Limelight: the forgotten British film that goes backstage in 1930s London theatre world

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Anna Neagle was one of Britain’s most popular film stars. The peak of her fame came after World War II thanks to her pairing with Michael Wilding in a string of post-war musicals directed by her husband Herbert Wilcox, bringing her a huge and devoted audience. An all-round entertainer, she exuded a wholesome girl-next-door persona, although she and Wilcox were romantically involved long before he divorced his first wife.

Most of Neagle’s films are easily available, but her 1936 feature Limelight long remained obscure, with no original material surviving. The BFI National Archive took in an incomplete print in the mid-1970s, but it wasn’t until 1987 that a complete original nitrate copy was obtained from collector David Gillespie. David was a great cinephile who saved many British films from extinction, including Michael Powell’s 1935 feature Her Last Affaire. David’s 50-year-old print of Limelight was scratched and had missing frames, but the archive created a duplicate negative and then a viewing copy from it, allowing the film to return to the screen.

In between many stage-bound musical numbers, the film gives a fascinating insight both into backstage life in London’s theatre world and the developing career of a major British stage and screen personality. Wilcox was a showman determined to create a major British star to rival Hollywood celebrities, and he accomplished this with Anna Neagle. Her popularity had been firmly cemented by the historical pictures Nell Gwyn (1934) and Peg of Old Drury (1935), but Limelight (initially titled Street Singer’s Serenade) was to be very different. Its realistic, semi-autobiographical narrative of theatre life in contemporary England was from an original screenplay by novelist and film journalist Laura Whetter.

It relates the story of a chorus girl who helps a poor street singer (played by American singing celebrity Arthur Tracy) achieve stardom to the detriment of her own career progression. Authenticity was to be its major selling point. Neagle’s character bears her real name – Marjorie – and several well-known theatrical figures appear as ‘themselves’, including composer Harry Woods, dance director Ralph Reader and manager of the Hippodrome Frank Boor. There’s even a cameo by matinee idol Jack Buchanan in a scene which purportedly recreates a conversation between him and Neagle at the start of her career.

Shooting began on 18 September 1935, with Herbert Wilcox signing up Austrian dancer Tilly Losch to perform three exotic routines in the film soon after. By 7 November, final shots were being taken from a 10-day stint at the Lyceum Theatre, where the stage numbers were filmed “to preserve the actuality which is the keynote of the film”. The scenes in the chorus girls’ dressing rooms are certainly among the most effective.

Contributing to her glamorous image, Neagle was dressed by both haute couture fashion house Schiaparelli and Royal Academician Cathleen Mann (aka The Marchioness of Queensbury). Despite Neagle’s morally upright persona, Limelight contains some eyebrow-raising costumes, which led to it being censored before it reached American screens in June 1937. Entitled Backstage, the US release was shortened to 65 minutes after cutting to “eliminate exploitation of the breasts of the chorus girls, suggestive dialogue including a reference to ‘the home for fallen governesses’ and drinking scenes”.

With the film completed, a vigorous publicity campaign began. The lavish colour pressbook for Limelight held by BFI Special Collections demonstrates the lengths Wilcox went to in his promotion of the film and its star. It contains mainly features by or about Neagle herself, including a ‘Woman’s Page’ in which she shares her philosophy and beauty secrets, advising that “every sensible girl should start the day well fortified with a wholesome meal” and extolling the virtues of “long walks every day, wet or fine, in the fresh air”.

Following the London preview of Limelight in January 1936, Neagle and Wilcox went on an extensive national tour attending local trade shows. The Midland Woman’s Diary caught up with Neagle at a cocktail party in her honour and found her “an easy and delightful person to look at from the crown of her golden head to the toes of a pair of slender feet”. The actor revealed her understanding of what stardom entails: “Even in her private life, whenever she comes before the eye of an interested public, the actress must always be the radiant vision of her public’s imaginings… It is just the return she must pay for the generous homage she receives.”

When Limelight opened in September, many of the bizarre marketing suggestions for cinema managers to promote the film, both inside their venues and around the neighbourhood, were put into action. Some lucky audiences had the chance to enter the ‘Staroscope’ and see themselves dressed as one of the film’s leads. Every Arthur Tracy in Manchester was sent a signed photo of their celebrity namesake. A fleet of Singer cars from a local showroom was driven round Clacton offering passersby a lift to the Century Cinema to see Limelight, while the Electric Supply Company in Kidderminster displayed posters urging the public to “Use electricity and make your home as bright as Anna Neagle and Arthur Tracy in the film Limelight at the Central.” In Manchester alone, 50 window displays publicising the film were in place.

Wilcox continued to promote his premiere asset, and Neagle’s status as a national treasure was cemented the following year by her performance as Queen Victoria in Victoria the Great. In her autobiography, she wrote “I am no businesswoman… I simply made the films and left the rest… to Herbert.” Yet this disclaimer belies the careful crafting of her screen persona and judicious career choices. The musical revue was a popular genre in the 1930s, the links between cinema and theatre being strong in Britain, and Limelight was the ideal way to showcase Neagle’s talents and develop her stardom. Its rediscovery and preservation in the national collection adds to our appreciation of one of Britain’s biggest stars.

This rare British film is preserved in the BFI National Archive. It screened at BFI Southbank in 2024 and can be viewed upon request via our research viewing service.