This Week of Grace


This Week of Grace is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gracie Fields, Henry Kendall and John Stuart. The screenplay concerns a poor, unemployed woman who is made housekeeper at the estate of a wealthy duchess. It was promoted with the tagline "Cinderella in modern dress". It includes songs written by Harry Parr-Davies, such as "My Lucky Day" and "Happy Ending".

Plot

Grace Milroy loses her job working at a factory. However, through a strange set of circumstances, she is taken on as housekeeper at the nearby Swinford Castle, the home of the eccentric Duchess of Swinford. She is initially coldly received by the other staff, but she soon wins them over with her personality and hard work. While working there, she falls in love with the Duchess's nephew, Viscount Swinford, and eventually marries him. Later, when she wrongly believes him to have married her under the mistaken impression that she is rich, she leaves him and takes a job on the stage, working in the chorus line. Eventually, the misunderstanding is cleared up, and the couple reconciles.

Cast

The film was made by Twickenham Studios following a dispute between Radio Pictures, which owned the rights to Fields, and Associated [Talking Pictures], which had previously made her films. It was part of an attempt by Twickenham to move away from making Quota quickies towards higher-budgeted quality productions a strategy that continued until the bankruptcy of its owner, Julius Hagen. As the sound stage at Twickenham was already booked, the film was shot at Ealing Studios.

Reception

The film is one of the least well-known of Fields' works. It has been noted for its promotion of a national consensus between classes — the first time this had been featured in a Fields film. It was theme which was to become a cornerstone of her work during her years of mainstream popularity. It was well-received on its release, with Kine Weekly observing that the film consolidated Fields as "England's premier entertainer."

Preservation status

Thought to have been lost, it was loaned to the British Film Institute as a result of its 2010 search for missing films, and a copy was made for the National Archive.