Adam and Evalyn (1949) User Reviews

Life Imitating Art

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 18 December 2008]

Stewart Granger was 16 years older than Jean Simmons when they married in 1950, so they had real life chemistry together in this 1949 film as mature man (Adam) having a relationship with a beautiful girl (Evelyne).The plot has already been outlined by other user comments so I will merely comment on the time and direction.

As someone who was born in 1946, 1949 was, for most of us, a year in Britain of food rationing, burdensome post war taxes and austerity.Shots of people drinking champagne, drinking and eating in nightclubs, buying expensive clothes and driving expensive cars were a million miles away from most Britons life experiences then.It is only in recent history that gambling has been legalised and it is worth reminding viewers that in 1949 this practise could be prosecuted hence the film's depiction of illicit gambling in private homes.

The relationships of ex-service personnel in the post war period could be strong if they had previously shared privation together during the war in a life inter depending culture.This fact is clearly shown by Adam's steadfast friendship with his Irish jockey comrade who has secretly sired a beautiful daughter (Evelyne) who now resides in an orphanage.Adam and his Irish war friend share a mutual love of horse racing (and gambling) which keeps their friendship current with a strong bond of loyalty between them.The morality of the 1940s meant people could not be seen to be escaping the consequences of the law and a racing scam cooked up between them goes tragically wrong and the Irish jockey loses his life while racing.With his last breath he asks Adam to look after his daughter.A previous reviewer predicted the film's outcome but it is still enjoyable seeing how the characters finish.The mature divorcée who wants to marry Adam (while using her flat for gambling) is in for a bitter disappointment but so is Adam when she tips off Adam's ne'er-do-well younger brother, out of female spite, when she realises she cannot compete in the emotional stakes with the beautiful 20 year old Jean Simmons, when they give the police a tip off about illegal gambling.

There is a nice cameo performance about morality from Wilfrid Hyde White who explains to Evelyne that heroes often come with clay feet.Enjoyable with competent direction in B&W. I rated it 6/10/

Harmless fun with Simmons and Granger

[jem132 · 6/10 · 17 March 2007]

ADAM AND EVELYNE offers a variant on the 'guardian-ward' theme explored so compellingly in the earlier Rank film THE SEVENTH VEIL. However, ADAM AND EVELYNE opts for light comedy rather than cane-lashing in the central relationship between Simmons and Granger.

The plot is rather silly yet all in good fun: Evelyne (Simmons) is an orphan who is suddenly found and taken away for a better life with the man she believes to be her father, handsome professional gambler Adam(Granger, sporting a rather terrible mustache). It is all a mix-up, of course, and unrefined 'Orphan Annie' Simmons finds out the truth about her parentage (yet not about Adam's source of income) in due time. She stays with a generous (and guilty) Adam as his ward, maturing (with the aid of an expensive boarding school) into an attractive and accomplished young woman. Complications ensue when Adam and Evelyne start developing feelings for each other that are definitely not of the 'father-daughter' type...

ADAM AND EVELYNE works reasonably well as light, unpretentious comedy. Simmons does some good work, likable as both the elfin-like young girl and the beautiful young woman (her appearance and clothing in the scene where Adam meets her as a lady must have inspired the costume designer of Audrey Hepburn in SABRINA). She also seems to resemble a curious Vivien Leigh-Elizabeth Taylor hybrid in several scenes. Granger is charming and does not have to do too much heavy lifting here. Granger and Simmons share good chemistry (which is expected, as they were courting at the time and married several years later), which definitely aids the production.

A rather poor script and silly plot hampers the production. Still, this makes good Sunday afternoon viewing.

6/10.

Love in the Afternoon

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 20 May 2021]

Stewart Granger seldom spoke with affection of his movies, but this he spoke glowingly of as "a charming light comedy". Doubtless his mellow recall of this engaging trifle was due to the offscreen rapport he was developing offscreen with his radiant young co-star (they were married the following year), who gracefully matures onscreen from an innocent young waif who inquires "What's a hangover?" to a young woman by losing her beret, having her hair shortened and discovering champagne. And men.

One would think how fresh and unspoilt Simmons was in this; but she never lost the glow with which she was still lighting up the screen twenty years later.

Strange, But Charming

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 14 June 2011]

Adam And Evelyn is a strange, but charming film about a man who put his daughter in an orphanage and went off to war. Never having seen his daughter for reasons the script does not make clear, he impersonates a good friend from the army, a gambler with a way with the ladies.

The gambler is Stewart Granger and the girl is Jean Simmons and this strange love story was concocted for the two of them who were in a hot and heavy affair at the time. What didn't work for Ronald Reagan and Shirley Temple in That Hagen Girl or for Herbert Marshall and Simone Simon in Girl's Dormitory does work here. I'm guessing the skill of the players or a better script or both. You decide if you watch the movie.

Simmons leaves the orphanage and comes to live with Granger and the two become attracted. Of course at some point Granger has to disabuse of the notion he's really her father. And then when that happens people start talking. He's also been seeing on and off Helen Cherry who was Mrs. Trevor Howard in real life and she's not liking seeing Jean poaching on territory she staked out.

Granger and Simmons went on to get married and make to more films for MGM in America. One of them, Young Bess casts her as young Queen Elizabeth I and Granger as Thomas Seymour the much older admiral who tried to take advantage of then Princess Elizabeth to further his ambitions. He and the whole family came to a sorry end. In a way Young Bess is a dark version of Adam And Evelyn.

Not the best film for either of the stars, but their fans should like it.

The apple of his eye

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 25 February 2014]

The film is notable as a collaboration between Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger. The couple were wed the following year and went on to make two more films together. Though Mr. Granger has plenty of screen time, this was Miss Simmons' chance to shine. Up to this point, she had only appeared in supporting roles. But after an Oscar nomination as Ophelia in HAMLET, she was ready for a starring role.

Due to the success of this picture, Granger and Simmons caught the eye of Hollywood moguls. A short time later, they would leave their native England and move to southern California. Both were able to maintain star status for decades and had more hits in America than they did in Europe.

As for ADAM AND EVELYNE, the plot is a clever reworking of the old literary classic DADDY LONG-LEGS. Simmons plays an orphan who goes to live with a handsome benefactor, played by Granger.

The twist is that she thinks he's her father (Granger was 16 years older than Simmons in real life). However, we learn that her actual father died and had been writing letters to her at the orphanage, pretending to be Granger.

Added to this waif-and-daddy plot-- a bunch of innocent "incestuous" feelings. They develop these feelings for each other, even though it takes a while for her to learn the truth that he's not really her papa. At the same time, Granger has a jealous girlfriend (Helen Cherry) and a roguish kid brother (Raymond Young) that wants Simmons. It's a complicated set-up, though there's never any doubt what the true outcome will be.

A secondary subplot involves Granger's profession. He's a gambler running an illegal operation inside Cherry's home. Simmons has been led to believe he trades on the stock market. The gambling scenes are amusing, featuring shady characters who would otherwise be respectable members of society.

Of course, Simmons eventually finds out the truth about all of this. Granger's brother, realizing Simmons won't marry him because she's in love with you-know-who, spills the beans. Simmons is prudish about what's been going on and tells the police. Granger will go to court and plead guilty, then pay an enormous fine. Afterward he will reunite with Simmons and be free to marry her...because she's still the apple of his eye.

Outstanding Film

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 27 March 2008]

Enjoyed this film which I had my doubts about until I viewed the great acting of Jean Simmons, (Evelyn Wallace) and Stewart Granger, (Adam Black). This story is about a young girl Evelyn who lives in an orphanage and receives letters from her father telling her he is going to visit her someday and take her home where he raises horses. However, this is really not her father but a good friend of her father's Adam Black. Evelyn's father passes away and he asks Adam to take care of his daughter and he promises to look after her. There are very funny scenes and some very dramatic moments along with many lies which have been told and have to be explained to poor Evelyn Wallace. In real life, Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger were married and had a child. Great Classic film from 1949, enjoy.

Whatever happened to being an honorary father?

[MyMovieTVRomance · 6/10 · 7 September 2021]

Eh, to each his own. It was an okay film, but honestly, I find the way Evlyne so swiftly went from thinking that Adam was her father to being romantically in-love with him rather disturbing. I get that the heart wants what the heart wants and all that, but in my humble opinion, this is one case where it would have been better to keep it a father-daughter relationship. Once Evelyn found out the truth, Adam could have just said that it doesn't matter, because he'll be her honorary father, and that would have been sweet and noble. But, the way the story develops takes that away in a sense, and it feels a trite incestuous to me.

Kinda creepy....

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 20 January 2015]

I'll cut right to the chase..."Adam and Evalyn" is a rather creepy film. Perhaps you won't see it that way, but the relationship between the two main characters just seemed bizarre and a bit wrong.

When the film begins, Evalyn (Jean Simmons) is a young lady who grew up in an orphanage and now is one of the teachers. She is, however, very immature--and she lives in a dreamworld where her loving father FINALLY comes to rescue her from this place. But she hasn't seen him in so long she doesn't even know who he is or what he looks like. Yet, she keeps telling everyone that her father is soon coming for her. Sad, actually. Her father is actually a ne'er-do- well jockey and although he plans on getting the daughter, it never seems to happen. When the father is killed, as he's dying he gets his friend, Adam (Stewart Granger) to promise to get the daughter.

Now here is a HUGE problem with the story. You'd think any semi- sane man would go to the daughter and say "Your father has died. I am your godfather and am going to have you come live with me". Well, instead, he cannot bring himself to tell her the truth(???) and she thinks he's her father. Huh?

EVENTUALLY, someone else goes to Evalyn and tells her the truth. Soon after, Evalyn is sent off to a finishing school in Switzerland or Boise or somewhere. When she arrives back to Adam's home, she is now full of grace, poise and looks like a woman. Now, Adam finds himself attracted to her. Now considering the age difference, his relationship with her and that she once thought he was her dad, doesn't this all seem super-creepy?!

The bottom line is that with a small re-write this film could have been a nice romance. The age difference alone wasn't a problem (after all, the actors were married in real life and were well over a decade different age-wise)--the relationship and writing were the problem. Easy to skip.

What a gem!

[Star5 · 9/10 · 1 December 2002]

I had been told to see this movie by a friend, if just for a sight of Stewart Granger with a moustache and I wasn't disappointed. Granger and Jean Simmons work beautifully together again, in this movie based on the concept of a young girl falling in love with an older man - and one she believes to begin with is her father!! Simmons is adorable as the young girl, whisked away from a life of labour and far more likeable in this role than any other. I loved the final scene between the two of them and the running joke that Granger looked better with his moustache after all! Not one to watch if you don't like continuous remakes of the 'old man, young girl' scenario, but in this case it works to perfection.

Cute and predictable.

[Adira-2 · 6/10 · 25 August 2000]

Possible spoilers: I used to think that cute and winsome comedies were a Hollywood specialty, but after seeing "Adam and Evelyne" I realised the British can do them too. Stewart Granger plays Adam, a professional gambler. Jean Simmons plays Evelyne, the innocent orphan he adopts. About fifteen minutes into the film it becomes easy to predict how everything is going to turn out - Evelyne will grow up, she and Adam will fall in love, and after reforming him, she will marry him. Not surprisingly, Stewart and Simmons sail through their parts. Neither made heavy demands upon the actors. Stewart was required to be suave and charming, while Simmons radiated naive innocence.

Still, I have seen worse movies. There was nothing actually offensive or irritating in "Adam and Evelyne", nor was it slow moving or boring. The obligatory scene where Adam shows Evelyne the sights of the town was cleverly handled. Instead of the standard montage of famous sights, intercut with Evelyne's enraptured face, we saw a sequence of scenes depicting Evelyne's energetic and Adam's increasingly weary *feet*, with the characters' dialogue as voiceover. And if nothing else the sets and costumes were fun to watch.

Worth while for the gorgeous Jean Simmons, one of the great unsung heroines of the classic film era.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 8 August 2018]

In reflecting on this film which I got to watch for a second time, I realized that Jean Simmons was playing a role that was exactly like one for which the very similar Audrey Hepburn later became successful for with "Sabrina". Simmons is a student in a boarding school, sent there by her widowed father when she was just a young girl, and who hasn't seen him since. She has collected all his letters and is preparing for him to come to take her away when fate steps in and he is killed. On her father' deathbed after a horse racing accident, he asks fellow gambler Stewart Granger to take her away from the boarding school and make her his ward, which Granger surprisingly agrees to without even thinking about it. But Granger's lady friend (Helen Cherry) is instantly jealous of the attention that Granger gives the young beauty, and she is sent away, returning two years later as a grown up beauty, just like Hepburn in "Sabrina". During that time, it is obvious that Cherry and Granger have grown apart, and Cherry uses her influence to passive/aggressively try to keep Granger and Simmons from getting further involved, citing Granger's gambling habit as a reason for them not to get too close. Simmons, realizing that her father was killed in a business that involved gambling, decides to take drastic steps to help Granger change his ways after Cherry makes one last desperate attempt to get further revenge and keep them apart.

I notice that in old movies, it is always the pairing of older men with younger women that become serious romances (just look at the bulk of Audrey Hepburn's films), and when older women were involved with younger men, it was obviously a financial arrangement, with the younger man often a smarmy gigolo type. Certainly, Granger and Simmons were both very attractive in spite of their age differences, and would even marry after this film was released. The spark between them is obvious, so the age difference here is inconsequential. I didn't find much of the script believable, particularly Granger's agreement to take Simmons into his household in the first place without first meeting her. Simmons could play so many different types of characters, and even when she was cast as a true lady, there was always a hint of a fiery personality underneath, as she shows here when she throws an object off of her desk in the boarding school, only to hit an arriving school official in the forehead as she walks into the room. Her performance is simply marvelous in every aspect and thus she becomes the heart and soul of the film. After looking at Ms. Cherry's credits, I was surprised to discover the number of films she made and the fact that I hadn't seen her up until my first viewing of this or anything since makes me want to investigate her work more. She's a cool presence who subtly stirs the pot here, but it is Simmons whom you will come out remembering from this most of all.

a delightful movie with fine performance.

[mvfever · 8/10 · 4 April 2004]

I bought this movie because I love Granger and Simmons so much in 'Young Bess'. The quality of the VHS copy however is disappointing, I wonder if it due to repairing technical problems or lack of budget? Nevertheless, it is still worth the money because every once is a while, there will be a close-up of Granger or Simmons that is clear enough for an audience appreciation.

Granger and Simmons radiate their charms so effortlessly here because the characters they played are practically themselves--English socialites. The overall delightful result may look easy but it is however important that the script did not step into any wrong note.

Adam and Evelyne

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 4 January 2023]

Stewart Granger is "Adam", a rather raffish gambler who, when his wartime friend "Chris" dies, adopts his daughter "Evelyn" (Jean Simmons) who has hitherto been living in an orphanage. Initially he pretends that he is her father, but that is soon exposed by his friends and the two must now treat honestly - or as honestly as he knows how - with each other and the bond begins to mature, much to the chagrin of the rather calculating Helen Cherry... Both stars work well together, and the simple story is a well written and directed tale of deceit, deception and some good old-fashioned love and with Wilfred Hyde-White (another of those actors whose voice has a instantly identifiable silky timbre) adds a little charm to the proceedings, too - and in the end it all comes down to a moustache!

A little creepy

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 23 July 2017]

Despite the title, this movie has nothing to do with the famous "first couple". Somewhat resembling the story of Daddy Long Legs, this quirky May-December romance between Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger has some awkward moments that prevent it from joining the ranks of classic love stories.

To start, Jean is a young girl in boarding school who receives letters from her father. Her father isn't writing the letters, though; his best friend is writing them to be nice. When the real father dies, the friend takes pity on the child and practically adopts her. Only, she doesn't know he's not her father. So, she comes home to live with a man she thinks is her father, and when she starts maturing, they become attracted to one another. See what I mean? It's a little creepy.

The two co-stars were actually dating at the time, and they married the next year, but whatever chemistry they have is just cringe-worthy because of the plot. You can watch it if you like really silly old movies, but it's not one I'd really recommend for any other reason.

Adam and Evelyne *** for Maturing Young Lady

[edwagreen · 17 December 2008]

It all basically began with Adam and Eve. We've seen the young, innocent girl maturing into the young lady and falling in love with the older man in "My Fair Lady," and "Gigi." This is basically the same story in "Adam and Evelynne."

When Stewart Granger's friend dies, he takes his daughter in. The latter, Jean Simmons, believes that Granger is his father until she is told otherwise by Granger's girlfriend who senses Simmons as future competition. That sense proves correct when Simmons returns from finishing school in Switzerland all grown up. Problem is that Granger has never told her his true vocation: illegal gambling.

The story unfolds how they fall in love and the eventual treachery of his girlfriend and younger brother to destroy him over this love.

The film is nicely done. Jean Simmons goes from an unhappy child, looking for her father to the mature young woman searching for love.

Age gap romance

[Claresteers · 4/10 · 7 March 2022]

Slow moving (read my book during the boring bits) but reasonably enjoyable romance. Worth it for the good looking leads and the frisson of their first kiss.

The usual outdated irritations of this period "Give me a drink" and other male expectations to the females in the cast plus Evelyne's annoying voice, which didn't seem to mature even after being "finished" abroad. Similar to our beloved Queen and the tradition that women sound like 6 year olds. (See Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy etc.) Helen Cherry as the rebuffed girlfriend was fascinating, sophisticated, poised and speaking like a woman.

Looked her up, Trevor Howard's wife who had her long patrician nose bobbed.

A lovely, romantic film

[istara · 10/10 · 27 April 2020]

The chemistry fizzes in this loose adaptation of Daddy Long Legs - Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger fell in love in real life during filming and later married.

Orphaned Evelyne mistakenly believes her father is gambler Adam Black, but when the confusion is cleared up he readily steps into a guardian role. He sends her off to finishing school and when she returns two years later (don't these schools have holidays?!) it's a coup-de-foudre on both sides. With all the age-gap/father figure frisson that comes with the legacy of Daddy Long Legs.

Pity poor Moira (Helen Cherry) whom Adam has been stringing along for years. She sees the score from the get-go, though chooses to hang around while Evelyne dates Adam's dodgy brother Roddy, perhaps in the hope that she'll fall for him.

They're very photogenic leads, photographed beautifully - particularly in Simmons' case - and the attraction between them is electric. The first kiss is a classic. The film is worth watching for this aspect alone, though there's plenty else to recommend it. The young British chaps are highly amusing. Lovely costumes too for both Simmons and Cherry.

Handsome rake adopts innocent girl with romantic outcome.

[david-254 · 18 October 2000]

OK so this film does not break any new ground but its worth watching to see the effortless way the two principal actors (Jean Simmons and Stewart Granger) give an impressive performance overcoming the somewhat well worn themes dealt with in the script. Jean Simmons turns from a backward English schoolgirl of the 50's into a stunning deliciously irresistible asexual goddess which will leave all men with a revived faith in the female of the species, at least for a few minutes after watching the film.