The Astonished Heart (film) The Astonished Heart (film) The Astonished Heart is a 1950 British drama film directed by Terence Fisher. It stars Celia Johnson, Noël Coward, and Margaret Leighton, and is based on Coward's play "The Astonished Heart" from his cycle of ten plays, "". Inspired by the great success of the 1945 film "Brief Encounter", which also had been adapted from "Tonight at 8:30", Coward agreed to have "The Astonished Heart" produced as a motion picture. As with the previous film, Coward also wrote the screenplay. Production began in 1949 and featured not only Noël Coward in one of his rare film
Still Life (play) first presented at the Manchester Opera House beginning on 15 October 1935, and a seventh play, "Family Album", was added on the subsequent provincial tour. "Still Life", however, was added for the London run, together with "Ways and Means" and "Star Chamber", the last of which was performed only once. The first London performance in the cycle was on 9 January 1936 at the Phoenix Theatre but "Still Life" did not premiere until May 1936. Coward directed all ten pieces, and each starred Coward and Gertrude Lawrence. Coward said that he wrote them as "acting, singing, and dancing vehicles for