| If Winter Comes | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Victor Saville |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Written by | Arthur Wimperis Marguerite Roberts A.S.M. Hutchinson (novel) |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Editing by | Ferris Webster |
| Studio | MGM & Loew's |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | 31 December 1947 |
| Running time | 97 min |
| Country | United States |
If Winter Comes is a 1947 drama film released by MGM. The movie was directed by Victor Saville, based on the novel by A.S.M. Hutchinson. The film tells the story of an English textbook writer who takes in a pregnant girl. The novel had previously been made into the 1923 film If Winter Comes.[1]
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Set in the English village Penny Green in 1939, the film focuses on Mark Sabre, an author and publisher who is unhappily married to Mabel, a humorless and cold woman who usually spends her days gossiping with the townspeople. When Mark finds out his former sweetheart Nona Tybar is returning to Penny Green, Mark, unlike his wife, is delighted. Nona is married to a man names Tony Tyber, but is still in love with Mark. Mabel is aware of Mark's feelings for Nona, and encourages him to spend time with her, thinking he will eventually decide with whom he wants to spend his life.
As the war starts, Tony is called into the military, while Mark attempts to join up but a doctor finds a heart condition and prevents him. Nona leaves Penny Green in order to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Life becomes quiet for Mark, until Effie Bright, who is denounced by her family for having become pregnant, turns to Mark for help.
Mark helps Effie, and lets her live in his home while he looks for a better situation for her. This causes a great scandal. His boss had been looking for a way to fire Mark, and, as a result of the morals clause at his place of employment, he loses his job. Mabel leaves Mark, under the delusion that Mark is the cause of Effie's pregnancy. The townspeople soon denounce Mark and when Effie, who was already mentally unstable because of the pregnancy, finds out about what she has caused, she commits suicide by poisoning herself. Mark appears at an inquest to determine the cause of death. Numerous witnesses give anecdotal incomplete evidence suggesting a sexual relationship between Mark and Effie. Nona appears, having just learned of Tony's death, and makes a short speech in support of Mark's character. The inquest determines that Effie's cause of death was suicide, though they censure Mark for his behavior.
Returning home, a distraught Mark finds a note addressed to him from Effie. In it, Effie gives the name of the young man who impregnated her. It happens to be the son of one of Mark's coworkers at the publishing company. Mark furiously heads to the company to confront the young man's father, but when he gets there, the man is grief-stricken, just having received the news that his son has been killed in the war. Mark decides not to share the letter with him, but, just as he is about the burn the letter, he has a cardiovascular event, and passes out.
Weeks pass as Mark convalesces. Nona returns to Mark, and they burn Effie's letter together.
20th Century Fox producer David O. Selznick bought the rights of the novel in 1939 and intended on casting either Joan Fontaine or Vivien Leigh in the female lead roles and Leslie Howard or Laurence Olivier in the male leads.[2] Furthermore, John Cromwell was assigned as the film's director.[2] Production was supposed to start on March 1, 1940, but Selznick eventually abandoned the project and sold the rights to Alexander Korda.[2]
In 1943, Robert Donat was set to star and the production, which was still under direction of Korda, was set to be filmed on location.[2] Donat was supposed to reteam with Greer Garson, with whom he previously starred in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939).[3] However, when Donat suddenly became unavailable, he was replaced by Walter Pidgeon in October 1943.[4] Because the reteaming collapsed, Garson's part went to Deborah Kerr, whose participation was confirmed in April 1947.[3][5] Direction eventually went to Victor Saville, who had no interest in the project but agreed to direct it in order to work with Kerr.[6]
Impressed by her performance in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Saville assigned Angela Lansbury as Mabel Sabre.[3] The casting of Janet Leigh followed in the summer of 1947.[3] Her accent in the film was taught by the niece of C. Aubrey Smith.[3]
Saville, determined on making films visually more realistic, introduced indirect lighting, a new form of lighting, in the film.[7]
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