Film Review
During the Second World War, Ealing Studio's contribution to the war
effort was a series of propaganda films of a mostly conventional hue intended to boost the
morale of a war-weary nation and galvanise support for the armed
services in the fight against Fascism.
The Foreman Went to France
(1942),
Went the Day Well? (1942) and
San Demetrio London (1943) were
typical of Ealing's wartime output and each wears its obvious
propaganda badge without shame.
The
Halfway House, by contrast, is a very different kind of
propaganda film that gets across its messages in a far less direct
and strident manner, but is no less effective for doing so. With
its quaint mix of comedy and drama, it's a halfway film, sitting midway
between Ealing's fairly nondescript early films and the more
affectionately remembered ones the company would go on to make after
the war, including the famous Ealing comedies.
The war seems a very long way away in
The
Halfway House. After a hurried prologue which provides a
cursory introduction to all of the characters, it settles down to a more sedate
pace in the idyllic environs of rural Wales, a haven of peace where an
assortment of individuals with very pronounced accents (English, French and Welsh)
gather for a harmless spot of psychic time travel. You'd think
the story was knocked up by J.B. Priestley or Nigel Kneale, but in fact
it was loosely based on a play (
The
Peaceful Inn) by Dennis Ogden, which interestingly makes no
reference to the war, even though it is set in 1940. A carefully
constructed morality piece, the Ealing film version of Ogden's play is
about ordinary men and women waking up to their responsibilities, which
may be to bear the hardship caused by the war with greater dignity, or
to take a more active participation in the war effort, putting the
needs of humanity before those of the individual. The
supernatural component of the film, whilst underplayed, gives it a
unique character that anticipates Ealing's subsequent full-blooded
horror excursion,
Dead of Night (1945).
The Halfway House exhibits the
technical excellence and quality of writing and acting that would earn
Ealing a prominent position on the landscape of British cinema after
the war. Ealing regular Basil Dearden directs the film with his
customary aplomb, not only getting some superb performances from his
talented cast (which includes Françoise Rosay, a star of French
cinema, amid an ensemble of great British character actors), but also
creating a memorable atmosphere through some inspired camerawork and
lighting, helped by the legendary cinematographer Wilkie Cooper.
Basil Dreardon would later direct one of Ealing's best war films,
The Captive Heart (1946), as
well as the fondly remembered crime drama
The
Blue Lamp (1950), the debut piece for one P.C. George
Dixon. On the
The Halfway House,
Dearden was assisted (uncredited) by Alberto Cavalcanti, one of
Ealing's great stylists and a driving force behind some of the studio's
best films of this period.
Another of Ealing's stalwarts, the character actor Mervyn Johns, has a
dominating presence in the film as the vaguely ethereal Welsh landlord
Rhys. Johns' strong Welsh accent is not the only thing that sets
him apart from the rest of the cast, who mostly speak in the jarring
'received pronunciation' form of English accent that was
de rigueur in British cinema at
the time. The actor's whole manner has an unearthly stillness
about it, making him the one still point in a world in turmoil.
Petty self-interest, fear, grieving and abject disgust of the war are
just as vividly represented by the other protagonists in the drama and
Mervyn Johns' role is that of a pastor gently guiding his wayward
parishioners back into the light. Churchill's famous bulldog
spirit may have been a great motivator for some, but Johns' gentler,
humane reasoning is just as effective in convincing the doubters just
why the war had to be fought and won.
© James Travers 2015
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Basil Dearden film:
Dead of Night (1945)
Film Synopsis
June 1943. Ten disparate individuals badly in need of a rest
arrive at a small hotel, The Halfway House, lost in the Welsh
valleys. They are greeted by the hotel's friendly owner Rhys
and his young daughter Gwyneth. The guests comprise a married
couple mourning the loss of a son who died on active service, a young
couple who have yet to settle down, a wartime profiteer, a captain
reluctant to serve the war effort, a famous composer who has only a few
months left to live, a young girl and her parents who are about to get
a divorce. Not long after their arrival, the guests begin to
notice that something is amiss. The newspapers and calendar are
all one year out of date, Rhys shows no reflection in a mirror and
Gwyneth casts no shadow when she goes out of doors. It is as if
the owner of the hotel and his daughter are ghosts... After
hearing a radio broadcast from 1942, the guests are astonished to learn
that they have been taken back exactly one year in time, to the exact
hour when the hotel was destroyed by an aerial bombardment...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.