Taglines: A summer of evil… And a young girl’s cruel awakening!
The Greengage Summer movie storyline. When she arrives in the French region of Champagne in the company of her mother, her two sisters, and her brother, sixteen-year-old Joss Grey is still just a teenager. As she returns to England she has become a woman – What has happened is that Mrs. Grey fell ill at the beginning of their stay and was sent to hospital, leaving the foursome in the care of Madame Zizi, manager of the hotel where they are staying. Also lodging there is Madame Zizi’s lover Eliot. Unaware of this situation, Joss becomes attracted to the 40-year- old man. Eliot is so friendly – Eliot is so handsome – A bit enigmatic perhaps, but so charming.
The Greengage Summer (called The Loss of Innocence in the U.S.) is a 1961 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Kenneth More and Susannah York (in her first leading role). It was based on the novel The Greengage Summer (1958) by Rumer Godden. Set in Épernay, in the Champagne region of France, it is the story of the transition of a teenage girl into womanhood.
More later named it as his favourite film, stating, “[Susannah York] was just twenty-one and an adorable creature… it was one of the happiest films on which I have ever worked.”
The film was a co-production between Victor Saville and Edward Small for United Artists. It was meant to be one of several the two made together, a never-filmed adaptation of The Mousetrap intending to be another, with the third being Legacy of a Spy. Cary Grant was the original choice for the male lead. However, the film was eventually set up at Columbia.
More later wrote that Lewis Gilbert insisted he go on a diet before making the film in order that he might be more believable as a romantic lead. More did so as he very badly wanted to make the movie.
About the Story
Joss Grey (Susannah York), a 16-year-old English girl, finds herself responsible for the care of her three younger siblings on a summer vacation in France when their mother is suddenly taken ill and rushed to the hospital. When they go to the Hotel Oeillets, proprietress Mademoiselle Zisi (Danielle Darrieux) does not want the responsibility of unchaperoned children, but her enigmatic English lover Eliot (Kenneth More) persuades her to accept them. As the days pass, she wishes she had stuck to her original answer; she is increasingly jealous of the attention Eliot pays to the children—especially to Joss.
Meanwhile, hotel employee Paul (David Saire) becomes suspicious of Eliot, snoops in his room, and finds a pistol. Eliot catches Paul and gets Zisi to fire him, but Joss’s 13-year-old sister Hester (Jane Asher) has taken a liking to Paul and begs Joss to get Eliot to reconsider, which he does. But later he becomes angry when shutterbug Hester takes his picture. Then he rushes out of a tour of caves where champagne is stored to avoid famous guest Monsieur Renard (Raymond Gérôme), the best policeman in France. He also insists on turning away potential guests.
Tensions come to a boiling point when Zisi throws a glass of champagne in her rival’s face. Eliot chases after her, saying—within Joss’s hearing—that she is only a child. Learning from a newspaper article that Eliot is a notorious jewel thief, the outraged Joss mails Hester’s photo of him to the police.
Eliot has already decided to leave. He sneaks out late at night, but, on hearing a drunken Paul attack Joss in her bedroom on the second floor, he rushes up to her room. He punches Paul, who then tries to climb down a drainpipe. The pipe breaks and he falls to his death. He tells everyone not to call the police. A remorseful Joss confesses to Eliot that she has denounced him to the police. At her request, he gives her a grownup kiss. Then he disposes of Paul’s body and disappears.
The Greengage Summer (1961)
Directed by: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Kenneth More, Danielle Darrieux, Susannah York, Claude Nollier, Jane Asher, Elizabeth Dear, Richard Williams, David Saire, Raymond Gérôme, Maurice Denham, André Maranne
Screenplay by: Rumer Godden, Howard Koch
Production Design by: John Stoll
Cinematography by: Freddie Young
Film Editing by: Peter R. Hunt
Costume Design by: Julie Harris
Art Direction by: John Stoll
Music by: Richard Addinsell
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: May 1, 1961 (UK), September 20, 1961 (US)
Views: 343