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some of her new clothes, he follows her and sees her meet Ashby in a field, kiss him and head off toward his house. Parker presumably believes this is "Albert", whom he has never knowingly seen. Ashby and
Dulcima go dancing. Parker gets drunk and becomes violent and abusive when she returns. She says she will leave in the morning and locks herself in her room. Parker smashes up the living room, including the new TV, and tears up the unwanted wedding dress, but then remorsefully pleads forgiveness through her locked bedroom door. She remains silent.
377:"It's a fabulous part, one of the best I've ever had," said Mills. Carol White called Mills "one of my all-time favourite actors" and prior to filming "spent hours each day going over my part and even studied the scenes that I wasn't in. It was a heavy going romantic drama and, with a script steeped in the Cotswoldsâ dialect, it wasnât an easy part. But by the time filming commenced, I had found my way into the heart of the character; the lines all filed into place and had started to feel whole again."
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443:"was a good film, like many good films, but it still lacked the magic ingredient that made those reels of celluloid. into cinema history." Mills' biographer argued "the story suffered from neither relationship being believable; nor did the two young actors have the weight to carry the abrupt and melodramatic climax which was straight out of a Victorian novel... What
392:, the cinema and distribution arms of the company showed no great enthusiasm for either film. Purely from a commercial standpoint it seemed an irresponsible waste of the shareholdersâ money. Properly marketed with a little imagination and given a chance to succeed, their fate could have been quite different."
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I donât think it does and no one went to see it... for the life of me I canât imagine why Forbes wanted to make one drama about a creepy middle aged man who chases after young girl let alone two. Sure, itâs cheap but does anyone like that story ever, unless itâs in the form of a thriller or a horror
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Parker begins repeatedly asking
Dulcima to marry him, but she keeps saying she wants to wait a bit. As part of his attempts to persuade her, he buys a TV set so that they would have something to do on winter evenings when they are married, and promises her more money, even revealing the hoard of cash
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When Parker finds her apparently packing to leave, she again mentions âAlbertâ and the money Parker owes her. Panicked, he agrees to pay, and she claims ÂŁ40 rather than the ÂŁ20 or so she has recorded. But Parker under-pays her, so she later helps herself from his hidden cash hoard. She spends money
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Parker is a widower, and he eventually agrees to her suggestion that she become his housekeeper. His sexual interest in
Dulcima is aroused when she arrives for work on a warm day with her blouse top open and revealing her cleavage. Dulcima fends him off by creating a fictitious boyfriend, 'Albert',
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Next morning, Dulcima sees Ashby come into the farmyard through her bedroom window. Going downstairs, the sight of the ruined wedding dress and a wedding ring in a box move her to tears. There is no sign of Parker. Joining Ashby outside, she tearfully tells him she cannot go with him as she is too
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was announced as part of his initial slate of productions with John Mills and Frank
Nesbitt attached from the beginning. Nesbitt had directed a number of documentaries, written scripts, directed two dramatic features, and worked as an assistant director but this was his first important feature as
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Later, on an impulse, Parker rushes into town as the shops are closing for the day, and buys a wedding dress for
Dulcima and puts it into a gift box. But when he invites Dulcima to see what he has for her, she tells him she is going out to visit her family. Suspicious because she is dressed up in
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Out walking one day, Dulcima encounters Ashby, a young gamekeeper who resembles her fantasy boyfriend 'Albert'. He asks her to pass on his request to enter Parker's land when his pheasants stray there, but she never does, and when Parker later sees him on his farm property as he tries to round up
236:
Parker tries to spy on
Dulcima as she bathes, and invites her to join him for a beer in the parlour, but she excuses herself. While house cleaning, she discovers that Parker has a lot of cash stowed away in various hiding places, and she begins to encourage his increasingly lustful interest, from
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farming family, with a father who ill-treats her. Visiting their neighbour, Mr Parker, she finds him unconscious in the farmyard, having drunkenly fallen and cut his head. She discovers his hat is stuffed with cash, and, despite his curmudgeonly attitude, volunteers to clean and tidy his filthy,
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In town, Dulcima spots Ashby and purposely gets the same bus home as he does and they exchange glances. Getting off the bus at the same stop, they chat as they walk along the track which leads to both of their dwellings, and he picks some wild flowers and gives them to her.
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Bryan Forbes later wrote "Frank was another young director starting out on a career and again I felt he showed great promise in his handling of this melodramatic, bucolic tale, shot entirely on location. But as with
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Showing off, Parker introduces
Dulcima to his shady dealings at the local livestock auction. As her employment continues, he neglects to pay her, but she keeps a careful tally of what he owes her.
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said "the script swerves uncertainly between womenâs mag sentimentalism and brooding tragedy, and the prettiness of the locations does much to dissipate both moods."
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time to time reminding him he owes her wages, but he always deflects her reminders. Eventually, she shares his bed, but she continues to call him 'Mr Parker'.
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The film was the
British entry at the Berlin Film Festival in June 1971 where it was reviewed by Daily Telegraph's movie critic, who felt Mills was miscast.
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where we identify with the girl? And itâs not as though EMI had that much competition for story material in 1969 â were there no other scripts available?"
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Review: ARTS: Stage presence: For nearly 30 years Nica Burns has run the
Edinburgh festival comedy awards -Dickson, Andrew. The Guardian 27 Aug 2011: 14.
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With Fatal
Results: THE NATURE OF LOVE. By H. E. Bates. 217 pp. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown. $ 3.50. By JAMES STERN. New York Times 23 May 1954: BR4.
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on a hair-do, fashionable clothes, make-up and shoes. Parker is impressed by her transformation and begins to lessen his miserliness.
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405:" which was "competently, if boringly made." It was eventually released in British cinemas in April 1972. Reviewing it again the
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was appointed head of production at EMI Films. He read a copy of the script and asked John Mills to stay and Nesbitt to direct.
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it was a âsmall target filmâ i.e. where everything has to come off for it to work (script, casting, handling). Also, like
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worried about Parker. Ashby says "You'd better stay then", just before Parker shoots him dead from an attic window.
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Filming started in June 1970. The bulk of the movie was shot on location on a farm, over the summer in and around
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Later, responding to Ashby's invitation, Dulcima goes to Ashby's cottage, and they have tea together.
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as Ashby the gamekeeper and as the male model in a knitting pattern advertisement
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In the Picture Sight and Sound; London Vol. 38, Iss. 4, (Fall 1969): 181.
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778:"Cold Streaks: The Studio Stewardship of Bryan Forbes at EMI"
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as Symes, Parker's partner-in-crime at the livestock auction
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Dulcima Gaskain is the eldest daughter of a large, poor
213:: a farmer, his housekeeper and the handsome neighbour.
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inspired by a male model she has seen in a magazine.
658:"Lucky to have bridged the age gap, says John Mills"
205:directed by Frank Nesbitt. It was entered into the
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374:in Gloucestershire. Shooting was plagued by rain.
703:"'Dulcima' unlikely to raise a riot in Berlin"
563:"British finance backs plans for 15 new films"
256:which he is unaware she already knows about.
600:"The film man who refused to get the jitters"
241:some of his birds, he shows his displeasure.
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409:called it "an entirely honorable failure."
329:which was published in the 1954 collection
944:Films scored by Johnny Douglas (conductor)
644:EMI Films and the Limits of British Cinema
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585:The Kensington News and West London Times
447:really needed was a French treatment by
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207:21st Berlin International Film Festival
646:. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. 43â44.
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810:. Collins & Brown. p. 127.
561:Day-Lewis, Sean (13 August 1969).
16:1971 British film by Frank Nesbitt
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914:Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios
776:Vagg, Stephen (10 October 2021).
598:Walker, Alexander (26 May 1970).
739:Gibbs, Patrick (21 April 1972).
471:adapted the show for the stage.
701:Gibss, Patrick (30 June 1971).
741:"...and to be a farmer's girl"
209:. The story revolves around a
1:
939:Films shot in Gloucestershire
720:Roud, Richard (6 July 1971).
399:called it "a kind of reverse
336:The Canadian television film
954:1970s English-language films
934:Films set in Gloucestershire
929:Films based on short fiction
664:. 18 August 1970. p. 6.
321:The story was taken from a
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587:. 26 June 1970. p. 2.
581:"Dulcima with Carol White"
541:. 4 June 1971. p. 16.
521:"Television highlights".
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804:Tanitch, Robert (1993).
765:. July 1972. p. 65.
439:White later wrote that
402:Lady Chatterley's Lover
226:chicken-ridden house.
924:Films about infidelity
840:. New English Library.
687:A Divided Life:Memoirs
684:Forbes, Bryan (1993).
834:White, Carol (1982).
389:And Soon the Darkness
722:"Up the Berlin wall"
642:Moody, Paul (2018).
451:and a director like
325:of the same name by
959:1970s British films
919:Films about farmers
909:British drama films
745:The Daily Telegraph
707:The Daily Telegraph
567:The Daily Telegraph
537:"Success formula".
300:as Dulcima's mother
294:as Dulcima's father
331:The Nature of Love
276:as Dulcima Gaskain
201:is a 1971 British
71:John L. Hargreaves
662:Lincolnshire Echo
527:, 8 October 1969.
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625:. Retrieved
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170:Running time
147:Release date
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794:White p 241
674:White p 224
627:23 February
327:H. E. Bates
317:Development
310:Cyril Cross
292:Bernard Lee
274:Carol White
82:Carol White
68:Produced by
62:H. E. Bates
41:Directed by
35:Film poster
899:1971 films
894:1972 films
888:Categories
807:John Mills
498:13 January
475:References
469:Nica Burns
362:Production
358:director.
280:John Mills
203:drama film
174:98 minutes
123:Production
86:John Mills
49:Written by
489:"Dulcima"
381:Reception
349:In 1969,
312:as Harris
131:EMI Films
102:Edited by
60:story by
467:In 1982
187:Language
112:Music by
96:Tony Imi
78:Starring
57:Based on
875:Dulcima
869:Dulcima
863:Dulcima
853:Dulcima
782:Filmink
459:fame."
445:Dulcima
441:Dulcima
433:Hoffman
429:Hoffman
425:Hoffman
423:, like
421:Dulcima
417:Filmink
372:Tetbury
355:Dulcima
344:Ontario
339:Dulcima
323:novella
198:Dulcima
190:English
179:Country
158:1972-04
156: (
141:MGM-EMI
125:company
24:Dulcima
871:at BFI
879:TCMDB
828:Notes
858:IMDb
629:2017
500:2017
370:and
268:Cast
217:Plot
877:at
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