Margaret Lockwood was probably the most popular homegrown British female star ever - more popular I think in the long run than Anna Neagle or Jessie Matthews (maybe Gracie Fields challenges her). Her reputation remains today, chiefly on the basis of three classic films: The Lady Vanishes, The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady. Try thinking of some other Lockwood films off the top of your head - there's Bank Holiday, The Stars Look Down, Night Train... and that's about it. Maybe Jassy. I remember enjoying Madness of the Heart on TV as a kid. She only worked with really good directors a few times (Carol Reed and Hitchcock) and made an awful lot of crap.
She was very popular, though. Partly because she always had a sparkle in her eye, partly because she was good looking, but not beyond the realms of all possibility good looking. She was also lucky her years of real beauty happened to coincide with WW2, when British women were a bit more cashed up and independent than usual, or at least wanting to be so, and her good spirits were very attractive.
Lockwood's first phase of stardom came in the late 30s, when she played a series of bright young things for Hitchcock, Reed, etc - her performances stand up today, she was very winning and likeable and attractive.
Then there was the bad girl phase of the mid 40s - her raven hair helped her adapt well to these, she flashed some cleavage and killed people. She didn't play villainous roles that often. Her post Wicked Lady films were weaker, none seem to linger in the memory (some apparently were hits - I wish the biography was more specific on this), eventually her place was supplanted by Anna Neagle.
Lockwood continued to star in films through the 50s (she even made three for Neagle's husband Herbert Wilcox), then from the 50s to the 70s she had one of those crappy stage and TV careers you could have in England in those days - nothing memorable, lots of stock thrillers and comedies, forever touring up and down the country and appearing on TV.
Lockwood would complain often about poor material (especially when under contract to Rank in the late 40s) but really she and her agent didn't know a good script when it fell on them - or if they did then they fled, preferring old musty vehicles all the way up til her retirement. Lockwood turned down an offer to go to Hollywood to make Forever Amber (she would have been great and I think would have made a go of it there - but then come to think of it Phyllis Calvert didn't, really), turned down parts in The Browning Version, kept making crap after crap.
This biography makes Lockwood seem something of a lonely, tragic figure - maybe "tragic" isn't right (after she became a star she didn't do anything she didn't want to do), just really lonely. She was born in India, mum took her to England while dad stayed in India (until he died in 1950), Margaret became stage struck early as a girl and mum duly escorted her around til she started getting work, she became a star and got married to some bloke called Rupert who was her first boyfriend - she knew mum would chuck a mental so kept it a secret (they didn't spend their wedding night together), mum found out and chucked a mental. War came around, hubby went off to the army, they had a kid, mum looked after the kid, Mags fell in love with an officer and had an affair. There was a custody battle - mum (who sounds like a total bitch) gave evidence against her daughter!! Mags won custody, was very close to her daughter - she had some long term boyfriends but the one she thought was a stayer, John Stone, fell in love with someone else and shot through (that girl then fell ill with cancer and Stone nursed her until her death). She was a recluse, rarely giving interviews. She sought mum's affection but mum ended up hating her (we never really know why); at first she didn't like fame but then did then didn't like it again; she kept to herself, worked hard.
It's an interesting journey - feels as though it lacks something, maybe that's just Lockwood (she doesn't seem like a very nice person), but enjoyable.
For no real reason here is my Margaret Lockwood top ten (in no particular order):
1) Bank Holiday (1938)
2) The Lady Vanishes (1939)
3) The Wicked Lady (1945)
4) The Man in Grey (1943)
5) Cast a Giant Shadow (1954)
6) Love Story (1944)
7) Night Train (1940)
8) The Stars Look Down (1939)
9) Madness of the Heart (1949)
10) Highly Dangerous (1951)
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