Celebrating Genevieve

Genevieve is one of the most important films in classic car history as it established the idea with audiences around the world that old vehicles could be fun – albeit problematic at times. Here are 40 facts about one of the finest pictures in British cinema history:

1)    When filming commenced in 1952 there were circa 2.5 million cars on the road in the UK but only one in twenty people had access to a car. The average annual wage for men was £495 and £318 for women. Milk cost 6 1/2d per pint, beer was 1/9d per pint, and if you were feeling particularly extravagant, a television set would have cost you £72 10s.

2)    Some terms that would not have been in a 1952 motorist’s vocabulary include “Motorway”, “Little Chef” and “Double Yellow Lines”, all dating from 1958. “Traffic Wardens” and “MOT Test” were from 1960. “Automatic Level Crossing” from 1961, “Breathalyser” from 1967 and “Pelican Crossing” from 1969.

3)    In 1952, the AA and the RAC saluted their members, and if they did not – stop and ask the reason why. Seat belts were for aeroplanes and in 1952 it was more than probable that you would encounter a motorist who had never taken a test. The compulsory examination only became mandatory on the 1st of June 1935 – and there were no tests between the 2nd of September 1939 and the 1st of November 1946.

4)    Should you have been in the fortunate position to afford a new car, the domestic delivery times were still extensive: on the 29th of October 1952 Sir William Rootes told the press that his firm was still working on Humber Hawk orders placed in 1948

5)     Before shooting began in October 1952 Rank’s Head of Production Earl St. John had no great hopes for Genevieve - “we may get a few car nuts to go along and see it”.

6)    Genevieve was scripted by the expatriate American writer named William Rose, after he witnessed a car rally pass his Sussex cottage in 1950. It was his first complete screenplay, as much of his earlier work consisted of re-writes of other scripts.

7)     Eight filmmakers turned down Rose’s draft until he approached the director and producer Henry Cornelius. Ealing Studios claimed a lack of space, and eventually the Rank Organisation agreed to provide 70% of the £115,000 budget. The rest of the money came from National Film Finance Corporation.

8)    £115,000 was a limited sum even in 1952 and Cornelius could only afford to pay his two principal actors £2,000 each. This meant he was unable to afford were Dirk Bogarde and Claire Bloom as the main couple Alan and Wendy McKim, opting for John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan.

9)     As Alan’s friend and rival Ambrose Claverhouse,  the director originally wanted to cast Guy Middleton but chose Kenneth More with Kay Kendall as his girlfriend Rosalind Peters.

10)    Kay Kendall later said, “From start to finish, I had no confidence in myself or in the film”.

11)    Dirk Bogarde told Dinah Sheridan the role of Wendy McKim was “really you”, although Cornelius unchivalrously informed her that at 31, she was too old for the role!

12)    There was also a change of automotive cast. Rose’s early script featured a 1903 De Dion Bouton as the stellar vehicle but Cornelius preferred a British car. He suggested a Humber or a Wolseley for Alan and Wendy, and for Ambrose to drive a Lancaster.

13)    The central automotive role would eventually be played by a Darracq 10/12 Type O Roadster named Annie. Her custodian was Norman Reeves, an Uxbridge Ford dealer, who had refurbished this fine vehicle together with his mechanic Charlie Cadby.

14)    One of the film crew had seen Annie on display at Reeves’ showroom not far from Pinewood Studios and he agreed to loan her to the production if Cadby would be in constant attendance. 

15)    Rose envisaged a 1904 Oldsmobile 7HP for Ambrose, and Cornelius thought of using a Lanchester, but the eventual car was a Spyker 14/18 hp owned by Frank Reece of the Reece Brothers’ taxi firm in Shepherd’s Bush.

16)    Some members of The Veteran Car Club had very understandable concerns that Genevieve would mock the rally, with some resistance to the script’s unofficial race from Sussex to London. But Cornelius urged the Club to “Read the script. We want your help, your cars and your blessing. Authenticity is what we want, and only you can give it”.

17)    The VCC’s Evelyn Mawer became Cornelius’s technical advisor and assisted with finding 35 veteran cars for the Hyde Park departure sequences and 20 for Brighton scenes.

18)    The supporting vehicles included the midwife’s 1932 Morris Minor, and the Ford V8 ‘Woody’ newsreel camera shooting brake.

19)    The taxi that Rosalind arrives in dispels the myth that all Austin FX3 London cabs were black.

20)     Allard provided a red K1 with modified cockpit to accommodate the well-built frame of Reginald Beckwith who played its put-upon driver. Happily, the Allard survived the pranging scene emigrated to the United States.

21)    Early in the film Road we also see a Morris-Commercial car transporter, with Triumph Renowns, Morris MS Sixes and Austin A70 Hereford in amongst various older models.

22)    As with any great British film, an impeccable supporting cast: Joyce Grenfell’s hotelier, Geoffrey Keen’s police constable, Arthur Wontner (one of the first screen Sherlock Holmes) as the elderly car enthusiast, and Fred Griffiths as a barrow boy.

23)    The shooting schedule was a mere 57 days.

24)    Gregson presented the film with a minor challenge in that he was a non-driver. He took the wheel of the Darracq for a few scenes, and Sheridan remembered “trying not to be seen giving him instructive help out of the side of my mouth”.

25)    The actor was so nervous that he hid a glass of milk on the Darracq’s floor to quell the symptoms of an ulcer.

26)    Fortunately, either Cabdy took the wheel for many other scenes, or the crew mounted mock-ups of both cars on a flatbed ‘Queen Mary’ lorry. This was a flatbed previously used to haul tanks, and Cornelius used it for all forward shots.

27)     For the reverse shots Cornelius employed a ‘Queen Elizabeth’ lorry with a removed cab to aid shooting for the opposite direction.

28)     “Internal accountancy” ruled out Cornelius using Pinewood’s sound stages and his cinematographer Christopher Challis later described how the crew would ‘take advantage of whatever turned up’ on location.

29)    The picture’s limited funds meant these locations were within reasonable driving distance of Pinewood – despite the story, one shot took place on the road to Brighton.

30)    Challis’s team arranged fake Sussex road signs in Surrey, to the confusion of many drivers.

31)     There is also a strange sense of geography in the final chase with the Spyker suddenly turning from Old Kent Road into Hillingdon Road in Uxbridge.

32)    The final chase sequence caused so much chaos on location the police eventually expelled the crew. Cornelius had to use careful editing for shots of the Spyker's wheels stuck in the tramlines at Old Kent Road.

33)    A further challenge was the often dire weather: the cast to drink brandy so the Technicolor photography would not highlight faces that were blue with cold.

34)     Behind the scenes Cornelius was obliged to mortgage his house to fund the “completion money”, while the film eventually ran out of budget.

35)     Rank’s insurance company faced with the prospect of paying £20, 000 if the production defaulted and More remembered ‘little men prowling around the studio, switching off lights that weren’t needed’.

36)    At the end of shooting,  Cornelius had the chance to purchase the Darracq but was unable to raise the necessary £450.

37)     Pressure from the picture’s American distributors meant Larry Adler, the composer of The Genevieve Waltz, would not be credited in US prints of the film until 1991.

38)     Genevieve became the UK’s second most successful box office attraction of 1953, and the British Film Academy declared it the “Best British Film of The Year”.

39)    For the dance band scene, Cornelius so liked the Kay Kendall’s mistaken reference to playing the “plumpet” he kept it in the final cut.

40)     And Genevieve established the idea that over-passionate old car enthusiasm can lead to the owner “hawling like brooligans”. 

Image permissions to Beaulieu Enterprises Ltd