The Chiltern Hundreds

The Chiltern Hundreds - 1949 | 84 mins | Comedy | B&W

The Production Team

Director: John Paddy Carstairs.
Producer: George H. Brown.
Script: William Douglas Home and Patrick Kirwan.
Cinematography: Jack Hildyard.
Editing: George Clark.
Art Direction: Ralph W. Brinton.
Makeup Department: Tony Sforzini and Vivienne Walker.
Sound Department: Desmond Dew and John W. Mitchell.
Original Music: Benjamin Frankel.

The Cast

Cecil Parker - Beecham
A.E. Matthews - Lord Lister
David Tomlinson - Lord Tony Pym
Lana Morris - Bessie Sykes
Marjorie Fielding - Lady Lister
Tom Macaulay - Cleghorn
Joyce Carey - Lady Caroline

Plot Synopsis

The Chiltern Hundreds is an original, well-paced, comedy starring David Tomlinson as young Viscount Pym, who gets army leave from his Colonel on the premise of standing as Tory candidate in his home constituency. Engaged to an American heiress June (Helen Backlin), he has no intention of standing and his only idea being to marry his wealthy fiancé before she returns to the US. But on his arrival home, he is cornered into an election campaign - and beaten by the more experienced Labour man. After losing the election his family take the news calmly, but his fiancé is mortified, and he must now devise a plan to win her back. When the worthy opponent is made a peer, Pym stands again, as a Socialist, but is beaten by Beecham, the family butler (Cecil Parker), for the Tories.