The Price of a Song

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Michael Powell, 1935

One of 23 quota quickies directed by Michael Powell between 1931 and 1936, this is a story of love and greed that pulls all the strings of the crime drama genre.

Would-be killer Arnold Grierson (Campbell Gullan) and his wife Letty (Dora Barton)

Credits

Director Production Company Story Screenplay Photography	Michael Powell Fox British Pictures Ltd. Anthony Gittins Michael Barringer Jimmy Wilson
Cast: Campbell Gullan (Arnold Grierson); Marjorie Corbett (Margaret Nevern); Eric Maturin (Nevern), Gerald Fielding (Michael Hardwick), Dora Barton (Letty Grierson); Charles Mortimer (Oliver Bloom)
67 mins, 6,003 ft, sound, black & white

Why are we so keen to find it?

Powell's long partnership with Emeric Pressburger is justly celebrated, but his formative years and output as a quota quickies director are much less well known, and deserving of re-evaluation. The quota quickies - cheap and quickly-made short features given a very limited release to meet a quota of British films set by 1927's Cinematograph Films Act - were largely ignored by critics and historians at the time and since. Recent years, though, have seen a new interest in this work, not least for what the films can reveal about filmmakers learning their craft. Powell once said of his own quickies that he always "looked on them as works of art" adding that he "took them terribly seriously", but while he was proud of some of them (1931's Two Crowded Hours, to his surprise, was a success), he admits that there were some very bad ones.

Information about the film's release is scarce, and the couple of reviews found dismissed the film as a run-of-the-mill programme filler rather than Powell's finest quota quickie hour. The Kinematograph Weekly offered a rather sneering review, suggesting the film is no more than "moderate supporting feature for the masses". More open-minded modern tastes, and the evidence of other early Powell work, might suggest that there was more to The Price of a Song than met the original reviewer's eye.

What's it about?

The most detailed synopsis comes from the film's press book:

"The Price of a Song was a man's life and a woman's happiness. Grierson, Clerk to a firm of bookmakers, forces his stepdaughter Margaret to marry Nevern, a wealthy song composer, although she is in love with Hardwick, editor of a local newspaper.

Some time after the wedding, Grierson approaches Nevern for a loan of a considerable sum of money. Nevern roughly refuses. Frustrated, Grierson plans to murder Nevern, hoping that Margaret will receive his entire estate, and schemes to establish a perfect alibi for himself. Margaret and Hardwick meet again and renew the friendship that existed between them prior to the wedding. Nevern discovers them in a café together and a quarrel ensues. Later Margaret and Hardwick decide the only course is for her to get a divorce from Nevern.

Nevern has composed a new song and Bloom, his publisher, visits his home in order to hear it. Nevern gives a rough manuscript promising to let him have a completed copy within the next few days.

Grierson goes to Nevern's house to carry out his plan. He kills Nevern as he is playing over his new song composition and makes good his escape through the front door just as Hardwick, who has come to ask Nevern to divorce Margaret, enters through the back.

Hardwick discovers the body and informs the police. They do not believe his story and suspect him of the murder.

In the meantime Grierson returns to his office and finds Stringer, an acquaintance who is part of his "perfect alibi". Stringer, however, has guessed the identity of the murderer and intends to blackmail Grierson.

At the inquest on Nevern the jury return a verdict of "Murder by person or persons unknown" but later a warrant is issued for Hardwick's arrest.

A meeting of all parties concerned takes place at Nevern's house for the reading of the will. Margaret is Nevern's sole beneficiary, much to the evident pleasure of Grierson.

While the solicitor is reading over the details, Grierson makes a fatal slip which brings the story to its amazing conclusion."

Last seen?

The film was reviewed for traders in Kinematograph Weekly of 30 May 1935. No release date had been fixed then, although the film was reviewed again in Picturegoer on 5 October 1935. The film usually features in Powell's filmographies but because of its disappearance it hasn't been the subject of discussion, research or analysis. As with many quota quickies, the negatives and copies probably disappeared soon after the end of the film's theatrical run.

Does anything survive?

The BFI National Archive holds a press book containing a few stills from the film: Grierson holding a gun, Nevern dead on his piano and Hardwick embracing Margaret. The press book's front page has a picture of Hardwick and Margaret illustrating domestic bliss, contrasting with the last page's impression of a chilling cold-blooded murder through large hands closing down on a man playing the piano. More stills are held in the BFI stills collection.

Reviews

Kinematograph Weekly, (30 May 1935) acknowledged the plot's 'ingenuity', but complained that "clumsy treatment and uninspired acting take the edge off the suspense to the detriment of the entertainment as a whole."

Sonia Genaitay, Curator (Fiction), BFI National Archive

You can find more about Michael Powell's work - including entries on each of his surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view several early Powell titles at the BFI Mediatheques.