When Genevieve was filmed 70 years ago, no one predicted it would be such a huge hit. By Andrew Roberts
In 2nd November 1952, the main cast of a new Rank Organisation comedy joined the start of the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run. The management at Pinewood was unenthusiastic about the film’s prospects. None of the four leads was well known. Who would pay 1/9d to see a film about the owners of two elderly vehicles? The inspiration for Genevieve was from the expatriate American writer William Rose, who witnessed the 1950 Brighton Veteran Car Run pass his Sussex cottage. The South African-born director Henry Cornelius finally optioned the script, but his alma mater Ealing Studios turned down the production, claiming lack of space. Eventually, Rank agreed to provide 70 per cent of the £115,000 budget, with the remainder from the National Film Finance Corporation. Cornelius’s original choices of leads were Dirk Bogarde and Claire Bloom as Alan and Wendy McKim, but he eventually cast John Gregson and Dinah...
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