Must See Movie...

A Masterpiece!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I saw this movie on TV many years ago on a local late-night movie program which followed the 11pm news. It was during the week between Christmas and New Years, so my mind was occupied with other matters so all I really remembered was that it starred John Mills and that it took place over the span of several decades, but something about the movie stuck in my head. Thanks to IMDb I was able to identify it as "So Well Remembered", and that it was out on DVD.John Mills is great as George Boswell, reform-minded newspaper editor and member of the town council in a bleak Lancashire mill town, who falls in love with the daughter of the town pariah, a corrupt industrialist.Based on a James Hilton (Lost Horizon) novel, the film has it's share of soap opera-like moments, but enough of its literary heritage to tell a highly compelling story. The story also has a certain relevance today with the political and social elements, and it is a little depressing to see how things have not changed since 1919.

I viewed this 1940's movie on TCM last evening and was impressed by the quality of the film-making and the leading character's integrity and social conscience. These qualities led the youthful councillor, played by John Mills, to defend the woman he would fall in love with, Martha Scott, little knowing the consequences he would face in later life.John Mills always seemed so gifted at portraying classy British gentlemen and this is certainly the case in this role. Martha Scott was less convincing as his wife, whose later character was at odds with her former self. Her son Charles, by a second marriage, was much too old for the part and looked more like a brother than a son. The movie shows how two people come into conflict over personal values and family crises. The film-making is superb and the opening shots drew me into the story because each was a perfect black/white photograph. The quality of the movie made me think it was re-mastered and did not show the faded, sepia-tone look that some reviews were critical of. The rain was so real it gave me a chill just looking at the screen as the young couple went running through the cobblestone streets and took refuge under a bridge.Though somewhat flawed, this movie is a worthy addition to the library of British black/white cinema from the mid-20th century. Thank goodness for TCM bringing them back to the screen.

I am so glad that TCM is beginning to program this wonderful film with some regularity. I first saw this movie on laserdisc and I really thought it was one of those great films that had been left in obscurity. I watched it several times on laser and then have continued to watch it on TCM. There is something very therapeutic in being engrossed in a story in which the major character is an unrepentant progressive liberal who never gives up his ideals of what people can accomplish or become. James Hilton's stories all speak to me, but this one in particular reaches so deeply. This is probably the least sentimental of all Hilton's novel to film stories. The ending is truly bittersweet and yet so satisfyingly authentic.John Mills is absolutely perfect for this performance. Other actors would not achieve the believability to sustain this narrative from beginning to end. He is an actors' actor who worked until his end, leaving behind an incredibly wide range of performances, the last (I believe) in the film version of the musical Cats. His performances were always great, and never showy. He always deferred to the character and the material of the piece. I crave the DVD release of The Chalk Garden with Mills, Hayley Mills, Deborah Kerr and Dame Edith Evans!Trevor Howard is another great film actor who never received the recognition he deserved.

This is a picture of intelligence and substance that deserves to be better known. It includes exceptional performances by two of the finest actors of our time, John Mills and Trevor Howard. Flawed, perhaps, by a less-than-clear rendering of the Olivia Channing character (whose attitudes, emotions and actions lack consistency), it is nevertheless deeply moving. In any number of scenes director Edward Dmytryk reveals the strong influence of Orson Welles' narrative and cinematic methods in "Citizen Kane." Such can only add to a film's effectiveness, even if less than totally original.