MovieChat Forums > The Seventh Veil (1946) Discussion > Correction to a popular scene with James...

Correction to a popular scene with James Mason

posted 12 years ago by satwalker99-1
3 replies | jump to latest

This was reissued on the Odeon circuit in 1947 together with the complete version of The Life & Death of Col Blimp which I caught while in the RAF in transit camp nr Kings Lynn,the show running over 4hrs! The famed concert pianist of the time,Eileen Joyce dubbed Ann'a playing which was one of my earliest introductions to classical music and the Rachmaninoff Concerto remains a favourite to this day. One point I have to make to clarify a long standing error - take another careful look at the point where James Mason was supposed to slam his stick down on the teenage Ann's hands in fury as she plays.... the stick actually hits the keys a second after she snatches them away. Her hands were never hit. It was something of a coup for the woman in her mid thirties to "dress down" her early part as the young schoolgirl - but it did show! Along with The Wicked Lady/Man In Grey his performance helped make Mason one of our most popular stars before his Hollywood debut whilst H Lom managed to repeat the part as a psychiatrist in a later ITV series,

mail-671 B SHEEHAN

[–] denham 10 years ago

You're right, the evidence is that Francesca's hands are not hit. Ann Todd actually reacts just before the cane descends, which probably wasn't what the director wanted, but it happens so fast a cinema audience without benefit of replay would have been unlikely to notice. Having said that, the sound is also of keys rather than finger bones being whacked.

"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken."

[–] Midgegirl 8 years ago

I doubt we're meant to think her hands really were hit by Nicholas- by that stage of the story we already know that she has a phobia about her hands being harmed so the audience knows that it's all in her mind by then and then Max himself tells her in the hospital that her hands are "slightly burnt" from the car accident. If Nicholas really had beaten her there'd have been no way for even a Mason-loving audience to accept their relationship at the end. He's not the Man In Grey here.

[–] manderstoke 8 years ago

There's an interesting book that fleshes out some of the scenes and motivations of the characters. What I especially liked was the plotline that the underlying cause of Francesca's obsession with her hands was based on her fear/panic when faced with difficult choices. For example, the teacher barely flicked her hands and they did not swell, but Francesca was terrified about the music competition, and this was her way of escaping it. Similarly, Nicholas does not hurt her hands (although he is in a jealous rage and wants to), but her conflict over deciding to go with Max, once again is displaced onto her hands. For those who are interested, the book is "The Seventh Veil, The Story of the Film", by Ann Stafford (1954). It shows up occasionally on E-Bay and Amazon.