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I Was Happy Here

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I Was Happy Here
Directed byDesmond Davis
Screenplay byEdna O'Brien
Desmond Davis
Based onstory A Woman by the Seaside by Edna O'Brien
Starring
CinematographyManny Wynn
Edited byBrian Smedley-Aston
Music byJohn Addison
Production
companies
Partisan Productions
The Rank Organisation
Distributed byRank Organisation
Release date
  • July 1966 (1966-07) (UK)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£167,779[1][2]

I Was Happy Here (U.S. title: Time Lost and Time Remembered) is a 1966 British drama film directed by Desmond Davis. The film won three awards at the 1966 San Sebastián International Film Festival.[3][4]

Plot

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Cass follows the bright lights to London, but is quickly disillusioned. She meets (and marries) Doctor Langdon, but soon realises her desire to return to her home by the sea, and her first love, Colin.

Cast

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Production

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The film was the first in a series of co production between the NFFC and Rank. It was originally called Passage of Love.[5]

Filming

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Filming began in June 1965 with a six-week shoot in County Clare, Ireland, followed by three weeks in London and another week in Ireland.[6]

The movie was filmed in Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland and Twickenham Studios, London, England.[7]

Reception

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The film received some supportive reviews but was a box office disappointment and lost money.[8]

Critical reception

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Allmovie noted "a softly beautiful, hauntingly poetic little film, a fragile piece of filmmaking that in other hands could come off as either unbearably precious or pretentious. Fortunately, Time is shepherded by Desmond Davis, who handles the material with just the right degree of sensitivity;"[9] however, Time Out called it "A horribly pretentious and sentimental film which still manages to retain a degree of emotional power, with moments of real intensity and conviction...The film is certainly much better than Davis' earlier Irish story The Girl with Green Eyes (also adapted from Edna O'Brien), but it's dogged by the awful tricks of overemphasis which he seems to have learned from his patron Tony Richardson";[10] while TV Guide thought it, "Slow in pace, with beautiful photography and fine acting, this is a well-told tale of disenchantment and resignation."[11]

Notes

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  • Petrie, Duncan James (2016). "Resisting Hollywood Dominance in Sixties British Cinema : The NFFC/Rank Joint Financing Initiative" (PDF). Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.

References

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  1. ^ Petrie p 10
  2. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360 gives figure as £169,200
  3. ^ "I Was Happy Here" – via www.imdb.com.
  4. ^ "Time Lost and Time Remembered (1966) - Desmond Davis - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  5. ^ Petrie p 6-7
  6. ^ Petrie p 9
  7. ^ "I was Happy Here". Irish Film London. Archived from the original on 28 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  8. ^ Petrie p 11-12
  9. ^ "Time Lost and Time Remembered (1966) - Desmond Davis - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  10. ^ "I Was Happy Here".
  11. ^ "Time Lost And Time Remembered". TVGuide.com.
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