Evensong – 1934 | 87 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Slow but poignant musical adapted from the novel by Beverly Nichols, and starring Evelyn Laye. The film is a thinly disguised biography of the great Australian soprano Nellie Melba. Alec Guinness makes his screen debut as a soldier in the audience at a concert.

Irish girl, Maggie (Evelyn Laye), elopes to Paris with young musician (Emlyn Williams), and is moulded into a top opera singer by domineering impresario Kober (Fritz Kortner), who assigns her the new stage name of Irela. As Irela rises to fame, she becomes involved in a tempestuous affair with Archduke Theodore (Carl Esmond), but loses him due to Kober forbidding her the opportunity to seek out romance. Irela refuses to concede she is a waning prima donna and finally collapses in her dingy dressing room, dying, as the young star that supplanted her, Baba L’Etoile (Conchita Supervia), sings on stage.