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Portrait from Life
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<h2 id="plot">Plot</h2> <p>A British Army Officer Major Lawrence (<a href="/facts/Guy_Rolfe/n57wwCRI">Guy Rolfe</a>) is on Leave from being Stationed in Germany just after WW2 when he sees a painting of a beautiful young girl in a London Art Gallery. While viewing the painting he is approached by an old man Professor Franz Menzel (<a href="/facts/Arnold_Marl%C3%A9/7A2Bp1tn">Arnold Marlé</a>), who escaped from Nazi Germany in the 1930s having to leave his family behind and who claims to be the young girl's father. Major Lawrence agrees with the old man to find the young girl when he returns to Germany. On returning to occupied Germany and after a long search Major Lawrence eventually tracks down the young girl but she is suffering from amnesia and living with a German couple who claim to be her parents. As Lawrence investigates, the circumstances of the young girl's past become more complicated. </p> <h2 id="partial-cast">Partial cast</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Mai_Zetterling/DScNFEg0">Mai Zetterling</a> as Lidia</li> <li><a href="/facts/Robert_Beatty/YJ9gF3Cx">Robert Beatty</a> as Campbell Reid</li> <li><a href="/facts/Guy_Rolfe/n57wwCRI">Guy Rolfe</a> as Major Lawrence</li> <li><a href="/facts/Herbert_Lom/3r5rx5qd">Herbert Lom</a> as Fritz Kottler Hendlemann</li> <li><a href="/facts/Patrick_Holt/VvYeHkFA">Patrick Holt</a> as Ferguson</li> <li><a href="/facts/Arnold_Marl%C3%A9/7A2Bp1tn">Arnold Marlé</a> as Professor Franz Menzel</li> <li><a href="/facts/Sybille_Binder/UKCPQzRc">Sybille Binder</a> as Eitel Hendlemann</li> <li><a href="/facts/Thora_Hird/AwQg6eEn">Thora Hird</a> as Mrs. Skinner</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gerard_Heinz/YNYxJaXu">Gerard Heinz</a> as Heine</li> <li><a href="/facts/Yvonne_Owen/lRH5RLt0">Yvonne Owen</a> as Helen</li> <li>Philo Hauser as Hans Ackermann</li> <li><a href="/facts/Pete_Murray_(disc_jockey)/oyUydF4R">Pete Murray</a> as Lt. Keith</li> <li>Gordon Bell as Captain Roberts</li> <li><a href="/facts/Nelly_Arno/bAAaa1es">Nelly Arno</a> as Anna Skutetsky<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Cyril_Chamberlain/sdhMhUA1">Cyril Chamberlain</a> as Supervisor</li> <li><a href="/facts/Betty_Lynne/Xlhkokts">Betty Lynne</a> as Interpreter</li> <li><a href="/facts/Anthony_Steel_(actor)/s8XRPoL0">Anthony Steel</a> as Bridegroom</li> <li><a href="/facts/John_Blythe_(actor)/6KqQC7Rp">John Blythe</a> as Club Manager</li></ul> <h2 id="production">Production</h2> <p>Anthony Steel has one of his earliest film appearances.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="critical-reception">Critical reception</h2> <p><i><a href="/facts/The_New_York_Times/T9marWVX">The New York Times</a></i> wrote, "the new picture at the Little Carnegie stems from an intriguing idea, and there are several very effective sequences in the drama, plus a fine performance by the Swedish actress, Mai Zetterling. Indeed, if the whole of <i>The Girl in the Painting</i> were as good as its parts, the posting of this notice would be a much more pleasant task. Too much, rather than too little, story and plodding direction are the principal faults";<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> while <a href="/facts/Allmovie/LFmxXRB3">Allmovie</a> described it as "an over-orchestrated "guilty pleasure" from the glory days of British romance pictures."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h3>Box office</h3> <p>The film made a profit of £4,100.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040703/"><i>Portrait from Life</i></a> at <a href="/facts/IMDb/uWrqVYVy">IMDb</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Hal Erickson. "Portrait from Life (1948) - Terence Fisher - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. <a href="https://www.allmovie.com/movie/portrait-from-life-v93103" target="_blank">https://www.allmovie.com/movie/portrait-from-life-v93103</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Hal Erickson. "Portrait from Life (1948) - Terence Fisher - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. <a href="https://allmovie.com/work/portrait-from-life-93103" target="_blank">https://allmovie.com/work/portrait-from-life-93103</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Nelly Arno". BFI. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2015. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140816093402/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2bafc07929" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20140816093402/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2bafc07929</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Vagg, Stephen (23 September 2020). "The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga". Filmink. <a href="https://www.filmink.com.au/the-emasculation-of-anthony-steel-a-cold-streak-saga/" target="_blank">https://www.filmink.com.au/the-emasculation-of-anthony-steel-a-cold-streak-saga/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DEEDE133FE33BBC4A51DFBE668382659EDE <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DEEDE133FE33BBC4A51DFBE668382659EDE" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A0DEEDE133FE33BBC4A51DFBE668382659EDE</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Hal Erickson. "Portrait from Life (1948) - Terence Fisher - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie. <a href="https://www.allmovie.com/movie/portrait-from-life-v93103" target="_blank">https://www.allmovie.com/movie/portrait-from-life-v93103</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Andrew Spicer, Sydney Box Manchester Uni Press 2006 p 211 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=sY1LGFNtCOEC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=sydney+box+film+producer&source=bl&ots=F02E_WOkLo&sig=bTwtFh0NIsHllgPcTGLkovJObNU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmkt78sr_MAhXltIMKHcEYCX0Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=sydney%20box%20film%20producer&f=false" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=sY1LGFNtCOEC&pg=PA232&lpg=PA232&dq=sydney+box+film+producer&source=bl&ots=F02E_WOkLo&sig=bTwtFh0NIsHllgPcTGLkovJObNU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmkt78sr_MAhXltIMKHcEYCX0Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=sydney%20box%20film%20producer&f=false</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>