The Man in Grey

"The most daring novel of the century lives on the screen"

1943 1h 56m EN

😐

6.1

MID

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.1TMDB · 47★6.5IMDB · 1,647

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After marrying a dour and disinterested lord for status, a young woman falls in love with a stage actor while her best friend from boarding school enters an affair with her husband.

“The most daring novel of the century lives on the screen”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Criterion ChannelSubscription

Cast

Margaret Lockwood
Hesther Shaw Barbary
Phyllis Calvert
Clarissa Richmond Rohan / Clarissa Rohan
James Mason
Lord Rohan
Stewart Granger
Swinton Rokeby / Peter Rokeby
Harry Scott
Toby
Beatrice Varley
Gypsy Fortune Teller
Martita Hunt
Miss Patchett
Helen Haye
Lady Rohan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Leslie Arliss
Writers: Margaret Kennedy, Leslie Arliss, Doreen Montgomery
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

83 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Leslie Arliss, shot by Arthur Crabtree. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Cedric Mallabey. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor R. E. Dearing shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calvert and James Mason carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The most daring novel of the century lives on the screen".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0036135 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Leslie Arliss directs. Arthur Crabtree behind the camera. Cedric Mallabey scores. R. E. Dearing cuts. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Leslie Arliss, shot by Arthur Crabtree. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Cedric Mallabey. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor R. E. Dearing shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calvert and James Mason carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The most daring novel of the century lives on the screen".
7IMDB entry: tt0036135 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 47 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 9 themes, including "jealousy", "england", "victorian england", "marriage of convenience".
10Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Arthur Crabtree
Original score: Cedric Mallabey
Editing: R. E. Dearing
Costume design: Elizabeth Haffenden
Makeup / hair: W.T. Partleton
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Man in Grey (1943)
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 1,647 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

1 win

Also by

Leslie Arliss

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-01-21
★ 8/10
The Gypsy Portent and the Woman of Deadly Nightshade. The Man in Grey is directed by Leslie Arliss and adapted to screenplay by Margaret Kennedy and Doreen Montgomery from the novel of the same name written by Eleanor Smith. It stars Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger. Music is By Cedric Mallabey and cinematography by Arthur Crabtree. A forerunner of Gainsborough’s Wicked Women movies, The Man in Grey is a delicious slice of British noir pie. Proudly decked out in period attire, story is ripe with dastards, narcissists, connivers, the selfish and the cruel. Headed up by Mason’s Lord Rohan and Lockwood’s Hesther Shaw, these people will stop at nothing to get what they want in life. It doesn’t matter who is around them, friends and family etc, if they can in any way hinder their respective selfish goals then they will be trampled upon and not a further thought will be given. It all simmers to the boiling point where lives will not just be ruined, but also ended. The four principal players are great, their respective careers well on the way to leaving behind considerable bodies of work. Arliss (The Night Has Eyes) keeps the story simple in spite of the many character strands and traits jostling for meaty exposure, and photographer Crabtree (Waterloo Road) accentuates the miserablist ambiance with sharp black and white lensing. The use of blackface on white actors is awfully out dated, as is some of the dialogue, but don’t hold these things against The Man in Grey. It’s a darn fine bodice botherer, resplendent with characters straight out of noir’s dark alleyways. 8/10
CinemaSerf2022-04-04
★ 6/10
James Mason is the spoiled, somewhat ruthless "Marquis of Rohan" who alights on the charming, if naive, "Clarissa" (Phyllis Calvert) and decides she is to be the mother of his heir. That's all he wants from her. No love or romance - just so long as he gets a child. She grew up with "Hester" (Margaret Lockwood) and when many years later, sees her acting in a play, she asks her to come and live with her in her palatial London home. Her infrequent visitor husband, accepts the idea on the basis that he will have a new playmate and soon the manipulative "Hester" is no longer content to be the mistress, but wants the title too. Add to the mix the gallant "Rokeby" (Stewart Granger), a man who has the measure of the venal and ambitious woman and we have a character driven period drama that moves along quite well for 90 minutes. Mason features sparingly, indeed it is the two ladies who drive much of the intrigue here, and for the most part - though the pace can be terribly slow at times - they do a decent job. The scenes at the end have stayed with me since I first saw this film 45 years ago, and are still pretty chilling. It's very much of it's time, this film. There are scenes and characterisations that don't sit so well 80 years on, but it has a more substantial story than many dramas of it's ilk and is worth watching.