High Tide at Noon

High Tide at Noon (1957)

The dramatic ebb and flow of a young girl's love...

After returning home to a rugged island near Nova Scotia, Joanna, daughter of the local bigwig, struggles to choose between three eligible bachelors -- the rebel, the steadfast friend and the poetry-quoting newcomer. As the local lobster supply dwindles due to overfishing, the island's inhabitants encounter economic difficulties.

Date of release
1957-04-30
TMDB
6.2 / 10 (11)
Runtime
1h 49m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Philip Leacock

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Pinewood Studios and Nova Scotia

High Tide at Noon is a 1957 British drama film directed by Philip Leacock. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. High Tide at Noon was based on the first of a series of novels by Elisabeth Ogilvie, set in Maine. Location work was done in Devon.

Production

The film was based on a novel by Elisabeth Ogilvie which was published in 1945. The novel was set in Maine. She wrote a sequel, Storm Tide, which was published in 1947.

Film rights were purchased by the Rank Organisation. The original director was Pat Jackson, who was a freelance director who had done work for Rank. Jackson called the story "very interesting, quite good". Virginia McKenna was meant to star. Jackson saw Patrick McGoohan on stage in Moby Dick and cast him in the film. Jackson said, "He was going to be the hero! And he would have been wonderful."

Jackson struggled to find a suitable island off Nova Scotia or anyhere in Britain but found one off the coast of Sweden. A set was built recreating the village. When Jackson returned to Pinewood he was met by James Archibald, a Rank executive, who informed him McKenna did not approve of the script. This upset Jackson who complained about McKenna to John Davis, head of Rank.

Jackson then heard Davis had hired Philip Leacock to direct it and the film was made, with McGoohan as the villain. Jackson was offered two more films from Rank, including Dangerous Exile and turned them down. He said the whole experience "was a total disaster, for me. I mean, that really ended my film career."

Philip Leacock had previously directed another film set on Nova Scotia for Rank, The Little Kidnappers, which shared the same screenwriter as High Tide at Noon, Neil Paterson. Sean Connery auditioned for a role but was told he was "too dark".

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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