{{short description|1948 film}} {{italic title}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Look Before You Love | image = Look_Before_You_Love_(1948_film).jpg | caption = | director = [[Harold Huth]] | producer = [[John Corfield]]<br>[[Harold Huth]] | screenplay = [[Reginald Long]] | story = ''I Know You'' by [[Ketti Frings]] | narrator = | starring = [[Margaret Lockwood]]<br> [[Griffith Jones (actor)|Griffith Jones]]<br>[[Norman Wooland]] | music = [[Bretton Byrd]] | cinematography = [[Harry Waxman]] | editing = [[John D. Guthridge]] | studio = Burnham Productions | distributor = [[General Film Distributors]] {{small|(UK)}}<br>Eagle Lion (US) | released = {{Film date|df=y|1948|12|07|UK}}<br>1950 (US) | runtime = 96 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English }} '''''Look Before You Love''''' is a 1948 British [[drama film]] directed by [[Harold Huth]] and starring [[Margaret Lockwood]], [[Griffith Jones (actor)|Griffith Jones]] and [[Maurice Denham]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Look Before You Love |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150220604 |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090113221610/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/267235 BFI.org]</ref> The screenplay was by [[Reginald Long]] based on the story ''I Know You'' by [[Ketti Frings]].
==Plot summary== A woman working in the British Embassy in Brazil falls in love and marries a man, but soon discovers him to be a drunken wastrel tied up with serious crime. He tries to get her to marry a dying millionaire so he can remarry her when she becomes a rich widow.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47813026 |title=LOOK BEFORE YOU LOVE |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |volume=17 |issue=10 |date=13 August 1949 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=46 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Cast== * [[Margaret Lockwood]] as Ann Markham * [[Griffith Jones (actor)|Griffith Jones]] as Charles Kent * [[Norman Wooland]] as Ashley Morehouse * [[Phyllis Stanley]] as Bettina Colby * [[Maurice Denham]] as Fosser * [[Frederick Piper]] as Miller * [[Bruce Seton]] as Johns * [[Michael Medwin]] as Emile Garat * [[Violet Farebrother]] as dowager * [[Peggy Evans]] as typist
==Production== The film was originally known as ''I Know You'' and ''Change of Heart''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article228803702 |title=Lockwood happy in new role |newspaper=[[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]] |issue=2359 |location=Sydney |date=27 June 1948 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=31 (STUMPS) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Margaret Lockwood had been arguing with the Rank Organisation over what films she should make, and had gone on suspension for refusing ''Roses on Her Pillow'', but agreed to do this.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229043045 |title=Bing Crosby will go to England to make a film |newspaper=[[The Sun (Sydney)|The Sun]] |issue=2337 |location=Sydney |date=25 January 1948 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |page=27 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Filming started on 15 March 1948 and took place at Denham Studios under the title ''Change of Heart''.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety169-1948-02/page/n173/mode/1up?q=%22white+unicorn%22+%22margaret+lockwood%22|magazine=Variety|date=18 Feb 1948|page=54|title=London}}</ref> Star Griffith Jones recalled "We hoped for a comedy of wit, and style but it wasn't to be."<ref>Tims p 152</ref>
==Release== The film was released by [[Eagle-Lion Films|Eagle Lion]] in the US in 1950. It was released without a certificate from the [[Motion Picture Association#Production Code Administration|PCA]] because it thought the film breached it basic theme and detail.<ref>{{cite book |last=Slide |first=Anthony |url=https://archive.org/details/bannedinusabriti0000slid/page/98/mode/1up?q=%22look+before+you+love%22+%22margaret+lockwood%22 |title='Banned in the USA' : British films in the United States and their censorship, 1933-1960 |year=1998 |page=98}}</ref>
==Critical reception== The film generally received poor reviews.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 February 1949 |title=Popular stars out of contest |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52259479 |accessdate=28 September 2017 |newspaper=[[The Australian Women's Weekly]] |page=32 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=16 |issue=38}}</ref> According to Lockwood's biographer "Few British films of the 1940s received a more devastating barrage of criticism than ''Look Before You Love'' when it was released in October 1948."<ref>Tims p 153</ref>
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "This is an incredible story which reflects little credit on our diplomatic service. Margaret Lockwood and Griffith Jones are adequate; Norman Wooland, as Ashley, and Phyllis Stanley, as Charles' metallic girl friend, are more than efficient."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1949 |title=Look Before You Love |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305810185 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=16 |issue=181 |pages=3 |id={{ProQuest|1305810185}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In a contemporary review, ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called the film "an overlong and somewhat corny love story that gives Margaret Lockwood a sympathetic role after her many ''[[The Wicked Lady|Wicked Lady]]'' characterisations, in which she has been so successfully typed in the past", adding, "it may gratify the out-of-town popular audiences, but its chances of success in any metropolis are scant."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety172-1948-12#page/n181/mode/2up|title=Variety (December 1948)|website=archive.org}}</ref>
''[[TV Guide]]'' rated the film two out of five stars, dismissing it as a "Ridiculous story played straight; as a farce it might have had some chance."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/look-before-you-love/review/104613/|title=Look Before You Love|website=TVGuide.com}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|title= Once a wicked lady : a biography of Margaret Lockwood|last=Tims|first= Hilton|year=1989|publisher=W.H. Allen}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0040549}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20130608003432/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81783/Look-Before-You-Love/ ''Look Before Your Love''] at [[TCMDB]] *[https://archive.org/stream/variety172-1948-12#page/n181/mode/2up Review of film] at ''Variety''
{{Harold Huth}}
[[Category:1948 films]] [[Category:1948 drama films]] [[Category:Films directed by Harold Huth]] [[Category:British drama films]] [[Category:British black-and-white films]] [[Category:1948 English-language films]] [[Category:1948 British films]] [[Category:Films scored by Bretton Byrd]] [[Category:English-language drama films]]