Fanny by Gaslight (film)


Fanny by Gaslight is a 1944 British drama film, produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a novel by Michael Sadleir.
It was the second of its famous period-set "Gainsborough melodramas", following The Man in Grey. Its US release was delayed for its breaking the Hays Purity Code, and 17 minutes were removed for this release.
Stewart Granger later said he "didn't like" the film because of its "drippy characters" but thought "Asquith was much the best of those directors I worked with at Gainsborough."

Plot

Fanny finishes at boarding school in 1880 and returns to London, where she witnesses Lord Manderstoke fight and kill her supposed father. She soon learns that her family has run a brothel next door to her home and that he was not her real father. She goes to meet her real father – a respected politician – and falls in love with Harry Somerford, his advisor. Manderstoke continues to thwart her happiness.

Cast

The film was based on a novel published in 1940.
Phyllis Calvert and Anthony Asquith were attached to the project by October 1942.
The film's release in the US was delayed over three years due to American censor concerns over scenes set in a brothel.
Jean Kent played a Margaret Lockwood style role.

Reception

According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1944 Britain were For Whom the Bell Tolls, This Happy Breed, Song of Bernadette, Going My Way, This Is the Army, Jane Eyre, The Story of Dr Wassell, Cover Girl, White Cliffs of Dover, Sweet Rosie O'Grady and Fanny By Gaslight. The biggest British hits of the year were, in order, Breed, Fanny By Gaslight, The Way Ahead and Love Story. However, it performed very badly at the box office in the US.

Analysis

The film deals with themes of illegitimacy, social class, blackmail, and duelling.