Green Dolphin Street

Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 American historical drama disaster film directed by Victor Saville and starring Lana Turner, Van Heflin, and Donna Reed. It was produced by Carey Wilson. Based on the 1944 novel Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge, it was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot In the 1840s, in the town of San Pierre on the English Channel Island of Guernsey, two sisters, Marguerite (Donna Reed) and Marianne Patourel (Lana Turner), daughters of the wealthy Octavius Patourel (Edmund Gwenn), fall in love with the same young man, William Ozanne (Richard Hart). Marguerite is sweet and simple, while Marianne is extremely shrewd and plans to take over the family shipping business. William is the son of Dr. Edmond Ozanne (Frank Morgan), who has recently returned to the island after many years away. Additionally, Dr. Ozanne is the former teenage lover of Sophie Patourel (Gladys Cooper), Marguerite and Marianne's mother. Sophie's mother broke up their youthful romance over Edmond's heavy drinking and lower social status. She married Octavius afterwards, under pressure from her parents. Meanwhile, the new clipper ship Green Dolphin arrives in the island's port. The captain of the ship, Captain O'Hara (Reginald Owen), tells William and Marianne of the wonders of the new colony of New Zealand. Captain O'Hara's men catch a stow-away, Timothy Haslam (Van Heflin), who recently killed his brother-in-law in self-defence. Captain O'Hara believes his story and agrees to smuggle the man to New Zealand. Marianne then schemes for her father to sponsor William to be a naval officer. After a two-year time skip, William returns to the island for a day. On the island, he secretly declares his love for Marguerite and his father dies suddenly. William reluctantly agrees to return to his ship and travels to China. In China, he sends a love letter and gift to Marguerite, but is then drugged and robbed. He misses his ship and is labeled as a deserter. Fortuitously, he finds the Green Dolphin in the Chinese port. He sneaks aboard the ship and travels to New Zealand, where he will be safe from the law. Captain O'Hara finds William work in New Zealand as a school teacher, but he chooses to travel into the back-country with Timothy instead. Having settled in New Zealand and become a successful lumberman, William drunkenly writes a letter to the family proposing marriage to Marianne, meaning to write "Marguerite" and confusing the names.