composers caused by Sullivan's feeling that he was wasting his time writing comic operas. They used sections of eight of the Gilbert and Sullivan works. In August, The New York Times reported that the film would be Korda's "next big colour spectacle" after his adaptation of Tales of Hoffmann and would be designed by Hein Heckroth who designed The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffmann. Ralph Richardson and John Mills were the favourites to play the title roles. Bridget D'Oyly Carte was reported to be collaborating on the film and, according to The New York Times, "it is well known she believes in Gilbert and Sullivan being kept faithful to the traditions in every detail." By March 1952, the lead roles had gone to Robert Morley and Maurice Evans, both actors best known for their stage work. Evans said he got the role when visiting Morley backstage, where he was appearing in The Little Hut; Evans accompanied Morley to Sidney Gilliat's house and wound up getting the role. "The poor man [Gilliat] had just had his appendix out and had no resistance, I suppose, so he signed me," said Evans. "Let's call the picture a reasonable facsimile of the truth," added Evans, who was working in England for the first time since 1935. Filming began in April. During filming there were disagreements between production designer Hein Heckroth and supervisor Vincent Korda over the design. Filming finished in October 1952. According to the BFI, Korda "was keen that the film's main message, that a truly successful work of art contains elements of the vulgar and populist as well as the rarefied, came through loud and clear. Given Korda's own fondness for straddling the art-versus-commerce divide, it's easy to see why this appealed to him." Reception The film was a failure at the box office. It and The Beggar's Opera comprised the majority of what would be a £1 million (US $2.8 million) loss for the National Film Finance Corporation and led to British Lion being placed in receivership."British Lion Is Put into Receivership", New York, 2 June 1954, p: 38The Monthly Film Bulletin reviewer commented: "The respectfully dull costume productions of the Korda group since 1947 find full scope in this frightfully proper account ... it is never easy to distinguish between operetta and real life narration. ... The colour is wonderful, the music is a feast of reminiscence for