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Adaptations
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form
y
Loose Ends
( dir. Norman Walker
)
England
:
British International Pictures
,
1930
6390998
1930
single work
film/TV
crime
romance
A young actress marries, on a whim, a down-and-out man she meets in a London park. He endeavours to make her revise her rackety way of life with her set of Bright Young Things, while she in turn is horrified to learn that he has only just served a fifteen-year sentence for killing the man who seduced his sister and drove her to suicide.
Notes
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Loose Ends is included in AustLit because of an Australian-written adaptation.
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Note on authorship:
Numerous sources assert Dion Titheradge's authorship of the original stageplay, Loose Ends (first performed at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, from 19 April 1926). However, contemporary reviews (see, for example, the London Times, 20 April 1926, p.14) and Allardyce Nicoll (English Drama, 1900-1930) assert that the play was written by English playwright Geoffrey Warren.
Titheradge was associated with the original stage production: he 'presented' the play: the London Times (5 April 1926, p.8) notes, 'Mr. Dion Titheradge will soon present in London Loose Ends, by Mr. Jeffrey Warren' [sic]. He also played the central male role of Malcolm Forres. At this stage (when the play is premiering on stage), he is not described as playwright.
By the time the play is adapted to the screen, however, it starts being referred to as 'Mr. Titheradge's play'. For example, the London Times (26 May 1930, p.12) opens a review of the film by stating, 'Captain Norman Walker has succeeded in transferring Dion Titheradge's play from stage to screen without the loss of a single virtue'.
Modern sources, therefore, often cite Titheradge as both playwright and scriptwriter, a conflation that seems to have originated around 1930.
Production Details
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First performed at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, from 19 April 1926.
