The Constant Husband is a 1955 British comedy film, directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Rex Harrison, Margaret Leighton, Kay Kendall, Cecil Parker, George Cole and Raymond Huntley. The story was written by Gilliat together with Val Valentine, and the film was produced by Individual Pictures, Gilliat's and Frank Launder's joint production company. Because the film got caught up in the 1954 bankruptcy of British Lion Film Corporation, it was not released until more than seven months after it had been finished and reviewed by the British Board of Film Censors.
Plot
A man (Rex Harrison) wakes up in a hotel room in Wales, suffering from amnesia. He has no recollection of who he is, why he is there, or where he comes from. With the help of psychologist Doctor Llewellyn (Cecil Parker), they trace a wife and home in London, but they go on to discover that she is just one of many women whom he has bigamously married.
Main cast
Rex Harrison as William Egerton
Cecil Parker as Llewellyn
Sally Lahee as The Nurse
Kay Kendall as Monica Hathaway
Nicole Maurey as Lola
Valerie French as Bridget
Ursula Howells as Ann
Jill Adams as Joanna Brent
Roma Dunville as Elizabeth
Robert Coote as Jack Carter
Raymond Huntley as J.F. Hassett
Noel Hood as Gladys
Eric Pohlmann as Papa Sopranelli
Marie Burke as Mama Sopraneli
George Cole as Luigi Sopranelli
Derek Sydney as Giorgio Sopranelli
Guy Deghy as Stromboli
Margaret Leighton as Miss Chesterman
Eric Berry as Counsel for the Prosecution
Michael Hordern as Judge
Charles Lloyd-Pack as The Solicitor
Arthur Howard as Clerk of the Court
John Robinson as Secretary
Michael Ripper as Left Luggage Attendant
Muriel Young as Clara
Sam Kydd Uncredited
Production
The film was made in Shepperton Studios, with shooting finished in early June 1954, just a week after the studio's owner and the film's intended distributor, British Lion Film Corporation, went into receivership on 1 June 1954. The opening scenes were filmed on location at New Quay and Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Mid Wales, and others at Kensington, Millbank, Wormwood Scrubs, Holborn, and St. Paul's, London. When the film was screened by the censors at BBFC on 10 September 1954, it was submitted by Frank Launder's company Launder Productions, as it did not yet have a new distributor. In January 1955, Launder, Gilliat and the Boulting brothers formed a new company, British Lion Films Ltd., which took over the running of Shepperton as well as British Lion's distribution business, and the film finally received its world premiere at the London Pavilion on 21 April 1955.
Gilliat says the film was plagued by problems with the color stock.
Reception
According to the National Film Finance Corporation, the film made a comfortable profit.
According to Kinematograph Weekly it was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1955.