The Gypsy and the Gentleman *** (1958, Melina Mercouri, Keith Michell, Flora Robson, Patrick McGoohan, June Laverick, Helen Haye, Lyndon Brook) – Classic Movie Review 5848

Director Joseph Losey’s 1958 movie The Gypsy and the Gentleman is a lusty, opulent-looking, lip-smacking British throwback to The Wicked Lady school of romantic period melodramas, though in this just pre-British New Wave era this kind of movie was popular again.

Melina Mercouri stars as wicked lady Belle, the fiery gypsy gold-digger who marries a Regency playboy, Sir Paul Deverill (Keith Michell) to take him for every penny he owns, only to find that he has no money, only a rotting pile of debts.

The movie is hardly director Losey’s usual cup of tea, but he tries to get some bite into the gold-digger themes and the 18th century rural England period setting. And the whirlwind Mercouri acts up a storm, certainly ringing that Belle loud and clear.

It also stars Flora Robson as Mrs Haggard, Patrick McGoohan as Jess, June Laverick as Sarah Deverill, Helen Haye as Lady Caroline Ayrton, Lyndon Brook as John Patterson, Clare Austin as Vanessa Ruddock, Laurence Naismith as Dr Forrester, and Mervyn Johns as Brook.

Also in the cast are John Salew, Catherine Feller, Nigel Green, Gladys Boot, Newton Blick, David Hart, Ellen Pollock, Larry Taylor, Howard Greene, Edna Morris and Louis Aquilina.

After all his blacklist troubles, Losey must have been happy to be working under his own name at the main British studio, Rank.

The Gypsy and the Gentleman is written by Janet Green, based on the novel Darkness I leave You by Nina Warner Hooks, shot in Eastmancolor by Jack Hildyard, produced by Earl St John and Maurice Cowan, scored by Hans May, and designed by Ralph W Brinton.

The film is almost forgotten, like so much of Losey’s work that isn’t film noir – The Lawless (1950), The Prowler (1951), M (1951) and The Big Night (1951) – or with Dirk Bogarde – The Sleeping Tiger (1954), The Servant, Accident, King and Country and Modesty Blaise.

June Laverick (born 11 June 1931) is a retired English film, TV and stage actress. Her peak year in films was 1958 when she appeared in three prominent roles, notably opposite Tommy Steele in The Duke Wore Jeans, as well as The Gypsy and the Gentleman and Son of Robin Hood (1958) as Deering Hood, daughter of Robin Hood.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5848

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