![]() Desmond Davis was the producer of both versions. In the modern version Celia Johnson replaced Marjorie Lane in the role of Kate Hardcastle. A traditional production with almost the same cast (including Eric Portman as Charles Marlow) was shown on 26 March with a repeat on 3 April. This version, billed as A Night at the Hardcastles, was adapted by Giles Playfair after a synopsis by his father, Sir Nigel Playfair (actor-manager of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, who died in 1934) who had developed the idea as a feature film. On 16 and 24 April 1939 BBC Television from Alexandra Palace presented a modern version of the play with, as ‘The Scanner’ wrote in Radio Times, ‘saloon cars, cocktails, cigarettes and all the other things Goldsmith didn’t know about’ (17 March 1939, p. In 2008 Sky Arts screened an adaptation directed by Tony Britten with Sussanah Fielding and Mark Dexter. John Harrison staged it for The Sunday Night Play series in 1961, Roger Jenkins directed it again in 1966 for Theatre 625, and in the short-lived Stage 2 series in 1971 it was directed by Michael Elliott. Goldsmith’s play has been a favourite with broadcasters, with the BBC making three versions between 19. Vivian Pickles has a tiny role as the servant Pimple. The undoubted star is Paul Daneman who eventually overcomes his shyness in the company of ladies (he’s fine with serving maids) and wins Kate’s hand. Margaret Courtenay’s elderly Mrs Hardcastle is pantomime dame-ish, but Jane Downs as her daughter - the play’s central character - is winsome, witty and a delight to watch. He hopes that Goldsmith’s play will make him laugh. Woodwardknown to Goldsmith’s contemporaries as a comic actorweeping because comedy is supposedly dead. The playing from pretty much everyone is on the broad side, but the whole cast make effective use of direct-to-camera ‘asides’. She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith, is a five-act comedic play with a prologue and an epilogue first performed in 1773 in London. The designer is credited as John Clements, presumably the producer responsible for the innovative film version of Ibsen’s The Wild Duck made for Associated-Rediffusion in 1957, about which I posted recently. The studio staging by director Roger Jenkins (later a stalwart on series like The Troubleshooters and The Onedin Line) is mostly penny-plain, although there is one startling shot from, as it were, the back a fireplace where previously we had seen live flames. Originally presented for schools audiences in three 30-minute segments, this version had been stitched together to be shown on National Education Television in the United States. And while at times the audio was echo-y and the pictures wobbly, the production proved to have a simple, winning charm. ![]() The print was one of those recently turned up in the Library of Congress archive, the recording having previously been thought lost. Since these notes - which are one of the joys of cinema-going in London - invariably track down reviews for the most recondite productions, it was clear that the production on offer was both obscure and undocumented. ![]() The BFI Southbank programme notes for tonight’s presentation of a 1960 schools production of Oliver Goldsmith’s 1773 comedy consisted mostly of paragraphs from about the original play. Jane Downs as Kate Hardcastle, She Stoops to Conquer, 1960 ![]()
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