The Seventh Veil

Romantic interludes in the life of a piano virtuoso (Ann Todd) reared by a nasty guardian (James Mason). Larsen: Herbert Lom. Peter: Hugh McDermott. Leyden: Albert Lieven. Screenplay by Muriel and Sydney Box (Oscar winner). Compton Bennett directed. The film made a star of Mason., Romantic interludes in the life of a piano virtuoso reared by a nasty guardian., Ann Todd stars as an amnesiac mental patient, Francesca Cunningham, who hopes that psychiatrist Dr. Larsen (Herbert Lom) will help her lift the veils of her memory. In a series of flashbacks counterpointed by a lush piano concerto background score, Francesca discovers that she has been a victim of the cruelties of others all her life. Only Nicholas (James Mason), an embittered, crippled musician, has ever shown her any compassion, training the girl to become a top concert pianist. Even he turned on Francesca when she becomes romantically involved with other men, but as the flashbacks end, Francesca arrives at a startling realization about Nicholas’s true feelings for her. Filmed on a shoestring, The Seventh Veil rang in as the biggest British box-office success of 1946.