Once Upon a Dream (1949 film)

The film is a comedy and a social commentary on the period and is set just after World War II.

An officer's wife has a romantic dream about her husband's man (servant) and comes to believe it is true. Meanwhile, the husband has asked his servant to help him, after the war, to suggest ways to ignite the romance he and his wife had before the war, as well as find a way to make money in a post-war economy. Misdirection and misunderstandings ensue.

It was a J. Arthur Rank presentation, a Sydney Box production and was released through General Film Distributors Ltd.

• Googie Withers as Carol Gilbert
• Griffith Jones as Jackson
• Guy Middleton as Major Gilbert
• Betty Lynne as Mlle Louise
• David Horne as Registrar
• Geoffrey Morris as Registrar's Clerk
• Raymond Lovell as Mr. Trout
• Noel Howlett as Solicitor
• Agnes Lauchlan as Aunt Agnes
• Mirren Wood as Conductress
• Hubert Gregg as Captain Williams
• Maurice Denham as Vicar
• Mona Washbourne as Vicar's Wife
• Nora Nicholson as 1st W.V.S.
• Dora Bryan as Barmaid
• Hal Osmond as Bailiff
• Arthur Denton as Janitor
• Eric Messiter as Pontefact
• Gibb McLaughlin as Pontefact
• Cecil Bevan as Wright
• Wilfred Caithness as Pontefact

Margaret Lockwood refused to do the film and was put on suspension by Rank.[2]

Ralph Thomas was head of the trailer department for the Rank Film Organisation. He had made a number of trailers for producer Sydney Box, including one for the film Miranda (1948) which Box liked. "He was particularly taken with it," said Thomas. When the original director for Once Upon a Dream fell ill, Box offered Thomas the chance to direct. It was on this film that Thomas met Box's sister Betty, who would go on to make over 20 films with Thomas.[3]

By 1953 the film earned a net revenue of £79,000.[4]

Allmovie noted, "More silly than funny, Once Upon a Dream is kept alive by the enthusiastic performances of its leading players."[5]

• Once Upon a Dream on IMDb