Any Other Films like this?

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Thank you for listing those!

Have you seen The Flame is Love? I'm wondering if it's as good as the others that were done later? (Not the same production companies.)

SPOILERS BELOW FOR ALL BARBARA CARTLAND FILMS.

Of the four done by Gainsborough Pictures & Lord Grade, I think Duel of Hearts is by far the best. I've read that most people prefer aHoH, but I just can't. Both films are fun, but I prefer the heroine in DoH.

Lady Caroline Faye is the only heroine of the four Cartland films mentioned above that doesn't suffer an attempted rape. In my book, that's a point in her favour. I don't care for those damsel-in-distress scenarios that portray the heroine nearly powerless to thwart physical advances/attacks from powerful men (Rajah in Ghost in Monte Carlo, Lord Wrotham in aHoH, and Drysdale in The Lady and the Highwayman).

Lady Caroline Faye is the only heroine of the four who isn't cast in the down-trodden role. She wasn't raised in a convent (GiMC), and she isn't an orphan (aHoH and tLatH). Lady Caroline is confident and assertive, and easily holds her own against Mrs. Miller (Geraldine Chaplain), Harriet's father, and the jealous circus performer, Zara.

Although Lady Caroline does find herself in a dangerous situation early in the film (dangerous to her reputation, and perhaps her virtue), this is due to her own recklessness and perhaps naiveté-- not because she's in such a vulnerable, precarious position making her easy to take advantage of, as with the other heroines.

I also prefer this film to aHoH because the heroine looks like a grown woman. Although Helena Bonham-Carter was 20-21 at the time aHoH was filmed, she looks like she's only 14 or 15 years old! Seriously, I can't get past how young she looks on screen. It's mostly her round face. (This film, and Lady Jane, make me think that HBC had plastic surgery on her face.) She looks far too young for Marcus Gilbert (Lord Justin Vulcan). They look ridiculous next to each other, and, in fact, it's kinda creepy and icky to me when they kiss.

And HBC next to Fiona Fullerton looks odd too. HBC looks like a little girl, and Fiona F is a woman.

HBC even walks like a child (instead of a woman). For example, look closely at the way she moves during the scene when she first observes the first party taking place at Mandrake. She sort of bobs from side to side, much like a little girl does.

But I have to admire HBC's acting in this, which is almost always spot on, and obviously what won her the role. (But they should have done a screen-test in hair and costume, imo, and then cast someone else who actually looked the part.) Her performances during the dinner conversation scenes and the tete-a-tete with Lady Isabel (Fiona F.) strike the perfect note, but then her acting falters in other scenes, such as when she faints after having escaped from Wrotham's coach; she seems, again, like a child of merely 14-15.

But despite these problems with aHoH, I still really enjoy this film! It's just that I like Duel of Hearts that much better.