In their respective fifty-year careers, Ann Todd made a quarter of the films Mason did. At mid-point, Veil was conceivably the high water mark of her career. There were, of course, later parts. In Hitchcock’s mediocre The Paradine Case she was Gregory Peck’s somewhat remote wife . . . and wasn’t there in this film, too, a portrait—that of Mrs. Paradine (Alida Valli)? The Passionate Friends was only so-so despite co-stars Claude Rains and Trevor Howard and the direction of David Lean. A curious footnote: in The Son of Captain Blood, Todd played Arabella Bishop, mother to the son of Captain Blood. A bad film, of note only because the son, Robert Blood, was played by Sean Flynn, Errol’s then twenty-three-year-old son. Sean disappeared in the Cambodian jungles in 1970 while covering the war in Vietnam.
Mason, of course, was at this point only ten years into his career. Behind him were the villainous and sullen roles that first established him—in I Met a Murderer, Terror House (also involving a pianist), The Man in Grey, etc., and, ahead, the varied characters that would make him one of the most versatile actors around—Odd Man Out (an Irish rebel leader), The Desert Fox (Rommel), Julius Caesar (Brutus), 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Captain Nemo), A Star is Born (a failing Hollywood star), North by Northwest (a spy), Lolita (a college professor obsessed with a sexually precocious teenager), The Verdict (a lawyer up against Paul Newman) and, his last work, a TV movie, Dr. Fischer of Geneva (a man who tested friend’s greed with cruel choices).
My first impression of The Seventh Veil is that, despite the superb acting, especially of James Mason and Herbert Lom—perhaps Ann Todd’s best work—I’m somewhat puzzled by why the film was such a hit at the time and, still, is generally well regarded. There are few shots of cars to date it and the clothes seem innocuous enough—James Mason is always in a tuxedo—yet somehow an old-fashioned tone lurks beneath the surface. As a final point, I never sensed Francesca and Nicholas are real musicians.
Maybe, yes, I should defer a final judgment and give The Seventh Veil a second chance another time.
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I WAS 15 WHEN THIS MOVIE FIRST SHOWED IN CLEVELAND, OHIO AND IN THAT YEAR AND THE FOLLOWING YEARS I ACTUALLY SAW THE MOVIE 23 TIMES. AFTER I WAS MARRIED MY HUSBAND AND I SAW IT EVERY TIME IT WAS SHOWN AT A THEATRE. NOW THANKFULLY I HAVE IT ON DVD. I WROTE TO BOTH JAMES MASON AND HERBERT LOM BACK IN 1945 AND I HAVE BOTH THEIR AUTOGRAPHS AND PHOTOS THEY SENT ME.
Very special to hear from someone who lived with this great movie. I Just watched it last night on TCM and now I want to play the music over and over.
I too found it moving. Thank you for sharing your experiences! Do you have any other insights about the movie? There isn’t much information available about Ann Todd.
Thanks for your comments. Glad you have enjoyed the film over the years.
James Mason was, for many years, my favorite actor, beginning when I first saw 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (mentioned in the review), which introduced me to classical music. For the comic-romantic side of Mason, so often ignored, check out A Touch of Larceny (1959), with a delicious Vera Miles.
If you so thoroughly enjoy The Seventh Veil for its classical music, you might wish to investigate the 1946 Deception, with a bravura performance by Claude Rains. More than even Veil, it has intelligent, technical discussions of music. Not as good a film, but full of great piano music—and some wonderful keyboard faking—is The Competition (1980).
As for Ann Todd, I know little else about her.
Thanks again for your contributions to CFF.
Greg Orypeck
I just watched it and fell asleep at the end! Who did she end up with at the end? Peter or Max?
She ends up with NICHOLAS! I kid you not. The movie does not play well today because modern viewers are going to see Nicholas as an abusive partner (even though he and Francesca don’t have a sexual relationship) and will likely find the ending extremely disturbing.
“modern viewers”? You mean North American viewers. Europeans, especially from eastern Europe, have stricter backgrounds, as mine was, and what some may perceive as “abusive” can be pretty normal in many such households, and I have no regrets about my upbringing…spare the rod, spoil the child. I’ll still go by Biblical teaching for my children… I’m glad the movie ending was finally chosen to be as it was. Any other ending would have just not been right, as James Mason actually requested the script be changed from the original ending of Peter being chosen, to himself! That is what makes the ending powerful and “right” for me!
What is the piano music Todd was playing when Mason slammed down they piano lid?
Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 8, Op. 13 “Pathétique” II
I watched this movie for the first time last night on TCM. What is the first piece of music Nicholas plays on his piano, after first meeting Francesca and she refuses his request to play?
When I was a kid I saw a movie, or at least the last half of a movie, that made a big impression on me and I’ve tried to find it ever since. I remembered it as being about a pianist whom I thought was played by Barbara Stanwyck who had a fatal illness. And the slow movement of the Pathetique sonata was prominent, a piece I found very moving even as a child.
I searched all over the Internet this weekend and indeed found The Other Love, where Stanwyck plays a pianist with a fatal illness! But no Beethoven, that wasn’t the movie.
Finally I found it. It’s this one The Seventh Veil.