Comedy. An elderly earl returns with his butler, Bembridge, to his stately home in the English countryside after ten years away in the South Pacific. But, they have brought with them an unexpected piece of luggage in the shape of a young and beautiful princess, Lapis. She is in love with Bembridge, but her efforts to win him over, together with some of the strange native ways she has brought with her, soon cause outrage and chaos in the disapprovingly snooty, upper-crust household.
Production Details
Edward J. Mason’s popular B.B.C. Feature. A Hammer Films Production
A Hammer Film production released by Exclusive Films
From an original story by Roger and Donald Good
Black & White 61 minutes
Filming Began: January 1950
UK Release: 11th September 1950
Studio:
Oakley Court Hotel, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Assistant Director | Jimmy Sangster | 22 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 65 | 2 | 67 | |
Boom Operator | Percy Britten | 30 | 1 Oct 1919 | 1 Jan 1996 | 76 | 21 | 21 | ||
Camera Operator | Peter Bryan | 30 | 28 Sep 1919 | 1 Sep 1972 | 52 | 22 | 22 | ||
Casting | Prudence Sykes | 11 | 2 | 13 | |||||
Clapper Loader | Harry Oakes | 29 | 16 Jan 1921 | 11 Dec 2012 | 91 | 53 | 53 | ||
Construction | Michael Lyons | 10 | 10 | ||||||
Continuity | Renee Glynne | 24 | 3 Aug 1926 | 6 Apr 2022 | 95 | 38 | 3 | 41 | |
Director | Godfrey Grayson | 37 | 2 Aug 1913 | 1 Jun 1998 | 84 | 11 | 11 | ||
Director of Photography | Walter Harvey BSc | 47 | 9 Feb 1903 | 1 Jan 1979 | 75 | 34 | 34 | ||
Editor | James Needs | 30 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Electrician | Jack Curtis | 3 | 23 | 26 | |||||
Hair Stylist | Monica Hustler | 24 | 21 Nov 1927 | 21.11.1927 | 96 | 18 | 18 | ||
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 42 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 | 48 | ||
Musical Director | Frank Spencer | 39 | 19 Jun 1911 | 1 Feb 1975 | 63 | 21 | 1 | 22 | |
Producer | Anthony Hinds | 27 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 | 1 | 85 | |
Production Manager | Arthur Barnes | 64 | 1 Jan 1886 | 1 Jan 1956 | 70 | 20 | 20 | ||
Property Buyer | Jim Day | 2 | 2 | ||||||
Property Master | Tom Money | 33 | 1 Jan 1917 | 1 Jan 1974 | 57 | 2 | 20 | 22 | |
Recordist | Edgar Vetter | 37 | 27 Jan 1913 | 15 Dec 1988 | 75 | 15 | 15 | ||
Screenplay | A.R. Rawlinson | 56 | 9 Aug 1894 | 20 Apr 1984 | 89 | 4 | 4 | ||
Screenplay | Edward J Mason | 38 | 8 May 1912 | 3 Feb 1971 | 58 | 1 | 1 | ||
Second Assistant Director | Bill Shore | 5 | 2 | 7 | |||||
Sound Camera Operator | Gordon Everett | 27 | 1 Jan 1923 | 1 Jan 1991 | 68 | 5 | 5 | ||
Still Photographer | John Jay | 29 | 14 Nov 1920 | 29 Apr 2005 | 84 | 13 | 22 | 35 | |
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Hidden | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Hammer Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Bembridge | Henry Mollison | 45 | 21 Feb 1905 | 1 Jul 1985 | 80 | 1 | 1 | ||
Bill Fenton | Peter Burton | 29 | 4 Apr 1921 | 27 Nov 1989 | 68 | 1 | 1 | ||
Elaine | Anne Valery | 24 | 24 Feb 1926 | 29 Apr 2013 | 87 | 1 | 1 | ||
Gerald | Michael Ward | 41 | 9 Apr 1909 | 8 Nov 1997 | 88 | 5 | 5 | ||
Lady Mary | Eleanor Hallam | 52 | 5 Sep 1898 | 1 Jan 1996 | 97 | 1 | 1 | ||
Lapis | Mercy Haystead | 20 | 2 Feb 1930 | 11 Jan 2015 | 84 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mrs Thimble | Tonie MacMillan | 1 | 1 | ||||||
The Earl | Edward Rigby | 71 | 5 Feb 1879 | 5 Apr 1951 | 72 | 1 | 1 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
High-camp character actor Michael Ward appeared in numerous films, perhaps most notably as the Egyptian Queen’s High Priest Archimedes in “Carry on Cleo” (1965). He was also in Hammer’s “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” (1973), in which he played a transvestite lunatic! His last appearance for the Company was in “Man About the House” (1974).