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Post by galacticgirrrl on Nov 26, 2023 21:14:57 GMT
This is where we enter the sci fi realm for me
In a time of stiff upper lips
Lie back and think of England
And unwed mothers being outcasts
Nobody had frank talks with their parents about such things
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Post by topbilled on Nov 26, 2023 21:15:17 GMT
They will be married after all.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 26, 2023 21:18:32 GMT
Interesting selection Fading Fast.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Nov 26, 2023 21:24:56 GMT
Very nice, I'll definitely be watching it again.
I like a Christmas movie that takes me back in time to this sort of life. "The Shop Around the Corner," is my favorite for just this sort of warm atmosphere and happy ending.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Nov 26, 2023 21:30:07 GMT
I'll be watching it again for Aunt Bridget. She is hilarious. I often find such a 'scrappy doo' characters as I call them a bit annoying but not in this case at all.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Nov 26, 2023 21:34:55 GMT
I reviewed the Godfather scene
While I don't see anything overtly untoward
They are VERY CLOSE and very familiar which is unusual
He knows and keeps all her secrets - affairs, babies, alcoholism, drunken nights with friends.
If this was really based on Wynyard Browne's true family it was quite unusual.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 26, 2023 21:40:04 GMT
Very nice, I'll definitely be watching it again.
I like a Christmas movie that takes me back in time to this sort of life. "The Shop Around the Corner," is my favorite for just this sort of warm atmosphere and happy ending.
The one thing I don't like is Margaret coming home as what kind of life will that be for a girl in her late 20s who was a fashion editor in London? The solution to me has always been one or both of the aunts moving in. The nice but lonely one seems like the perfect fit, but even the cranky one would probably become less cranky if she had something to do.
I keep moving this one up higher on my very busy favorite Christmas movie list. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 26, 2023 21:41:51 GMT
I reviewed the Godfather scene While I don't see anything overtly untoward They are VERY CLOSE and very familiar which is unusual He knows and keeps all her secrets - affairs, babies, alcoholism, drunken nights with friends. If this was really based on Wynyard Browne's true family it was quite unusual.
I agree, I never felt anything untoward as I felt it was mainly on Margaret's side and something developing not something bad that happened when she was young. |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Nov 26, 2023 21:49:59 GMT
Father will be remarried in a year to a much younger woman I would guess.
Single men never last long at that age, especially Parsons who attract cult followings of female parishioners.
Margaret gets to go back to London and no need for 70 year old's to look after such a big house.
That puts a bow on it.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 26, 2023 21:56:09 GMT
Father will be remarried in a year to a much younger woman I would guess. Single men never last long at that age, especially Parsons who attract cult followings of female parishioners. Margaret gets to go back to London and no need for 70 year old's to look after such a big house. That puts a bow on it.
And Margaret gets a better paying job at a competitor magazine when she goes back to work, where, on her first day, she notices the cute, single photographer who works in news department. You see, I could write for Hallmark. 
Kidding aside. My girlfriend's and my friends have experienced just what you say, the single men - mainly from divorce - in their 40+ marry or get into long-term relationships quickly, but the women don't. |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Nov 26, 2023 23:02:19 GMT
Wow painfully hilarious sweep back to the H word!! Shamefully delicious.
> the single men - mainly from divorce - in their 40+ marry or get into long-term relationships quickly
Oh for certain. Widowers are snapped up within weeks. His sister-in-law did seem quite touched by that one sermon, never forgot it. Hmmmm. Margaret may be back in London on the noon train at this rate.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 27, 2023 2:16:05 GMT
The Holly and the Ivy from 1952 with Celia Johnson, Ralph Richardson, Margaret Leighton, Maureen Delaney, Margaret Halstan and Denholm Elliott
All Christmas movies, including classics like The Bishop's Wife and Shop Around the Corner have conflict. Heck, even Hallmark puts some, albeit weak, conflict in its yearly explosion of Christmas movies because, otherwise, there is no movie.
Something has to go wrong or be a challenge or there's nothing to be overcome by the spirit of Christmas, so we can all feel good in the end. What is surprising is when a Christmas movie doesn't hold back but brings some real challenges and dysfunction.
The Holly and the Ivy brings it. Alcoholism, an out-of-wedlock birth (when that mattered), a minister's son questioning his faith and an adult daughter sacrificing too much for her widowed father drive the story in this little gem of a Christmas movie.
With his cozy rectory being nicely decorated for Christmas in anticipation of his adult children coming to visit, a reverend, played by Ralph Richardson, seems set to have a perfect Noel celebration, but early on we see that nothing is as it appears.
His son, played by Denholm Elliott, doubts his religious faith, but is uncomfortable discussing it with his father as the family's operating manual says that everyone tells Dad, Richardson, what they think he wants to hear.
This goes doubly for Richardson's younger daughter, played by Margaret Leighton, who is a fashion magazine editor in London. She secretly had a child out of wedlock who recently passed away at the age of four, prompting Leighton to turn to drink.
The "good daughter," played by Celia Johnson, is single, in her early thirties and runs the house for her absent-minded and aging father. Her boyfriend, played by John Gregson, is an engineer about to leave for a five-year assignment in South America.
He wants to marry Johnson and have her move to South America with him where they will start a family. Unless she can convince her sister, London-based Leighton, or one of her quirky aunts to take over the house, Johnson won't leave her father.
The aunts have their challenges, too. One, played by Maureen Delaney, is struggling financially, plus, she's no joy in general. The other aunt, played by Margaret Halstan, is kind but lonely. Her fear of not being invited for Christmas is heartbreaking.
The family then starts to arrive home on Christmas Eve. The house appears "happy" on the surface, but almost everyone is unhappy in reality. Oblivious to all the discord in his family, Richardson merrily goes about his day as the busy reverend.
Director George More O'Ferrall perfectly captures the contrast between the surface and the reality in a home like this as we see small alliances form as frustrations are discussed in nooks, rooms and corners away from the others.
The whispered conversations, the white lies, the conspiratorial flash of one's eyes, the occasional flare of anger and the immediate attempt to put everything "right" again so "Dad doesn't know" reveal a home in turmoil underneath its placid facade.
This is still a Christmas movie, so two things inevitably happen. The problems eventually spill out, which greatly surprises Richardson. But he also turns out to be much more understanding than his family expected, so solutions and reconciliations are possible.
It's the Christmas-spirit moment all Christmas movies have. Even in this gritty and realistic picture, the resolutions happen too quickly and easily. Yet it's believable that this family, in time, will solve its problems, so you just smile and enjoy the Hollywood ending.
The acting is uniformly impressive. Johnson and Richardson stand out, but each actor creates a convincing character. The dialogue is crip, honest and, often, harsh, with only the too-easy ending feeling forced.
The Holly and the Ivy, with its genuine family discord, is too realistic to ever become a beloved "holiday favorite." But for those who like their Christmas movies with some bite, it's an engaging film with only a bit too much sentimentality at the end. |
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Post by kims on Nov 28, 2023 0:47:19 GMT
I had a different point of view of this film. I was struck how everyone had decided what Richardson's character should do, what he needed and no one ever seemed to ask him what he wanted. His son also says no one could ever tell him anything because the father was a minister. Richardson's character came off as removed, intellectual, because no one told him what happened in his own house. Nobody thought to find a housekeeper, the older daughter assumed the role out of duty? The father assumes she did this because she wanted to and compliments her lavishly with: he doesn't know what he'd do without her. I know some people see that as the father tying her to him, but no one seems to have considered any other option after the mother died. I thought sad at the end when the father, after years of being in the dark, is told what his family has been hiding.
Youngest daughter doesn't think she can tell her sister about the child she had. No one talks about youngest daughter's drinking. There were lots of secrets in this family and a father who must have felt isolated at times.
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