Allison Montclair's "An Excellent Thing in a Woman," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison Montclair.

The entry begins:

The Sparks and Bainbridge series features a pair of female protagonists in 1946 London, both in their late twenties. Iris Sparks is short and brunette, Gwen Bainbridge tall and blond. My mental casting of them draws on British films of the period, more centered on their voices than their appearances because they are constantly talking inside my head.

My model for Iris was the young Glynis Johns, most notable for The Court Jester with Danny Kaye, where she was funny and drop-dead gorgeous. She was also possessed of a distinctive throaty voice that I was lucky to hear live some twenty years after that film when she was the first to sing “Send In The Clowns” on Broadway in A Little Night Music.

While I had no contemporary counterparts for Gwen in terms of her above-average height, I did summon up some of the cool British blondes of the times, particularly Madeleine Carroll of The 39 Steps, but with a thought or two thrown in the direction of Deborah Kerr vocally.

Who would I cast today? At the...[read on]

Visit Alan Gordon's website.

The Page 69 Test: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

Q&A with Allison Montclair.

My Book, The Movie: An Excellent Thing in a Woman.

--Marshal Zeringue