The Passing of the Third Floor Back
Encyclopedia
The Passing of the Third Floor Back is a 1935 British
drama film
directed by Berthold Viertel
and starring Conrad Veidt
, Anna Lee
, René Ray
and Frank Cellier. The film is based on a short story by Jerome K. Jerome
and depicts the various small-minded inhabitants of a building and the arrival of a stranger who works to redeem them. The story had previously been adapted into a 1918 film version
by Herbert Brenon.
in London
where an assorted group of residents live. Many of them cling precariously to their social positions with only one figure, the wealthy self-made businessmen Mr Wright, being truly successful. The house is owned by the grasping Mrs Sharpe who mistreats the maid
, Stasia, a rehabilitated juvenile delinquent. The various members of the household are miserable and openly sneering and rude towards each other. The one exception being the respect shown by all to the powerful Mr Wright. In the case of one couple, Major Tomkin and his wife, this involves pressurising their daughter Vivian to marry Wright in spite of her obvious horror at the idea.
The house's familiar routine is thrown off balance by the sudden arrival of a mysterious foreign stranger. Polite and charming he swiftly earns the respect of the others in the house, especially that of Stasia. He takes a room on the "third floor back" and joins the residents for the dinner supposedly held in celebration of the marriage between Wright and Vivian. It becomes evident that she doesn't want to marry Wright, as she is in love with one of the other lodgers, and she storms out of the room. The desperate Major later tries to convince Wright that it is a misunderstanding and that the engagement is still on, as he and his wife are terrified by the loss of security if the marriage is broken off.
The stranger observes the meanness shown by the other members of the house, and gently encourages them to treat each other better and to pursue their dreams rather than live in fear about their precarious social position. This gradually begins to work with some of the house's members convinced by his charisma. One bank holiday
the stranger announces that he will treat them all to a trip on a boat to Margate
surprising the more snobbish residents by insisting that the servants, including Stasia, will join them. Despite the initial awkwardness, the outing soon begins to go well. When Stasia falls in the River Thames one of the woman jumps in to save her life. Once she is rescued she is looked after by the Tomkins who treat her as though she were there daughter, and also begin to regret their bullying of their own daughter into a marriage with Wright. During the trip various members of the house begin to enjoy themselves and treat each other with more respect.
This change in their situation earns Wright's resentment, and he begins to spitefully plan to wreck the stranger's attempts to reform the guests. This becomes apparent when the next day the inhabitants return to their previous unhappy existence and resume. Wright taunts the stranger by demonstrating how easily he has corrupted them through the simple power of his money. The stranger tries to convince Wright that he too should try and seek a better and happier life, but Wright rejects this suggestion. Their dispute develops into a moral battle between the stranger's goodness and Wright's badness.
, who had previously fled Nazi Germany
and had directed Little Friend
in 1934. Little Friend was considered successful enough for him to be awarded a three-film contract with Gaumont
, the first of which was to be an adaptation of Jermone's The Passing of the Third Floor Back after a planned biopic of Lord Byron was abandoned. Viertel saw problems with transferring it to the screen but was interested in depicting the psychological motivation of the various characters. Shooting was scheduled to last roughly six weeks and was to use a very limited number of sets with only one scene, the visit to Margate, shot outside the studio. Veirtel studied the recently released film The Barretts of Wimpole Street
, which was similarly set in a confined location of a house.
Viertel made only one final film after this, Rhodes of Africa
.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Berthold Viertel
Berthold Viertel
Berthold Viertel , born in Vienna, Austria was a screen writer and film director.-Arrival in America:He was married to screenplay writer and actress Salka Viertel from 30 April 1918 to 20 December 1947. The pair came to Los Angeles in 1928 planning to stay for just three years...
and starring Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt
Conrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
, Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
, René Ray
René Ray
René Ray, Countess of Midleton was a British film and stage actress of the 1930s and 1940s who appeared in over forty films....
and Frank Cellier. The film is based on a short story by Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.Jerome was born in Caldmore, Walsall, England, and was brought up in poverty in London...
and depicts the various small-minded inhabitants of a building and the arrival of a stranger who works to redeem them. The story had previously been adapted into a 1918 film version
The Passing of the Third Floor Back (1918 film)
The Passing of the Third Floor Back is a 1918 silent allegorical film based on the 1908 play The Passing of the Third Floor Back by Jerome K. Jerome and directed by Herbert Brenon. The star of the film is Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson, a legendary Shakespearean actor, who starred in the 1909...
by Herbert Brenon.
Plot
The film focuses on a run-down boarding houseBoarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where an assorted group of residents live. Many of them cling precariously to their social positions with only one figure, the wealthy self-made businessmen Mr Wright, being truly successful. The house is owned by the grasping Mrs Sharpe who mistreats the maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
, Stasia, a rehabilitated juvenile delinquent. The various members of the household are miserable and openly sneering and rude towards each other. The one exception being the respect shown by all to the powerful Mr Wright. In the case of one couple, Major Tomkin and his wife, this involves pressurising their daughter Vivian to marry Wright in spite of her obvious horror at the idea.
The house's familiar routine is thrown off balance by the sudden arrival of a mysterious foreign stranger. Polite and charming he swiftly earns the respect of the others in the house, especially that of Stasia. He takes a room on the "third floor back" and joins the residents for the dinner supposedly held in celebration of the marriage between Wright and Vivian. It becomes evident that she doesn't want to marry Wright, as she is in love with one of the other lodgers, and she storms out of the room. The desperate Major later tries to convince Wright that it is a misunderstanding and that the engagement is still on, as he and his wife are terrified by the loss of security if the marriage is broken off.
The stranger observes the meanness shown by the other members of the house, and gently encourages them to treat each other better and to pursue their dreams rather than live in fear about their precarious social position. This gradually begins to work with some of the house's members convinced by his charisma. One bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
the stranger announces that he will treat them all to a trip on a boat to Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
surprising the more snobbish residents by insisting that the servants, including Stasia, will join them. Despite the initial awkwardness, the outing soon begins to go well. When Stasia falls in the River Thames one of the woman jumps in to save her life. Once she is rescued she is looked after by the Tomkins who treat her as though she were there daughter, and also begin to regret their bullying of their own daughter into a marriage with Wright. During the trip various members of the house begin to enjoy themselves and treat each other with more respect.
This change in their situation earns Wright's resentment, and he begins to spitefully plan to wreck the stranger's attempts to reform the guests. This becomes apparent when the next day the inhabitants return to their previous unhappy existence and resume. Wright taunts the stranger by demonstrating how easily he has corrupted them through the simple power of his money. The stranger tries to convince Wright that he too should try and seek a better and happier life, but Wright rejects this suggestion. Their dispute develops into a moral battle between the stranger's goodness and Wright's badness.
Production
The film was the second British film of the Austrian director Berthold ViertelBerthold Viertel
Berthold Viertel , born in Vienna, Austria was a screen writer and film director.-Arrival in America:He was married to screenplay writer and actress Salka Viertel from 30 April 1918 to 20 December 1947. The pair came to Los Angeles in 1928 planning to stay for just three years...
, who had previously fled Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and had directed Little Friend
Little Friend
-Plot summary:James Garrett is the “Little Friend” of several young women. Whether or not this is a good thing for these ladies is the issue studied in this tragicomic novel....
in 1934. Little Friend was considered successful enough for him to be awarded a three-film contract with Gaumont
Gaumont British
Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was the British arm of the French film company Gaumont. The company became independent of its French parent in 1922, when Isidore Ostrer acquired control of Gaumont-British....
, the first of which was to be an adaptation of Jermone's The Passing of the Third Floor Back after a planned biopic of Lord Byron was abandoned. Viertel saw problems with transferring it to the screen but was interested in depicting the psychological motivation of the various characters. Shooting was scheduled to last roughly six weeks and was to use a very limited number of sets with only one scene, the visit to Margate, shot outside the studio. Veirtel studied the recently released film The Barretts of Wimpole Street
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
The Barretts of Wimpole Street is a 1934 American film depicting the real-life romance between poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning , despite the opposition of her father Edward Moulton-Barrett . The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture...
, which was similarly set in a confined location of a house.
Viertel made only one final film after this, Rhodes of Africa
Rhodes of Africa
Rhodes of Africa is a 1936 British biographical film charting the life of Cecil Rhodes. It was directed by Berthold Viertel and starred Walter Huston, Oskar Homolka, Basil Sydney and Bernard Lee.-Cast:* Walter Huston - Cecil Rhodes...
.
Cast
- Conrad VeidtConrad VeidtConrad Veidt was a German actor best remembered for his roles in films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , The Man Who Laughs , The Thief of Bagdad and Casablanca...
as The Stranger - Anna LeeAnna LeeAnna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
as Vivian - René RayRené RayRené Ray, Countess of Midleton was a British film and stage actress of the 1930s and 1940s who appeared in over forty films....
as 'Stasia - Frank CellierFrank Cellier (actor)Frank Cellier was an English actor. Early in his career, he toured in Britain, Germany, the West Indies, America and South Africa. In the 1920s, he became known in the West End for Shakespearean character roles, among others, and also directed some plays in which he acted...
as Wright - John TurnbullJohn Turnbull (actor)-Selected filmography:* The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss * The Wickham Mystery * Rodney Steps In * The Midshipmaid * The Medicine Man * The Man Outside * The Iron Stair...
as Major Tomkins - Cathleen NesbittCathleen NesbittCathleen Mary Nesbitt, CBE was an English stage and film actress.-Biography:Born in Cheshire, England in 1888, of Welsh and Irish descent, Nesbitt was educated in Lisieux, France, and at the Queen's University of Belfast and the Sorbonne...
as Mrs. Tomkin - Ronald WardRonald WardRonald Ward was a British actor who appeared in more than twenty British films between 1931 and 1956. He was born in Eastbourne in 1901 as Ronald William Ward, and made his screen debut in the 1931 film Alibi...
as Chris Penny - Beatrix LehmannBeatrix LehmannBeatrix Alice Lehmann was a British actress, theatre director and author.She trained at the RADA and made her stage debut as Peggy in a 1924 production The Way of the World at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. As well as her extensive theatrical career she appeared in films and on television...
as Miss Kite - Jack LiveseyJack LiveseyJack Livesey was a British film actor. He was the son of Sam Livesey and the brothers of Barry Livesey and Roger Livesey.-Selected filmography:* The Passing of the Third Floor Back * Old Bones of the River...
as Mr. Larkcom - Sara AllgoodSara Allgood-Biography:Allgood was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her sister was actress Maire O'Neill.Allgood began her acting career at the Abbey Theatre and was in the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society, appearing in many of their plays all over Britain...
as Mrs. de Hooley - Mary ClareMary ClareMary Clare was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage, and later on television.-Biography:...
as Mrs. Sharpe - Barbara EverestBarbara EverestBarbara Everest was a British film actress. She was born in Southfields, Surrey, and made her screen debut in the 1916 film The Man Without a Soul.-Selected filmography:* A Romance of Old Baghdad...
as Cook - Alexander Sarner as The gramophone man
- James KnightJames Knight (actor)-Selected filmography:* The Happy Warrior * The Knave of Hearts * The Lady Owner * Hornet's Nest * Claude Duval * When Giants Fought * The Ball of Fortune * Motherland...
as The police inspector