I don't like this film it is a while since I have seen it but I was reading about Trevor Howard and there were a couple of comments about the films that surprised me.
I know it was filmed in the north of England,Yorkshire? Lancashire? but I always assumed it was set in the Home Counties? am I wrong?
An article about Howard says that the film is set before World War 2 I don't recall any evidence for this.
Why didn't you like this film? It is on Youtube and I was thinking of watching it. Isn't it considered a classic? I believe it has been made more than once.
shareIt is considered a classic of 1940s British cinema,and I love British 1940s cinema.
I don't like it because I think it is unrealistic and twee,even for its time.
I don't just like gritty films but Britain made much better films than this in this period.
But you might like it so don't let my views put you off.
thanks for your reply. Is it just too sentimental or...? Like "An Affair to Remember"? I love Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and a lot of people love that movie, but I can't take it.
Anyway, which 40's British films can you recommend? I loved "The Seventh Veil". The way she was treated psychiatry-wise is very dated, but I loved the film itself.
It is not that it is too sentimental,although that is a common fault in British films of this era.
I just don't like the characters or the setting,I don't expect a sex scene in a 1940s film but I don't see much passion or feeling between them.
There are several types of British films from this period that I like,we have realistic (for their time)dramas like THE BLUE LAMP (1949,police/social drama)WATERLOO ROAD (1945,a soldier goes awol to save his marriage)BRIGHTON ROCK (1947 GANGSTER DRAMA).
Of course there were war films such as IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)about a Royal Navy ship and the lives of all the crew) and THE WAY TO THE STARS (1945,about the Royal Air Force and its relations with the American allies in a changing Britain.
I like AGAINST THE WIND (1948)which is about British forces training the Belgian resistance,it is not a well known film but it is a lot better than better known later films with similar plots such as CARVE HER NAME WITH PRIDE and ODETTE.
It interests me that the British films of the 1950s are often less tough and realistic and indeed creative than the films of the 1950s.
THE THIRD MAN (1949)is a well known tale set in Vienna with a cold war/post war setting but it is not without humour.
The serious issue of the atomic threat is covered in SEVEN DAYS TO NOON (1950) .
I love PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (1949)it is an often misunderstood comedy about how the British suffered under rationing.
You might prefer films which are not so involved with then current social themes,
HENRY V of 1944 is a great version of the play with a patriotic wartime feeling behind it,and it is in beautiful colour.
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COL BLIMP (1943)and A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946)are beautiful looking films about Britain's role in a changing world,a world where the United States is now the world power.
I am British and love our history but I don't feel that many British films of the 1930s and 1950s are as entertaining or educational as many of the 1940s films.
But there were a lot of awful films made in the period and lots of people rate famous films like the Ealing comedies which don't interest as much as the dramas from the same studio.
"An article about Howard says that the film is set before World War 2 I don't recall any evidence for this."
Had it been set during WWII, the scene would have been crawling with soldiers. The only two soldiers shown were, oddly, ruffians.
now that I think about it of course it is set before the war,nobody mentions the war or rationing,you don't see soldiers and there is no blackout and nobody is carrying a gas mask.
But are you surprised that peace time soldiers in a volunteer army are ruffians?
No, I am not surprised that the soldiers are ruffians, but I am surprised that any movie made during the war would portray them as such. Thin red line of heroes, and all that.
shareThe railway station segments were filmed at Carnforth station in Lancashire. I've had tea in that very waiting room! It's only open for the cafe and nostalgia reasons - the trains go through but don't stop any more.
Other segments were filmed in various parts of the home counties (Beaconsfield for one) - see the IMDB location section of the film.
Also it was set before WW2 but filmed during it - if it had been set during WW2 it'd be very unlikely to have buns or chocolate for sale in the cafe and there'd have been military everywhere. Trains in WW2 were generally thronged with soldiers, sailors, etc. I know they filmed at Carnforth because it was much less likely to be bombed by the Germans.
Pity you don't like it, I think it's a classic.
My answer is not for the OP but those reading about this film now. It was set in the 1930's and we are told so by a comment by one of the actors. We are always thrown off by the time of a setting because esp in the earlier days of film making (1945 for example) little attention was paid to the styles of dress.
I find very little to criticize about this film. It is beautiful, sensitive, honest and very sad.