Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Tea Leaves in the Wind

1938 film

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera — Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas

Record originEnglish Wikipedia

Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0

Source revisionFeb 20, 2026

Entity authorityQ27888466 ↗

Source-derived summary

Tea Leaves in the Wind is a 1938 British drama film directed by Ward Wing and starring Nils Asther, Eve Shelley and Gibson Gowland. It was shot on location in Ceylon.

Cast

Nils Asther as Tony Drake

Eve Shelley as Margot Hastings

Gibson Gowland as David Webster

Cyril Chadwick

Needham Clarke

Robert Anthony

Marjorie Preece

References

Bibliography

Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.

Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Tea Leaves in the Wind” as 1938 film. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938, 1985, 1927, 1939—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1938-11. The account is most persuasive where Leaves, Wind and film can be independently traced.

Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1938 film. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27888466. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 1985, 1927 and 1939.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for

Identifying works and editions
Tracing reception history
Finding collection records

Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

Establish the record: confirm the title “Tea Leaves in the Wind”, its source revision and the description used here.
Expand the search: follow Tea Leaves in the Wind primary sources, Tea Leaves in the Wind archive and Leaves research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tea Leaves in the Wind”?
Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?

Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Tea Leaves in the Wind history →Tea Leaves in the Wind primary sources →Tea Leaves in the Wind archive →Leaves research →Wind research →film research →Arts & Letters sources →

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Tea Leaves in the Wind” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.