, dialogue, story elements, and atmosphere. The lead ingenue, played by Gene Tierney, has dialogue in an early scene about wanting to meet "people I've never met, places I've never seen" that seemed to foreshadow a certain young governess's thoughts as she boarded a train to Collinsport, Maine in 1966.
Apparently there were some heavy script cuts both during and immediately after filming. Two of the most interesting characters, a creepily mocking housekeeper (named Magda!) played by Spring Byington, and the disturbed daughter of the Patroon of Dargonwyck, simply disappear about two-thirds of the way through the picture, without any explanation.
If you scroll down here, a film buff mentions the influence of DRAGONWYCK on DS.
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/a-few-words-about-%E2%84%A2-dragonwyck.272533/
The movie seems to be shown somewhat regularly on TCM.
G.