Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Running time: 126 minutes
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
“Susan Ashwood (Irene Dunne) lost her husband to one war. Will she lose her son to another? Radiating elegance and warmth, Dunne gives ‘one of her finest performances’ (The Movie Guide) in this heartfelt romantic drama as an American who becomes the bride of a handsome British aristocrat (Alan Marshal), only to see him march off to the Great War and never return. Years later, England plunges into World War II and the past threatens to repeat itself when Susan’s son (Peter Lawford) enlists to fight the Nazis. A Who’s Who of ‘40s stars from Van Johnson to Elizabeth Taylor (just before her breakthrough role in National Velvet) lend sterling support to an inspiring story of one woman braving the tragedy of war.” [From the DVD]
Cast
Susan Ashwood: Irene Dunne
Sir John Ashwood: Alan Marshal
Hiram Porter Dunn: Frank Morgan
John Ashwood II (as a boy): Roddy McDowall
Nanny: Dame May Whitty
Colonel: C. Aubrey Smith
Lady Jean Ashwood: Gladys Cooper
John Askwood II (age twenty-four): Peter Lawford
Sam Bennett: Van Johnson
Reggie: John Warburton
Rosamund: Jill Esmond
Gwennie: Brenda Forbes
Mrs. Bland: Norma Varden
Betsy (age ten): Elizabeth Taylor
Betsy (age eighteen): June Lockhart
Farmer Kenney: Charles Irwin
Mrs. Kenney: Jean Prescott
American Soldier: Tom Drake
Mrs. Bancroft: Isobel Elsom
Major Bancroft: Edmund Breon
Major Loring: Miles Mander
Miss Lambert: Ann Curzon
Gerhard: Steven Muller
Dietrich: Norbert Muller
Helen: Molly Lamont
The Vicar: Lumsden Hare
Benson: Arthur Shields
Plump Lady in Boarding House: Doris Lloyd
Immigration Officer: Matthew Boulton
Woman on Train: Ethel Griffies
Footman: Herbert Evans
Duke of Waverly: Keith Hitchcock
Duchess: Vera Graaff
Miller: Anita Bolster
Skipper: Ian Wolfe
Billings: Alec Craig
Jennings: Clyde Cooke
Crew
Director: Clarence Brown
Producer: Sidney Franklin
Screenwriters: Claudine West, Jan Lustig, and George Froeschel
Based on the Poem “The White Cliffs” by: Alice Duer Miller
Cinematographer: George Folsey
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Special Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie and Warren Newcombe
Musical Score: Herbert Stothart
Editor: Robert J. Kern
Did You Know?
As with Jane Eyre, Elizabeth’s performance as Betsy Kenney, the ten year old daughter of a tenant farmer, was uncredited, and would later often be cut entirely from television broadcasts.
In the film, June Lockhart and Peter Lawford appear as the grown up versions of Elizabeth and Roddy’s characters, Betsy Kenney and John Ashwood II. The following year, in Son of Lassie, Lockhart and Lawford would star as the grown up Priscilla and Joe, roles Elizabeth and Roddy originated in Lassie Come Home.