MovieChat Forums > The Magic Box (1952) Discussion > Lots of actors NOT in this film

Lots of actors NOT in this film

posted 15 years ago by hobnob53
3 replies | jump to latest

The Magic Box has often been described as containing "virtually every" working British actor of its era. But just off the top of my head I can think of many prominent film actors active in 1951 who did not appear in this movie. Among them:

Alec Guinness, Ralph Richardson, John Gielgud, Jack Hawkins, James Roberston Justice, Valerie Hobson, Margaret Lockwood, James Hayter, Trevor Howard, Alistair Sim, Howard Marion-Crawford, Joan Greenwood, Nigel Patrick, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Jack Warner, Basil Radford, Naunton Wayne, John Mills, Noel Coward, Margaret Rutherford, Herbert Lom (not Herbert Lomas, who is in the movie), Robert Morley, Finlay Currie, Kay Hammond, Kenneth More, Ronald Squire, Niall MacGinness, Maurice Denham, Andre Morell, Celia Johnson, Michael Gough, Elizabeth Allan, Bernard Lee, Laurence Naismith, Geoffrey Keen, Denis O'Dea, Ann Todd, Dinah Sheridan, Ronald Adam, Ian Hunter...and of course scores of others.

Great cast, yes...but "virtually every" actor in British films at the time? Hardly. These people, and many others, are quite conspicuous by their absence.

Please add any names you see missing.

[–] greenbudgie 11 years ago

I suppose they couldn't fit all that great list of actors into the film to pay tribute to William Friese-Greene. It is amazing how many they did manage to cram into it. One on your list is actually in it. Margaret Rutherford briefly gets on screen as Lady Pond.

[–] hobnob53 11 years ago

Yes, I believe you're right about Margaret Rutherford.

Obviously, there's no way every film actor in Britain in 1951 could possibly have been fit into this or any single film, but that goes to my point: the fact that the movie itself, its promoters and most reviewers loosely make this overblown claim that "virtually" every star in the country is in it, which is patently untrue and nowhere near reality when you stop to think about it.

[–] greenbudgie 11 years ago

No. As you say it would have been impossible to have all those great actors in it. I have tried to scout for others not included. But everytime I think of someone I check the full cast and your list and I find them there.