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21 Days

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Wikipedia article




'21 Days' (also known as '21 Days Together', 'The First and the Last' and 'Three Weeks Together') is a 1940 British drama film based on the short 1919 play 'The First and the Last' by John Galsworthy. It was directed by Basil Dean and stars Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Banks. The film was renamed '21 Days Together' for the American market.

Plot



Larry Darrant is a disappointment to his family. Henry Wallen, the long-missing and disreputable foreign husband of Larry's lover, Wanda, shows up on her doorstep. He has been gone for three years and tries to extort money from the lovers, and pulls a knife on Larry when he refuses to pay. In the ensuing fight the couple accidentally kill him when he strikes his head on the fire fender.

Larry places Henry's body in a quiet brick archway at Glove Lane. He then visits his brother Keith, a successful barrister hoping to soon become a judge, for advice. Keith tells Larry to leave the country for a while to avoid capture. In part Keith's motivation is to avoid the damage Larry's arrest would do to his own career.

However, Larry refuses to leave, and returns to the alley where he had left the body. There he encounters John Evan, a former minister turned tramp, who picks up bloody gloves that Larry has dropped in the street. When Evan is found with the gloves, he is arrested for Wallen's murder, and the police believe they have sufficient evidence for a conviction. Evan's sense of disgrace for robbing the dead body of a ring is such that he insists on his guilt.

When Larry learns of Evan's arrest, he considers himself a temporarily free man and decides to marry Wanda. Larry and Wanda try to compress 30 years of idyllic life into the course of just 21 days, as Larry plans to turn himself in to the police before Evan's trial begins. On the day when Evan is sentenced to hang, Keith begs his brother to remain silent and let the condemned man die. Larry, set on doing the right thing, refuses and leaves for the police station. He is stopped on the steps of the station by Wanda, chasing after him, who has learned that Evan died from a heart attack on his way to jail.

Cast



* Vivien Leigh as Wanda Wallen

* Laurence Olivier as Larry Darrant

* Leslie Banks as Keith Darrant

* Francis L. Sullivan as Mander

* David Horne as Beavis

* Hay Petrie as John Aloysius Evan

* William Dewhurst as the Lord Chief Justice

* Esme Percy as Henry Wallen

* Frederick Lloyd as Swinton

* Robert Newton as Tolly

* Victor Rietti as Antonio

* Morris Harvey as Pawnbroker Alexander MacPherson

* Elliott Mason as Frau Grunlich

* Arthur Young as Ascher

* Meinhart Maur as Carl Grunlich

* Andreas Malandrinos as Cafe Tyrol Waiter (uncredited)

Production



Producer Alexander Korda intended '21 Days' to be a star vehicle for Vivien Leigh, but his constant interference caused great problems on the set. He rearranged shooting schedules and even added a sequence, and director Basil Dean reputedly never saw a rough cut or the finished product. The title change to '21 Days' was attributed to Korda.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/94107/21-Days-Together/notes.html "Notes: '21 Days Together'."] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 2 February 2015. Principal photography took place in 1937 at Denham Film Studios. Korda's younger brother Vincent Korda was the film's art director on and was responsible for the set design.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/94107/21-Days-Together/original-print-info.html "Original print information: '21 Days Together'."] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 2 February 2015.

Following Vivien Leigh's star turn with her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in 'Gone with the Wind' (1939), Korda shelved '21 Days' for two years before releasing it to Columbia Pictures.Walker 1987, pp. 48, 51.

Reception



In a review for 'The New York Times', critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "True, it is no deathless dramais little more than a cultivated penny-thriller, in factand Miss Leigh, as the party of the second part, is required to devote her charm and talents to nothing more constructive than making the apparently inevitable parting from poor Mr. Olivier seem exceedingly painful, indeed. But it is a highly charged 'meller,' rigid throughout with suspense and nicely laced with much tender emotion."Crowther, Bosley. [https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0CE5DA1E30E43ABC4B51DFB366838B659EDE "The Screen."] 'The New York Times', May 23, 1940.

References



'Notes'

'Bibliography'

* Walker, Alexander. 'Vivien: The Life of Vivien Leigh'. New York: Grove Press, 1987. .


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