Pawnie
In The Vortex, Coward explores the darker side of the cocktail party set. Emotional blackmail, drug abuse and shattered relationships are minutely observed in this disturbing, early piece from a playwright whose sharp eye was usually more turned towards the light.
Story
Bickering married performers agree to star in a "Mr. and Mrs." TV show. Director Muriel Box's 1956 British comedy also stars Muriel Pavlow, Ian Carmichael, Maurice Denham and Richard Wattis.
Screenplay
The suburban peace of the Bentley household is shattered when John Bentley is informed by his wife Stella that their two married daughters, Pat and Corrine are in trouble and need funds to come home and bring their husbands, Peter, a penniless Parisian artist and Barnaby, a Texas cowboy, with them. And the youngest daughter, Gwen, has tricked an American singer, Bobby Denver, into visiting them on the pretext that it is the home of a noted British film magnate. When all the women in the household --- including the maid --- fall for the singer's charms, Bentley consults a crackpot psychiatrist, Dr. Schneider, who almost succeeds in ousting, not the singer, but Bentley's wife, with his advice to Bentley to make her jealous by living it up with Pearl, a showgirl recruited for the purpose.
Additional Music
New Faces was a musical revue with songs and comedy skits tied together by a quirky plot. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped jump start the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Carol Lawrence, performer/writer Mel Brooks (as Melvin Brooks), and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. The film was basically a reproduction of the stage revue with a thin plot added. The plot involved a producer and performer (Ronny Graham) in financial trouble and is trying to stave off an angry creditor long enough to open his show. A wealthy Texan offers to help out, on the condition that his daughter be in the show.
Theatre Play
The owner of a Scottish castle discovers that it is haunted by the spirit of a beautiful woman. He decides to use the ghost as a tourist attraction for his castle
Screenplay
The owner of a Scottish castle discovers that it is haunted by the spirit of a beautiful woman. He decides to use the ghost as a tourist attraction for his castle
