The Mudlark

The Mudlark
Original film poster
Directed byJean Negulesco
Screenplay byHilda Grenier
Nunnally Johnson
Based onThe Mudlark
1949 novel
by Theodore Bonnet
Produced byNunnally Johnson
StarringIrene Dunne
Alec Guinness
Andrew Ray
Beatrice Campbell
Finlay Currie
Anthony Steel
Raymond Lovell
Marjorie Fielding
Constance Smith
CinematographyGeorges Périnal
Edited byThelma Connell
Music byWilliam Alwyn
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • October 30, 1950 (1950-10-30) (UK)
  • December 23, 1950 (1950-12-23) (New York)
  • January 30, 1950 (1950-01-30) (Los Angeles)
Running time
99 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1 million (US rentals)

The Mudlark is a 1950 film starring Irene Dunne, Alec Guinness and Andrew Ray. Filmed in Great Britain by Twentieth Century-Fox, it is a fictional account of how Queen Victoria emerged from a period of mourning for her dead husband, Prince Albert. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, written and produced by Nunnally Johnson and based on the 1949 novel of the same name by American artillery sergeant, San Francisco newspaperman, Los Angeles Times reporter and film-studio publicist Theodore Bonnet.

The film's title refers to mudlarks, street children who survived by scavenging and selling what they could find on the banks of the River Thames. The film was a hit in Britain and made an overnight star of Andrew Ray, who played the title character.