Made in 1937 but having it released held back for several years.
It would be hard to discern from this movie. The male lead Laurence Olivier would be regarded as one of the greatest actors on stage and a ten time Oscar nominee for acting. That the female lead Vivien Leigh will be a two time Oscar winner.
It goes to show in Olivier's case just how much he bucked up his screen acting skills. By 1939 he was in Hollywood making Wuthering Heights.
In 21 Days, Olivier plays Larry, a roguish brother of a barrister Keith Durrant (Leslie Banks) who is about to be appointed as a judge.
Larry has been involved with his lover Wanda (Vivien Leigh.) However her estranged husband Henry shows up demanding money and Larry accidentally kills him in self defence after a struggle.
Larry stows Henry's dead body an abandoned archway at night. The police arrest a former priest who has fallen on hard times who is sent to trial for murder.
When Keith is consulted by his brother, he tells Larry to keep quiet and leave the country.
The guilt of an innocent man taking the fall for him is too much to bear for Larry. He plans to spend 21 idyllic days with Wanda and then hand himself in.
21 Days is a fairly incoherent story. A part of the last segment is spent with Larry and Wanda in a fairground. The acting is somewhat weak as is the production standards. The cop out ending makes me question just how it managed to get past the Hays code in the USA.
It is better seen as a curiosity and the development of two of its stars in the early days of their screen careers.
It would be hard to discern from this movie. The male lead Laurence Olivier would be regarded as one of the greatest actors on stage and a ten time Oscar nominee for acting. That the female lead Vivien Leigh will be a two time Oscar winner.
It goes to show in Olivier's case just how much he bucked up his screen acting skills. By 1939 he was in Hollywood making Wuthering Heights.
In 21 Days, Olivier plays Larry, a roguish brother of a barrister Keith Durrant (Leslie Banks) who is about to be appointed as a judge.
Larry has been involved with his lover Wanda (Vivien Leigh.) However her estranged husband Henry shows up demanding money and Larry accidentally kills him in self defence after a struggle.
Larry stows Henry's dead body an abandoned archway at night. The police arrest a former priest who has fallen on hard times who is sent to trial for murder.
When Keith is consulted by his brother, he tells Larry to keep quiet and leave the country.
The guilt of an innocent man taking the fall for him is too much to bear for Larry. He plans to spend 21 idyllic days with Wanda and then hand himself in.
21 Days is a fairly incoherent story. A part of the last segment is spent with Larry and Wanda in a fairground. The acting is somewhat weak as is the production standards. The cop out ending makes me question just how it managed to get past the Hays code in the USA.
It is better seen as a curiosity and the development of two of its stars in the early days of their screen careers.