The Beggar's Opera (Original title)

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Dates: 1953 (Copyright), 05 October 1953 (Release)

Country: United Kingdom

Director: Peter Brook

Synopsis: Adaptation of the comic operetta by John Gay. A notorious highway man is betrayed by tavern doxies in the pay of his wife's family, but is reprieved at the last moment.

Genres: Musical, Period drama

Subjects: Opera, 18th century

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Releases
Date: 1953Country: United KingdomRelease type: unknownFormat: 35mm Film - Colour - Technicolor - SoundRuntime: 94 mins Length: 8500 FeetDialogue (original): English

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©: Imperadio Pictures Limited, Produced by: Laurence Olivier, Produced by: Herbert Wilcox, Associate Producer: Eric Goodhead, Production Manager: J.D. Wilcox, Production Assistant: John Brabourne, Assistant Director: Frank Hollands, Jack Causey, 2nd Assistant Director: Geoffrey Helman, Harold Buck, 3rd Assistant Director: John Draper, Continuity: Elaine Schreyeck, Casting: Patricia Smith, Screenplay by: Denis Cannan, Additional Dialogue and Lyrics: Christopher Fry, [Original Play] By: John Gay, Photographed by: Guy Green, Colour Consultant: Joan Bridge, Camera Operator: Austin Dempster, Camera Operator: Denys Coop, Camera Operator: Arthur Ibbetson, Camera Operator: Herbert Salisbury, Focus Puller: Ken Gray, Camera Assistant: Godfrey Godar, Camera Assistant: Mike Brandt, Camera Assistant: Dennis Fox, Camera Assistant: Wally Fairweather, Stills: James Swarbrick, Special Effects: Wally Veevers, Special Effects: George Samuels, Supervising Editor: Reginald Beck, Assembly Cutter: Basil Warren, 1st Assistant Editor: Tony Lowen, 2nd Assistant Editor: Ronald Freeman, 2nd Assistant Editor: Tony Williams, Derek Fairhead, Art Director: William C. Andrews, Assistant Art Director: Albert Witherick, Opera Sets and Costumes: Georges Wakhevitch, Set Dresser: Leonard Townsend, Draughtsman: Frank Willson, Scene Artist: A. Van Montagu, Assistant Dress Designer: Bernard Sarron, Wardrobe Supervisor: Maude Churchill, Make-up: Tony Sforzini, Hairdressing: Joyce Wood, Colour by: Technicolor, Music Arranged and Composed by: Arthur Bliss, Sir Arthur Bliss's Score Conducted by: Muir Mathieson, Repetiteur: William Blezard, Dance Arrangements: Frank Staff, Sound Camera Operator: James Dooley, Sound Assistant: Alan Blay, Jack Davis, Sound Recordist: Peter Handford, Sound Recordist: Red Law, Boom Operator: Bill Cook, Boom Assistant: Denis Kavanagh, Dubbing Editor: Gerry Hambling, Sound System: Western Electric Recording, Produced at: Shepperton Studios

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Hugh Griffith (The Beggar), George Rose (1st turnkey), Stuart Burge (1st prisoner), Denis Cannan (The Footman), Cyril Conway (2nd prisoner), Gerald Lawson (3rd prisoner), Eileen Harvey (young female traveller), Dorothy Tutin (Polly Peachum), Adele Leigh (Polly Peachum (singing voice)), George Devine (Peachum), Bruce Boyle (Peachum (singing voice)), Mary Clare (Mrs. Peachum), Edith Coates (Mrs. Peachum (singing voice)), Edward Pryor (Filch), Athene Seyler (Mrs. Trapes), Joan Cross (Mrs. Trapes (singing voice)), Stanley Holloway (Lockit), Daphne Anderson (Lucy Lockit), Jennifer Vyvyan (Lucy Lockit (singing voice)), Eric Pohlmann (innkeeper), Edith Coates (Mrs. Coaxer), Yvonne Furneaux (Jenny Diver), Kenneth Williams (Jack the pot boy), Sandra Dorne (Sukey Tawdrey), Laurence Naismith (Matt of the Mint), Max Brent (a drunkard), Mercy Haystead (Dolly Trull), Patricia Raine (Mrs. Slammekin), Jocelyn James (Molly Brazen), Isabel George (Mrs. Vixen), Helen Christie (Betty Doxey), John Kidd (2nd turnkey), H.C. Walton (3rd turnkey), Eugene Leahy (4th turnkey), Edgar Norfolk (5th turnkey), Oliver Hunter (1st chairman), John Baker (2nd chairman), Madge Brindley (gin seller), Felix Felton (governor), Denis Cannan (John the footman), Margot Grahame (the actress), Tamba Alleney (negro page), Terence Greenidge (chaplain), Billy Wells (hangman), Laurence Olivier (Captain MacHeath), John Cameron (singing voice), Jennifer Vyvyan, Bruce Boyce, Edith Coates, Adele Leigh (Singing Voice), Alanna Boyce (urchin)

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