The Man in Grey – 1943 | 116 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The Man in Grey was a wartime crowd-puller, this costume melodrama started Gainsborough’s ‘wicked ladies’ series that made big stars of James Mason and Margaret Lockwood.

During a wartime auction, a young pilot and a peeress of the Rohan estate meet, both are interested in various items for sale. After the auction is postponed due to blackout regulations, they discover that there is some historical family connection between them. Using a series of flashbacks to Regency period London, we meet Clarissa (Phyllis Calvert), miserable in a loveless marriage to the sadistic Marquis of Rohan (James Mason), she engages former school-friend Hesther (Margaret Lockwood) as governess to her child. Hesther repays her friends kindness by becoming Rohan’s mistress, and scheming to become his wife by encouraging Clarissa’s friendship with Rokeby (Stewart Granger), an actor. The Prince Regent (Raymond Lovell), wishing to avoid a scandal persuades Clarissa not to leave Rohan; Hesther, furious her plans have been thwarted, allows Clarissa to die from a severe cold. On discovering this, Rohan becomes so enraged he thrashes Hesther to death. As the film closes we return to the wartime-era auction, the descendants of Clarissa and Rokeby leave smiling together.