Review - Hobson's Choice (1954 - Dir. David Lean)

There has been a bit of an unofficial Sir John Mills Season going on without me noticing. This is the third film containing him in not many weeks (see This Happy Breed and Ice Cold in Alex for more of his antics). No wonder he was compared to a chameleon by many of his actorly chums due to his independently swiveling eyes. Er, not really. Just from the three roles here, you can see his range. Every character is very different and at times it's hard to believe they were all played by the same man. A true master of his craft. The complete polar opposite of Mary's dad.


In Hobson's Choice he plays Willie Mossop, a boot-hand in Henry Hobson's (Charles Laughton) boot emporium. Hobson's three daughters are all of a marrying age (he believes Maggie is well past it at the ancient age of 30), but Hobson won't pay the settlement required by their husbands-to-be. When Hobson (a loveable comedy alcoholic, as they all were in the films of this period) gets completely tanked and falls into a cellar, Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) sees an opportunity for some devious crafty wiliness.

For a film that is nearly sixty years old, Maggie is a surprisingly strong female lead. Hobson obviously has his ideas about a woman's place but Maggie shows her true potential as a business woman. She is strong-minded, knows how to get what she wants and doesn't stand for any messing. Strange that one of the only pictures I can find is of her in the kitchen.

When we first meet Willie, peeking his head through the cellar trapdoor (shouting 'Swallow your soul!' - sorry, wrong film), he lacks self-esteem and clearly knows his place in the grand scheme of things. By the end of the film, Maggie transforms him into a hard-nosed, go-getting business lad. Cleverly, the script still allows you to see through the veneer of confidence to the character we know. A quality performance.

Hobson's Choice is a gentle comedy with some laugh out loud moments (in particular, the comment Willie makes the morning after his wedding night). As with most older films, the pace is slower, but this is used to great effect. In the build up to the aforementioned scene, Willie spends an eternity getting ready to go to bed, tending the fire, folding his clothes etc. This makes his comment even funnier. A classic film and one that I would recommend as a 'My First Black and White Film' experience. (Plus you get appearances from British sit-com icons John Laurie and Prunella Scales - what more do you want?)
8/10
evlkeith



If you like this you could also try:
This Happy Breed, Ice Cold in Alex, Sailor Beware.

Review - Ice Cold in Alex (1958 - Dir. J. Lee Thompson)

The first thing that hits you about Ice Cold in Alex is the music. I think that a slight bit of cheeky tributing has been done by John Williams when composing the Star Wars score. Just have a listen to the trailer at the end of the review and you'll hear what I mean. Dirty little homager.

Anyway, on with the film. I know this wouldn't have been obscure at the time, but I'd never heard of it until a colleague at work told me to give it a look (along with the quality This Happy Breed). Captain Anson (Sir John Mills) is given the unenviable task of driving two nurses to Alexandria. Doddle. He's setting off from Tobruk though. Okay, still not too bad. Nazis are lurking about around every sand dune shooting at them, they have to cross mine fields and quicksand, and they're driving an old clapped-out ambulance with limited supplies of water and food. Ah. Rather you than me, mate.

Anson is ably assisted by Tom Pugh (Harry Andrews), a very affable sort of fellow, the kind of bloke you'd like to have a pint with, get him to fix your car and then have a game of darts with him. Also along for the ride is the slightly more unsavoury Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a South African hitchhiker with a bag full of gin that Anson, being a big alcoholic, covets like his neighbour's ox. 

The story is very linear. It's basically a road trip without any side quests. Just keep going until you get to Alexandria. This means that you can disengage your brain (quite easy for me) and enjoy the ride. Even if it is on a bumpy ambulance. You get to fully appreciate the four leads and the numerous scrapes they get themselves into, including a beautifully lit run-in with the aforementioned quicksand. (One of my major fears, surely one of everyone's major fears?)

Bear in mind that this was made in 1958 and you can let it off for having slightly dubious gender politics. Sister Diana Murdoch (Sylvia Syms) is told at one point to stop worrying about her make up and get pushing the ambulance. I won't spoil one of the top calamities of the film but have a guess who's responsible. The fellas soon put her in charge of the bags, metaphorically speaking, and sort the problem out in a very stoic British kind of way. Then they get her to make sandwiches and butter the malt loaf while they have a game of cricket. And while they all go down the pub for pints and back slapping, she does the washing up. Er, maybe not. I think that scene was cut out of this version.

(Image not taken from the film - funnily enough.)

All in all a quality Sunday afternoon kind of film. Gently paced for the majority of the time, with a smattering of excitement and tension along the way. Granted, there's a completely unnecessary (and preposterous) romantic entanglement but you can forgive this minor slip, due to the film's uncomplicated, clear storytelling. (It's also quite funny that the best beer in the whole of the Middle East turns out to be Carlsberg. They may as well have made it Strike lager for the local Happy Shopper equivalent.)
7/10
evlkeith



If you like this you could also try:
This Happy Breed, Since You Went Away.

Review - This Happy Breed (1944 - Dir. David Lean)

Not much happens in This Happy Breed. Well, that's not strictly true. There are some major life changing situations but the characters deal with it all in such a British stiff upper lip kind of way that the film seems uneventful. It is anti-melodrama. 

Based on the Noel Coward play, it is a very gentle film centering on the life of the Gibbons family in the period between the two world wars. The film does betray its theatre origins at times (in a similar way to Harvey). It does feel like they have just filmed a play. Get over that, and you've got a fantastic film for a Sunday afternoon that shows a slice of life from simpler times.

As previously mentioned, the acting is brilliantly understated. You would expect great things from Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter), Robert Newton (Treasure Island) and Sir John Mills (Hobson's Choice) and they all deliver. Also, Stanley Holloway is top fun as a neighbour who comes round and gets tanked with the father of the family (Newton). Malarkey a-go-go as they get discovered by the mother (Johnson) and both promptly salute her. Great stuff. Amy Veness plays the grandmother and she is basically my mum. When one of the characters comes in wearing a hat for a wedding she says, 'Oh.' And then proceeds to say something along the lines of, 'Well, if you're happy with it.' My mum to a tee. 

This Happy Breed is a history lesson in easily digestible form. (I severely dislike history and I enjoyed it.) The family leave the back door open and think nothing of it. The ladies make their own dresses for the weddings with paper patterns. They eat oranges on Christmas day and not chocolate ones neither. This film works really well in partnership with Since You Went Away which shows the effect on family life when the father goes to war and with Glorious 39, a story about appeasement and the British Secret Service. I'm just hoping for a Blu-ray release soon.

8/10

evlkeith

If you like this you could also try:
Since You Went Away, Glorious 39, Hobson's Choice, Ice Cold in Alex.