Queen Mary filmed at Queen Anne?

[OceanLiner]

My wife and I just finished watching the 1936 film “Libeled Lady”, and much to my surprise there is an extended ocean liner segment in the film with the following real life shots: front view of the bow at port, side view while at port, aerial view while at sea. (The aerial view shows a three funneled ship under full steam.)

The name of the ship in the movie is Queen Ann(e), and later reference is made to taking the “Victoria” from New York to London.

Does anyone know if the Queen Mary was the stand-in for the Queen Ann(e), or anything else about this movie liner?

BTW: the movie was great fun.

 

(Sorry about the thread typo, should be "Queen Mary filmed AS Queen Anne?"

[534]

I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it was Mary or not. Her maiden voyage was in May 1936 so it easily could have been her. I did see the list of cast members, WOW! what a cast, even Carole's ex-hubby :D

Betsy

[guernseyguy]

Its a great film - and a classic MGM mid-30s product - the trailer does not show the ship - so we can't tell from that whether it was the Queen Mary - but it was released in October 1936, so there is a very good chance it was.....

 

http://www.tcm.com/video/videoPlayer/?cid=16811&titleId=2363

 

Peter

[bepsf]

Likely was the Mary - but if not, then could have been Berengaria or Majestic...

[Ken_W]

From the forum "Cruise Discussion Topics" -->"Whatever Happened to..." http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=87885&page=2 here on Cruise Critic is a post from October, 2005 re: Libeled Lady

 

There is another movie titled Libeled Lady with an ocean liner segment. There's no attempt at continuity whatsoever. One scene has the gangway with something that looks like Cunard White Star's Aquitania, another segment has an arial shot of the Normandie.

 

There was, on the old CC board, a post that was lost; it was a long, long list of Hollywood and European films that either featured stock shots or contemporary film of many liners and cargo ships. Hollywood was not that into location shooting as the studio environment was easier to control, so it was more common to see stock shots from newsreels edited into feaure films, but not always.

[OceanLiner]

I rewatched the entire ocean segment and here are my thoughts:

 

1) All the embarkation and shipboard scenes appear to be on soundstages. The actors and an actual ship do not seem to ever be together.

 

2) The name of the line is painted on the gangplank, "Sterling Line". You can also see it on the lapel of a room stewart.

 

3) Mr. Powell is informed that drinks will be served at 7:30 in the Grill Room bar!

 

4) The ship is named the SS Queen Anne - it's clearly painted on a life boat.

 

5) Mr. Powell is going to take "the Victoria" back to London from New York.

 

6) The real liner footage of the ship at port does not have a ship name, and looks to be cropped in order to miss the name.

 

7) The footage of the liner at sea just may indeed be the Normandie, it looks identical to other photos.

 

All of this has been very fun, and you have to wonder as to why the studio wouldn't have just used an actual line. Perhaps Cunard wanted a fee, or maybe it was just cheaper to create a line and use stock footage. It sure is exciting, and startling, to hear the names of Anne and Victoria on ocean liners! And what great studio imagination to come up with this whole segment in 1936.

[guernseyguy]

1) All the embarkation and shipboard scenes appear to be on soundstages. The actors and an actual ship do not seem to ever be together.

 

Whatever the liner we may be confident that the stars never set foot outside California - almost all of it would have been shot at MGM's Culver City lot - with IMDB suggesting some was shot at Sonora.

 

Peter