The Director
Oddly enough in the 1950’s Lean’s work took a brief lapse in quality, as he relied more heavily on his wife at the time (Ann Todd) to take the leading roles. Todd, did not have the actorly prowess required of the roles that Lean would rather foolishly cast her in, the 1950 production of Madeleine for example would have been infinitely superior with a more accomplished actor in the titular role. Lean’s worst film would come in the form of The Sound Barrier in 1952 which again stared Todd in the leading role, but also suffered from blatant historical inaccuracies (apparently the British broke the sound barrier, not the Americans) and committed the chief crime of any film, dullness. However Lean soon saw the error of his ways and would bounce back with his delightful comedy Hobson’s Choice which was released in 1954 and stared Charles Laughton, John Mills and Brenda Da Banzie, all giving career best performances. From here the rest is history, with Summertime in 1955, The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, the epic Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, Doctor Zhivago in 1965 and A Passage to India in 1984 all demonstrating Lean’s ability to make epic films of great scale and majesty from the icy wastelands of Siberia to the unbearably hot Arabian desert. Perhaps his only misstep in this period was the film Ryan’s Daughter which has been also accused of being uninteresting; I have yet to see Ryan’s Daughter and so can’t comment with any certainty on the quality of the production. But with the exception of Ryan’s Daughter and The Sound Barrier Lean had a nearly spotless career, from important films that changed the canvas of cinema to profoundly touching drama’s which comment on the British spirit, his films are often entertaining and emotionally draining in the same breath, he is a skilled technician (particularly as an editor) as well as an actors director and I still maintain that he is one of the greatest British directors of all time. The Film Following the Gibbons family for some twenty years, from moving into their house at the end of The Great War, up till they move out of the house at the start of World War II. The highs and the lows, the triumphs and the pitfalls, the births and deaths, the Weddings and Funerals. This is Early 20th Centaury British life condensed into two hours for your enjoyment, a slightly romantasised vision of an upper working class/lower middle class household brought to us from the pointed and often very funny writer Noel Coward. The Gibbons family is made-up of Father Frank played by Robert Newton, he is a war veteran and looking forward to the peaceful life, his wife Ethel played by Celia Johnson, their children Queenie played by Kay Walsh, Reg played by John Blythe, and Phyllis played by Betty Fleetwood. The extended family also living in the house are made up of Ethel’s mother and sister, Mrs. Flint played by Amy Veness and Aunt Sylvia played by Alison Leggatt. The family love each other, but like all families, they have their trials and tribulations, their quarrels and disagreements. Lean’s film charts the lives of this family as they live and in some cases die. This Happy Breed is a patriotic film in the best possible sense, the title is a Shakespearean quote taken from Richard II, the quote is in reference to the English People, it is an appropriate title, as this is what the film is essentially about. But Lean doesn’t let his lens slowly zoom into the Union Jack whilst playing a rapturous version of “God Save the King”. No, nothing that ham-fisted or cringe inducing, instead, by focusing on a family, and in particular their resilience, we are treated to the quirks of British character, the assumed authority of the patriarch for example. In a hilarious scene, the drunken father Frank tells his war buddy neighbour that it’s his house and he can do whatever he wants in it as he pours them both an extra class a booze, only to then immediately take the glasses and the bottle to the cupboard under the stairs, terrified of being caught by Ethel. Another scene follows Reg, his mind full of socialist concepts and ideas, he accuses his parents of being land barons, of earning too much money, Franks joins Reg in his room and explains that the British do change, but we change at our own pace, we do things differently to every other country in the world, it might be slower, it might be faster, but it has to be on our terms. Frank doesn’t claim that the British way is the best, he simply tells Reg the way things are. The most interesting subplot of This Happy Breed show’s the dark and stubbornly rigid side of “the British way”, as our traditions of reserve and quiet dignity bite us where it hurts. Queenie runs away with an older married man, she is unwed and disgraced, even though her actions are just the naive posturing of a young person that any parent would accept in this day and age, back in the 1930’s Ethel can not accept them, and as soon as Queenie leaves she is banished forever, her disgrace is instant and not up for negotiation. It is through this story line that we see that the British do change, we do see the world differently and come to accept the status quo over any past times or traditions, Ethel eventually longs for her daughter to return, and will accept her regardless of personal disgrace. This change can also be seen in far subtler scenes, Frank insists that his mother and sister in laws stop referring to people as “taken”, or any other euphemism of “dead” or “died”, “She didn't pass on, pass over, or pass out! She died!” snaps Frank, after the death of his son, Frank comes to accept the truth of the word and refuses to call it by another name to make himself feel better.
This Happy Breed was one of Lean’s early colour films along with Blithe Spirit. As previously stated in the Hamlet episode, 1940’s colour can be distracting for audience members, it appears unnatural and at times garish in pallet. Although This Happy Breed would have doubtlessly looked superior in black and white, the story is so remarkably well told, the characters so carefully drawn, that even its technical deficiencies do not detract from your overall enjoyment of the film. Another minor flaw with the film is due to the range of the films timeline, the actors have to appear a variety of ages, spanning the two decades that the film is set, this often means that some actors only look the correct age for brief scenes in the film. John Mills as Billy Mitchell, who has an unrequited love for Queenie, is possibly the worst example of this, early in the film he is supposed to be a mere twenty years old when Mills himself was closer to forty at the time of production. The film is built up almost entirely of beautifully touching scenes of heart and soul, love, and despair. There is no plot to speak of, but rather a cataloguing of events, David Lean keeps this all together by directing his actors to universally excellent performances, in one of the most emotionally devastating scenes ever committed to film, the son Reg is killed in a car accident, we witness Aunt Syliva and Mrs. Flint being informed of this by Phylis in the dining room, patio doors are open to the back garden, Ethel and Frank are outside, Aunt Syliva and Mrs. Flint leave the room Phylis goes outside to inform her parents of the tragedy, the room is left empty, Lean (a master of editing) refuses to cut away from the empty room but rather tracks his camera gently to the right as we hear Ethel’s scream, the camera comes to a halt, the room is still empty, Ethel and Frank stumble into the room from the back garden and sit down, broken and devastated by what they have learnt. Despite strong performances from the entire cast, one actor in particular stands out in the crowd, and that is Dame Celia Johnson. Johnson’s portrayal of Ethel pushes This Happy Breed into realms that other films can only dream of. Truly an actor’s actor, Johnson was also famously responsible for much of the dramatic weight afforded to Brief Encounter for her portrayal of Laura Jesson, the woman unfortunate enough to fall in love with two men. Her performance is This Happy Breed is no less accomplished, in fact given the age range she has to portray in the film; you could argue the part of Ethel is more of a challenge. Johnson was a stage actor by trade, and was said to have preferred stage to the screen, her background in theatre shines through in her film performances, stage actors often understanding far more of character and nuance than those actors who’ve only ever appeared on screen. Where as 1940’s cinema might appear somewhat unnatural compared with that standards of naturalism we’re used to today, Johnson stands out because she is so natural on screen even by today’s standards, she wouldn’t appear out of place in a film by Mike Leigh for example. Johnson is a marvel to watch and it is a shame that her film work was limited to a handful of feature films as in my opinion she is one of the greatest British actors of all time and when, as in this case, she is accompanied by one of the greatest British directors of all time the results are of an uncontrovertibly high quality. M.Dawson |
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In Which We Serve was David Lean’s first film, A British war time classic which was co-directed by both Lean and the films writer Noel Coward, two years later Lean would go it alone in the directing chair with This Happy Breed, often sophomore features can make or break a career, This Happy Breed most certainly acted in the former sense and would lead Lean onwards to a career often great, sometime legendary films. This Happy Breed was also co-written between Coward and Lean, and based a play by Coward. The Lean and Coward collaboration would continue for many more years with Blithe Spirit, an often hilarious black comedy about the spirit of a dead wife coming back from the dead to bug her former husband and his new wife, and of course this would then lead to the pinnacle of their collaborative power in 1945’s Brief Encounter. Switching to a more classical mode of operation, Lean would set about adapting two Dicken’s novels for the screen Great Expectations in 1946, and Oliver Twist in 1948, both are impressive and often considered definitive adaptations of Dicken’s work, Great Expectations in particular is as visually impressive today as it was at the time of release. The Passionate Friends came at the end of the 1940’s, a Left Field Cinema episode is already available about this film.
The plot of This Happy Breed is underscored by the political context of the times, the end of the war, and the beginning of the next. Some can foresee events, other can not, a discussion about the danger of the Japanese is dismissed as far fetched, they’re too far away to be any real danger. In the years before the possibility for Nuclear War, the prospect of countries on the other side of the globe effecting Britain seemed absurd. However Ethel knows that another war will happen one day, even though those around her insist that World War I is “the war to end all wars” Ethel knows better and rightfully points out: “There will always be wars as long as men are such fools as to want to go to them.” The politics isn’t just limited to the wars, the election of Neville Chamberlain, the election of Adolf Hitler, the abdication of King Edward the VIII, the rise of socialism and the start of the disintegration of the British Class system. But the awareness of political events never over rides the focus of the films narrative, they instead have two functions, one as conversation builders and two as timeline markers to keep us aware of which year the story is now taking place in. The issue of class is one that effects the plot, Reg feels that his parents are too rich and is caught up in socialist protests against the government, Queenie by contrast feels that her parents are too poor, she hates what she considers a squalorous existence and wants a better life for herself, this desire facilitates her decision to abscond with an older, wealthier man. The film also subtly shows the advances in technology, the introduction of mass broadcast radio and the telephone, or the replacement of gas with electric lights.
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