this advice: He told me to take Genevieve if I got it. He had turned it down because he didn’t want to do comedy again. They didn’t want Kenneth More, they wanted Guy Middleton; they wanted Dirk instead of John Gregson, Claire Bloom instead of me and I can’t remember who they wanted instead of Kay Kendall. But we got on so well together and it worked. Ninety per cent of the credit must go to Bill Rose, a wonderful writer. Kenneth More was appearing in the enormously successful production of The Deep Blue Sea when Henry Cornelius approached him to play the part of Ambrose. More said Cornelius never saw him in the play, but cast him on the basis of his work in an earlier film, The Galloping Major. More's fee was £3,500 or £4,000. Filming took place between October 1952 and February 1953. More recalls "the shooting of the picture was hell. Everything went wrong, even the weather." More says because of Cornelius' perfectionism the film went over budget by £20,000. Rutland Mews South, London SW7, was used during filming as the location for the home of Alan and Wendy. The themes of the musical score were composed and performed by Larry Adler, and harmonised and orchestrated by composer Graham Whettam who wrote the orchestral scores incorporating Larry Adler's tunes. Dance numbers were added by Eric Rogers. The comedic tone of Genevieve was established by the following disclaimer at the end of the opening credits: This was meant to underscore the fact that the actual event portrayed in the film is not a race. Cars The script for Genevieve originally called for the rivals to be driving British cars, Alan McKim a Wolseley or Humber, and Ambrose Claverhouse a Lanchester. No owners of such cars were willing to lend them for filming, and eventually Norman Reeves loaned his Darracq and Frank Reese his Spyker. The Darracq was originally named Annie, but was permanently renamed Genevieve after the film's success. Genevieve returned from a 34-year visit to Australia in 1992, and takes part in the London-Brighton Run every year. In July 2002, Genevieve and another Spyker participated in a 50th anniversary rally, touring the filming locations. Both Genevieve and Ambrose Claverhouse's Spyker were, , on display at the Louwman Museum in The Hague. Reception Genevieve was critically reviewed by Bosley Crowther for The New York Times, giving the