This Happy Breed
Directed by David Lean
Written by Anthony Havlock Allen, David Lean, and Ronald Neame from a play by Noel Coward
1944/UK
Noel Coward-Cineguild/Two Cities Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant Video
[box] This happy breed of men, this little world,/
This precious stone set in the silver sea,/
Which serves it in the office of a wall,/
Or as a moat defensive to a house,/
Against the envy of less happier lands,/
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. — Shakespeare, Richard II
[/box]
This is the episodic story of two neighboring middle-class London families between the World Wars. The film, which combines a survey of modern British history with some domestic melodrama, is highlighted by outstanding acting and, while long, is quite enjoyable.
The story begins in 1919 as the Gilmore family moves into a London row house. They are father Frank (Robert Newton), a WWI veteran, and mother Ethel (Celia Johnson). The children are daughters Violet and Queenie (Kay Walsh). Vi is quiet and helpful and Queenie is a chronically dissatisfied excitement seeker. The youngest is a son, the impressionable Reg. Ethel’s mother, a natural born pessimist with a sharp tongue, and her eccentric, ailing Aunt Sylvia complete the household. The two ladies bicker constantly.
While the parents are moving in, next door neighbor Bob Mitchell (Stanley Holloway) comes over an offers his assistance. We never see his wife, who always seems to be confined to bed for one reason or another. He and his son Billy (John Mills) will have a prominent part in the plot. Frank and Bob immediately recognize each other from their army days in France and become fast friends.
The story follows the families through triumph and tragedy. Billy falls deeply in love with Queenie, who loves him too but cannot see leading her mother’s life, which she considers “common” and boring. He goes off to join the navy, never losing his love for her. She eventually runs away with a married man, causing her mother to disown her. The other two children find love and marry.
The history survey includes strikes, communist agitation, the death of George V and abdication of Edward VIII, the rise of Hitler and the British Nazi Party, and appeasement among other things, all as seen through the eyes of the families. As the story moves into the thirties, the folly of disarmament becomes a theme.
matte paintings used in the film
This has quite a few similarities in theme to 1933’s Best Picture winner Cavalcade but deals with a working class family and is a better film. Newton and Johnson are absolutely fantastic. Robert Newton is certainly a chameleon. Can this really be the man that played Bill Sykes in Lean’s Oliver Twist? Celia Johnson is required to act every possible emotion in the course of the story and does so beautifully and with remarkable subtlety. The film also is further evidence at the British genius at creating realistic settings out of thin air in time of war. While most of the story is filmed in interiors, the color is good as well. It’s a long film but it managed to keep my interest throughout. Recommended.
After assisting Coward in directing In Which We Serve, David Lean took solo directing honors for the first time in This Happy Breed.
Trailer