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On Such a Night
On Such a Night
Directed by	Anthony Asquith
Screenplay by	Paul Dehn
Produced by	Francis Edge
Cinematography	Frank North
Edited by	Anthony Harvey
Release date	1955;
Running time	37 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Languages	English; Italian

On Such a Night is a 1955 British short semi-documentary film directed by Anthony Asquith^[1] which offers a snap-shot of the Glyndebourne opera house in the 1950s, including extracts from Le nozze di Figaro, and a fictional first visit to the opera house by an American. The film was "very discreetly aimed at potential American audiences fascinated by British eccentricities".^[2]

Background

It was filmed at Pinewood Studios and Lewes railway station on 28 May to 12 June 1955, with the operatic excerpts on 6 June 1955. After a private viewing on 25 October that year, the first public showing was on 24 November 1955 at the Gaumont Haymarket cinema, London, on a bill with Simon and Laura.^[3] The reviewer in Sight and Sound commented that the “affectionate though whimsical tour of Glyndebourne”, “is handled with lightness and tact, and Asquith's facility with this kind of thing carries it smoothly through”. He also remarked on the “charming glimpse of members of the orchestra playing croquet in the interval, with the sound of their musical instruments synchronised to each swipe of the mallet” and the “beautifully sung” excerpts from rehearsal and performance of the opera.^[4] The film is shot in Technicolor and Vista Vision.^[4]

Synopsis

An American tourist (David Knight) has been persuaded by to visit Alfriston but is bemused by what he witnesses at Victoria Station when people in evening dress join his train. After a confusing journey in a compartment with two men talking about a new countess, he alights at Lewes and is more baffled still when the formally dressed people get on a Southdown bus waiting there. He gets in a taxi and asks the driver to follow the bus. Arriving at the entrance of Glyndebourne, he explains to an upper-class lady (Marie Lohr) he had noticed at Victoria Station who is with her niece (Josephine Griffin) that he does not have a ticket, at which they ask John Christie who sees that he gets one.

During the performance he watches Sesto Bruscantini sing "Non più andrai" and Sena Jurinac (the "new Countess") sing "Porgi, amor". The end of the second-act finale is shown, with Franco Calabrese, Monica Sinclair, Hugues Cuénod and Ian Wallace, and the very end of the opera. There is also a scene of Carl Ebert rehearsing Jurinac and Rizzieri and of the conductor Vittorio Gui and the administrator Moran Caplat, and the orchestra playing croquet. The film ends with the lady giving the American her ticket for Don Giovanni the following week so that he can come with her niece.^[2]

Cast

David Knight as David Cornell
Marie Lohr as Lady Falconbridge
Josephine Griffin as Virginia Ridley
Allan Cuthbertson as 1st gentleman
Peter Jones as 2nd gentleman

In the opera extracts:

Sesto Bruscantini as Figaro
Elena Rizzieri [it] as Susanna
Ian Wallace as Dr Bartolo
Monica Sinclair as Marcellina
Frances Bible as Cherubino
Franco Calabrese as Count Almaviva
Hugues Cuénod as Don Basilio
Sena Jurinac as Countess Almaviva
Gwyn Griffiths as Antonio
Jeannette Sinclair as Barbarina
Daniel McCoshan as Don Curzio^[1]

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Vittorio Gui, and the film was issued on DVD in 2010, using a print from the BFI National Archive.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b On Such a Night at the British Film Institute website, which lists 1955 as year of release
^ ^a ^b ^c Milnes, Rodney. "On Such a Night – Rodney Milnes rediscovers a Glyndbourne gem", Opera, 2010 Festivals Issue, pp. 44–47.
^ Julia Aries. The Story of On Such a Night. Booklet essay for the DVD On Such a Night, 2010, p8.
^ ^a ^b Morgan, James. Review of On Such a Night. Sight and Sound, Winter 1955-56, p151.