films

[jonika]

Can anyone tell me if a film titled Britannia Mews made in 1949 starring Maureen O'hara is available on Video or has it been on TV ?

[dotjhawkes]

Possibly the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) channel have it in their archive, they will probably show it occasionally. It does not appear to be in video or DVD at the moment

When Maureen O'Hara was going through the process of applying for American citizenship[, there was great controversy over he refusal to forswear allegiance to Great Britain, as in her application papers, where she had written she was Irish, the officer had crossed it out and put English, after passing the written exam, Maureen was then asked to forswear her allegiance to Great Britain and she refused, saying she could not forswear an allegiance she did not have. Maureen was immediately taken before a judge and after checks with Washington DC was ruled to be a British Citizen, fighting back, she told the judge, how can you take away from my children and my grandchildren the right to boast about their famous IRISH grandmother! The judge changed his ruling and it was the first time History that the United States had recognised an Irish person as being Irish. Just a short time later Maureen flew to England to film Britannia Mews and was worried her rejection of being British may have offended Britain, but it hadn't and she was treated very well. In her memoirs she recalls how Sybil Thorndike stole the movie! Whilst she was filming that movie in London, her friend and later husband, Charlie Blair, a pilot with Pan Am, used to stop over in London on his flights and bring her steaks to dine on in post-war meat deprived London.