A striking digital Technicolor restoration brings Ealing Films’ unique costume romance to vivid life. The tragedy of Princess Sophie Dorothea has a fine cast: Stewart Granger, Françoise Rosay, Frederick Valk, Peter Bull, Anthony Quayle, Michael Gough, Megs Jenkins, Miles Malleson, Guy Rolfe — plus superb work from ‘the voice’ Joan Greenwood, and a performance by Flora Robson that betters anything she did in Hollywood. The artful production is even stronger: Douglas Slocombe’s cinematography is as creative as that in Powell & Pressburger’s pictures.

Saraband for Dead Lovers
Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1948 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 96 min. / Saraband / Street Date August 19, 2025 / available from Amazon US / 30.99
Starring: Stewart Granger, Joan Greenwood, Flora Robson, Françoise Rosay, Frederick Valk, Peter Bull, Anthony Quayle, Michael Gough, Megs Jenkins, Jill Balcon, David Horne, Miles Malleson, Guy Rolfe, Janet Howe, John Gregson, Barbara Murray, Peter Arne.
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Production Designer: Michael Relph
Art Directors: William Kellner, Jim Morahan
Film Editor: Michael Truman
Costume designer: Anthony Mendleson
Music Composer: Alan Rawsthorne
Screenplay by John Dighton, Alexander Mackendrick collaborator Angus McPhail from the novel by Helen Simpson
Produced by Michael Balcon, Michael Relph
Directed by Basil Dearden

Sometimes it feels like we’re apologizing for bloated 100+ million dollar productions with no ‘artful’ ambitions, just by not discriminating against them. Then along comes some older picture in which a studio fully invested, that does show an enormous amount of ambition to produce a great and lasting entertainment. Ealing Films broke the piggy bank for their 1948 costume epic Saraband for Dead Lovers, in 3-Strip Technicolor with location filming in Prague.

Saraband is one of those pictures frequently excerpted for its aggressive visuals and striking editing. A dazzling 4K restoration brings its images back up to the Technicolor standard. Note: a 4K UHD disc is being released separately for this title; our review copy is a Blu-ray check disc.

American taste and the reluctance of distributors kept plenty of terrific Brit films from circulating widely in the States. Even some great shows by Carol Reed, David Lean and Powell & Pressburger ‘didn’t open’ here, and were consigned to shorter runs in big-city art houses. Ealing Studios wanted to crack the American market in a big way, and would eventually find international success with its Alec Guinness comedies. Saraband for Dead Lovers probably found its first U.S. audience on 1950s TV — in black & white, with the export title reduced to just Saraband. Neither title sounds inviting for a U.S. marquee.

Compared to some other English companies, Ealing’s gave its filmmakers strong opportunities for personal expression, with a minimum of compromise. Basil Dearden and Michael Relph were frequent non-exclusive collaborators, and later on one of England’s most prolific and successful producing teams, from 1945’s  Dead of Night all the way to the 1970s. Saraband for Dead Lovers was to be Ealing’s first film in Technicolor and the studio gave the pair carte blanche to make a quality classic. Dearden directed and Relph designed the production and served as a hands-on producer. The cast they worked with could not be bettered, even if it lacked the star power to make the film more marketable in America.

The author is Helen Simpson, who wrote two novels filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and helped write another. The movie will surprise viewers expecting an American costume drama from the 17th century, or that identify star Stewart Granger only with swashbucklers. The grand production has just a single swordfight, and it’s anything but glamorous. The real subject is the oppressive power of court politics. We stick closely with the terrible experiences of a girl-princess, one who rebels against the strait-jacket of her pre-ordained role in the system of overlapping houses of royalty.

1682. Romance means little in the ‘Electorate of Hanover,’ a petty German state. The Electress Sophia (Françoise Rosay) wishes to nominate Prince George Louis (Peter Bull) to be the next King of England … a crafty ‘succession’ scheme that will take some effort. Helping to strategize is the Countess Clara Platen (Flora Robson), no noble but a master manipulator. Platen has convinced The Electress that two things must happen for George to win the throne. The first is to get the Prince to produce male heirs. The second is to make a token military gesture of loyalty and solidarity to England … fight a small war somewhere, on England’s behalf.

Platen lines up Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle to be George’s bride. She’s all of sixteen, and it breaks her heart when her engagement to a man she likes is neutralized. The Electress doesn’t think Dorothea is worthy to become a Hanover, but the girl fulfills her duty and marries the unpleasant George. She eventually gives The Prince two children, one of them a boy.

The second setup requires some finagling. Platen takes a lover in the Swedish Count Philip Konigsmark (Stewart Granger), a gambler and mercenary who stays with her as a matter of convenience. She then maneuvers Philip into spearheading a Hanover incursion against a Turkish Sultante hostile to England. Prince George has no intention of fighting and prefers to stay home with his mistresses. He instead sends his younger brother Charles (Michael Gough) to lead Hanover’s forces. Philip’s hand is forced by his gambling losses and Platen’s carrot-stick enticements. He must basically baby-sit Charles in a ‘political’ war.

But before that can happen, Dorothea and Philip meet and begin an extremely chaste, repressed romantic relationship. Her children have been taken away from her and her husband hates her. Philip is attracted to Dorothea’s virtue and vulnerability in the oppressive Hanover court. They share exactly one kiss — it’s a romance mainly of longing looks. The jealous Clara Platen intuits what’s going on — but makes it just another link in her scheme to win George the English throne.

Saraband for Dead Lovers has been called a near-perfect historical romance, one un-tainted by phony Hollywood sentiment. Court politics is cold and ruthless. Our feelings for Dorothea and Philip grow, without a lot of note-passing or bodice clutching. This isn’t the jolly world of Errol Flynn at court. Dorothea’s personal maid can’t help her, and Philip has no comic-relief sidekick to run interference on his behalf.

The ‘villains’ are fully three-dimensional. Familiar fine character actor Peter Bull  →  does not make Prince George into a caricature — he’s just an obtuse tyrant who wants his way, who considers Dorothea just another servant, with a few more privileges. Françoise Rosay’s Sophie is a finely-tuned battle ax, laying down the law for unruly pawn-brides with notions of personal freedom. The scary part is that Sophie is genuinely supportive … yet unyielding and unforgiving.

We’ve always loved Flora Robson,  ↓  even when she was tapped time and again to play an imperious queen with a warm side. Robson’s Clara Platen survives by being useful to the powers above her. With no relations of her own, all she can do is smooth the way for royal desires, and hope that someone throws her a bone when it’s all done. The scary thing is keeping the schemes under control. A scandal in the Hanover Court could undo Prince George’s chances for the crown.

But Platen also allows herself human weaknesses. She desperately needs to feel younger than she is, and depends on Philip Konigsmark to give her that thrill. But not even he will fully cooperate with her. This is immediately our favorite of Flora Robson’s films — her scenes trying to hold on to Philip pull out the stops, and play beautifully. We’re told that much of the dialogue is direct from the book — these actors must have cherished these meaty roles and the sharp speeches.

They say art direction can’t float a movie on its own, but the way this film looks and moves is very special. Michael Relph and Douglas Slocome don’t fill rooms with light — unless a giant window is present, we’re usually looking at hard source light that models people and turns foreground objects into silhouettes. These people wear heavy, confining costumes at all times — dressing must be a 20 minute ordeal, even with help. Prince George plucks off his heavy wig to reveal a nearly-shaved head. When her company is commanded, Dorothea may have to sit for hours watching her Prince play cards with the Elector of Hanover (Frederick Valk), the man with the real power. She doesn’t realize how attached she is to Philip, until he leaves to fight.

Stewart Granger was just about to leap to America, along with his wife Jean Simmons, following the lead of Britain’s top stars of the 1940s, James Mason and Deborah Kerr. Gainsborough’s Phyllis Calvert tried but couldn’t make the hop stick.

The adorable Joan Greenwood charmed with her husky voice in  Tight Little Island,  Kind Hearts and Coronets,  The Man in the White Suit and  The Importance of Being Earnest. She’s normally associated with sly comedy but this picture is a full on romantic tragedy. She should have been considered a national treasure.

Making strong impressions are a couple of actors familiar from genre pictures. The stalwart Anthony Quayle  ↑  is here a court snoop, gathering information on Philip and Dorothea for Clara Platen. Our couple needed this kind of a helper on their team, to sidestep Platen’s scheming. Also making his mark is favorite Michael Gough  →  , a top stage actor in his fourth picture. Gough’s Prince Charles fits his persona perfectly — the ‘disposable’ second son reads poetry and about around with a smug smile on his face, never realizing that his command of the Hanover expeditionary force is a cynical trick. Philip feels guilty, aiding in the deception. In the film’s flashback bookend, we briefly meet the very familiar Guy Rolfe; the extras tell us that Christopher Lee almost had a part as Dorothea’s first fiancé … a scene that was cut out entirely.

Another note on Françoise Rosay,  ←  who was born in 1891 and married director Jacques Feyder — the IMDB says that she performed in the silent French classics  Les Vampires and  Crainquebille.

When noted in film books, Saraband for Dead Lovers is primarily cited for its expressive craftsmanship. It’s a visual feast, with bold colors coming at us, often in isolated parts of a darkened screen. The sets are incredibly detailed and color-designed to resemble period art. The costumes are equally impressive. The Hanover Fair is a masked public street celebration, much like that in  The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It crowns a ‘Lord of Misrule,’ a cretinous beggar played to the hilt by Miles Malleson (who else?). Dorothea attends wearing this incredible gold mesh mask that sets off her bright green eyes.

Also noted are the film’s powerful flights into cinematic expressionism. When Dorothea is wedded a thunderstorm strikes, cueing a gothic montage of rain pouring on church windows and stone gargoyles. The granite demons and religious figures in stained glass seem to be weeping. The Hanover Fair and its Gala of the Lord of Misrule is a riot of cutting to express Dorothea’s terror and panic; the scary masks crowd the camera across jolting cuts. The combo of color, a music sting and a ‘Boo!’ cut to a bizarre cyclops mask will make anyone jump. These moments are matched only by the film’s one sword battle, an ambush really, in a darkened chateu. It’s really dark in there, for once convincing us that, although we can follow what’s happening, the participants trying to kill Philip really can’t see him.

Forget happy endings with Saraband. And don’t expect sentimental compensation, either. There are no hearts and flowers, and no comeuppance for the villains. The show begins with a flashback from the deathbed of a sad royal prisoner. At no time do Hanover’s noble elite or power brokers give quarter to anyone — the only person besides our lovers that even thinks of romance is Clara Platen, and she shows her frustration in a crude gesture of brutality. No fairy tale business here, not a bit. This historically-realistc heartlessness may have turned off audiences that want their fairy tales to be reliably upbeat.

But the film’s supporters are likely to cite its ruthlessness as its best quality.

Powerhouse Indicator’s Blu-ray of Saraband for Dead Lovers is stunning in HD; the 4K encoding must look even better. Using a Studiocanal restoration and remaster, the show is genuine rediscovery. We’ve only seen it in old excerpts, when the color did not look good at all.

These two disc releases were created exclusively for the U.S. market, Region A.

This presentation jumps out with rich hues that transport us into a lost era of stone buildings and vibrant textures. The cinematography billboards the color with a style seen in few Technicolor pictures — things look hyperreal but also hyper authentic. The entire movie was digitally re-integrated from its separation masters, which were scanned independently and then combined and conformed. A restoration demo shows the kind of alignment that was performed to eliminate color fringing around objects; we can see corrections being made shot by shot.

There is a tiny bit of harshness in the film’s texture — with actors wearing base makeup, faces seem a bit robbed of detail in some shots. And the natural grain created by the superimposition of matrices produces a slight ‘swimming’ effect here and there.

Powerhouse’s disc producer Nora Mehenni has access to good items old and new. Basil Dearden’s son James contributes an excellent introductory talk with a lot of detail on the working team of Dearden and Relph, adding insightful personal remarks. Critics Matthew Sweet and Phuong Le put forward a discussion of the film’s impact and appeal, and how it fits in with the Ealing tradition, not to mention the legacy of the Gainsborough and Hammer film companies.

Two items come from a 2023 Studiocanal disc. Academic Josephine Bottig’s analysis takes the film apart on a visual and cinematic basis. Between the two new featurettes we get a great deal of useful context and history — even when the tangle of royal houses and bloodlines seems too complicated to understand. And the restoration featurette is more than a comparison item, explaining the whole process of Technicolor digital work, from the 4K scanner forward.

One odd piece of film is some B&W footage from the shoot in Prague, of extras in 17th-century uniforms lining up to board a modern trolleycar, laughing.

The fat insert booklet — reviewed in PDF form — contains helpful explanatory essays, including detailed excerpts from a book that Ealing published about the movie. Excellent filmmaking and storytelling didn’t always translate into mass popularity — but this show has always commanded respect. When older encyclopedias were tasked to name ‘important & artistic’ Brit productions, Saraband and  The Tales of Hoffman always seemed to get the nod.

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Saraband for Dead Lovers
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements:
New Featurettes:
A Sense of Loyalty James Dearden introduces his father’s work
A Strange Adventure discussion between Matthew Sweet and Phuong Le
Older Items:
A Technicolor Dance (2023) Josephine Botting’s film analysis
Restoring Saraband for Dead Lovers (2023)
The BEHP Interview with Michael Relph (1990) audio recording with the producer-director-set designer in conversation with Sidney Cole and Alan Lawson
Camera coverage of the Prague Shoot
Original storyboards plus Image gallery
80-page insert booklet with an essay by Robert Murphy and archival pieces by Basil Dearden, Michael Balcon, Michael Relph, Douglas Slocombe, contemporary critical responses, etc..
Deaf and Hearing-impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case
Reviewed: August 3, 2025
(7383sara)

Visit CineSavant’s Main Column Page
Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: cinesavant@gmail.com

Text © Copyright 2025 Glenn Erickson