10 Feb The White Cliffs of Dover
The White Cliffs of Dover, Movie starring Irene Dunne
(1944) In 1914, a young American girl travels to England with her father for a two-week visit, falls in love and never goes home. The movie takes us through the Great War and into World War II as those years were experienced by the British Lords and Ladies.
The White Cliffs of Dover is without a doubt a “Mommie Movie” as my two boys used to describe the love- story-tear jerkers I enjoyed. The screenplay was based on a popular verse novel called The White Cliffs by American poet Alice Duer Miller.
Irene Dunne plays the title role, reminiscent of Greer Garson’s Mrs. Miniver, the movie that showed how the “regular people” in England suffered through the war. Youngsters Roddy McDowell (16 years old) and Elizabeth Taylor (12) had small parts as did Peter Lawford.
I wasn’t familiar with the handsome male lead, Australian-born Alan Marshall. According to the book Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors, Marshall died of a heart attack at the age of 52 while performing in a Chicago revival of Sextette, playing opposite Mae West.
The White Cliffs Of Dover at amazon.com
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