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Post by topbilled on Dec 26, 2022 3:48:34 GMT
Coming up:
Run of the Mills
April 1
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961)...Hayley, based on a story by Mary Hayley Bell (Hayley's mother)
April 8
THE CHALK GARDEN (1964)...John & Hayley
April 15
THE TRUTH ABOUT SPRING (1965)...John & Hayley
April 22
SKY WEST AND CROOKED (1965)...Hayley directed by John, screenplay by Mary Hayley Bell
April 29
THE FAMILY WAY (1966)...John & Hayley
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Post by Newbie on Jan 21, 2023 0:22:52 GMT
I recently found "The Devils" starting Oliver Reed on one of the off-brand streaming channels. I posted about it here under Horror. That channel had other Oliver Reed movies including one with Hayley Mills called "Take a Girl Like You" (1970). It seemed an odd pairing. Based on a Kingsley Amis novel, Mills comes to new town to start a teaching job. She meets Reed who takes an instant liking to her. Who wouldn't? She's adorable. Reed's a bit of a player and Mills isn't that kind of girl. Anyway, the movie is not terrible. There is a dangerous chemistry between the two. One scene, the two are talking and Reed reaches out and briefly, "playfully" grabs her neck. She looked genuinely surprised but instantly laughs it off. It seemed improvised in his part. I felt a little protective of Ms. Mills. Run, Hayley, run!
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Post by topbilled on Apr 1, 2023 14:56:39 GMT
Essential: WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961)TopBilled:
It is no secret that both Jlewis and myself are fans of Hayley Mills. The first film of hers we reviewed was TIGER BAY (1959) which shares more than a few similarities with our first selection this month… WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND is based on a novella written by Hayley’s mother, Mary Hayley Bell, that was begun in 1957. This would have been a year before Hayley and John worked on TIGER BAY, but I do think Noel Calef’s story for TIGER BAY inspired Mary Hayley Bell who likely made revisions to her novella while her daughter and husband were working on TIGER BAY. The story also seems to owe a debt to HUNTED, in which an impressionable lad (Jon Whiteley) gets involved with a crook (Dirk Bogarde). In WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, Hayley Mills is a pre-adolescent girl crossing paths with a criminal. TIGER BAY presents the criminal as a German man on the run, played by Horst Buchholz, whom Hayley’s character idolizes and even develops a crush on, while helping him flee police. Whereas WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND presents the criminal as a local British man (Alan Bates in his first major film role), whom young Hayley and a host of other children think is Jesus. They help shelter him from the local authorities. WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND takes place mostly on a farm in a remote rural area, unlike the urban setting of TIGER BAY. Additionally, it has more spiritual undercurrents than TIGER BAY, though I wouldn’t say it’s an outright Christian film.In some ways, it is a critical look at the innocence of children juxtaposed with the corruption of adults. Yes, the kids are a little too wholesome and naive, and their faith may at times seem laughable, but they are still very sincere. This sincerity makes them likable, and we root for them to get through to the adults that maybe their Christ-like friend is not as wrong as others might believe. I find it interesting that for the most part, Bates’ character is just referred to as The Man. When police finally nab him, he’s called Blakey, though I think in the novella, he’s called Blake. But for all intents and purposes, he is just a man, any ordinary man, who faces condemnation and suffering. We could read into this what sort of justice he will receive at the hands of adults who certainly won’t be as kind to him as the children. Related to this is an inordinate amount of paranoia and fear that grips the local community, since the man is considered dangerous by some…even if the children don’t know that side of him. At the heart of the story, of course, is the poignant relationship that develops between Hayley’s character and Bates, similar to the relationship her character had with Buchholz in the previous film. In both cases, we know the man is doomed. He will be arrested and hauled off. The arrest scene in WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND is played as a crucifixion with Bates’ arms and hands outstretched as to suggest Christ on the cross. While I think some of the parallels to Christian religion are a bit overdone, and the film is loaded with almost too much symbolism, it still retains a simple quality. And I feel this simple quality of children seeing the good in a fairly hopeless situation, is probably what makes it so appealing to youngsters in the audience. Of course there is one traitor in the bunch, a boy who helps lead the police to Bates, which also has religious implications, since that part is meant to represent Jesus’ betrayal by Judas.The film did well at the British box office, and it was nominated for a BAFTA for best picture that year. Hayley was also nominated for a BAFTA for her performance. This would be the first of many successful British pictures with social themes directed by former actor Bryan Forbes and co-produced by Richard Attenborough. Initially, Mary Hayley Bell and her husband John Mills did not want Forbes to direct WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, and I have not be able to determine the reason for their initial reluctance to hire Forbes. But Attenborough eventually convinced them that Forbes would be right as The Man behind the camera.***Jlewis:
 The great Hayley Mills appeared in this black and white British indy for Beaver Films (with a beaver portrait!) and Allied Film Makers in 1961, after appearing in two popular Disney features (THE PARENT TRAP being a huge hit). She was nominated for a BAFTA, no doubt with her previous successes aiding her among the critical establishment. Most fascinating is the fact that her own mother, Mary Hayley Bell Mills, had written the novel from which it was adapted by screenwriters Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse.Great care went into this very special children’s film with Richard Attenborough operating as a producer and Bryan Forbes, who later covered THE STEPFORD WIVES in the United States, directing after Attenborough decided to step back and give the innovative recruit a chance. It also marked the cinematic debut of Alan Bates, another familiar face in many sixties and seventies films made on both sides of the Atlantic. In muddy North Lancashire farm country, Kathy Bostock (Hayley) and her sister Nan (Diane Holgate) and most talkative brother Charles (Alan Barnes) rescue drowning kittens and try to hide them in a neighboring barn from their we-can’t-feed-anymore father (Bernard Lee) and aunt Dorothy (Else Wagstaff). One trip there at night reveals a semi-conscious, injured convict named Albert Blakey (Alan Bates) whom Kathy thinks is Jesus Christ. Why? Well…children do have such creative and imaginative minds.Albert doesn’t understand all of this but goes along with it since he is on the loose avoiding the authorities. He also tolerates the trio (three children who are musically scored by Malcolm Arnold around a “We Three Kings” melody) bringing their juvenile friends as long as “the grown ups” don’t know about his existence. After all, he might get crucified! Little Charles begins questioning if this Jesus is real since his kitten dies unexpectedly and Albert doesn’t save him. “He has to let some die, I suppose” is his big sister’s response. Both seek answers, without revealing that they are hiding Albert, with the local vicar (Hamilton Dyce) eating lunch at a cafe. He tells Kathy, in regards to humans if not non-human animals, that “babies are being born all of the time. Those of us who were here already have to make room for them, haven’t we?”It is right after their revelation that a camera pans on an officer putting up a street poster for Albert Blakey stating that he is wanted for murder. This is pretty thought-provoking material about religion and how it is taught to impressionable minds. Certainly not the kind of kids entertainment made today, which is a shame. It is important to give children all kinds of perspectives on life. I am reminded how often political figures are described by far-right preachers as “chosen by God to lead” due to their enormous success in influencing huge crowds and the media. Kathy and her friends believe Albert is Jesus, but they are children who have experienced little by way of adventure in their confined rural community.Humorously, Albert asks Kathy at one point if she brought any “snuff” and Kathy replies that she did not know Jesus smoked. Yet she figures she might as well go get some. One endearing message is that children always do good things when they feel committed to a higher calling regardless of “where” they think Jesus or God is. When Albert is taken away by the authorities, the children see his arms stretched out as if on a cross. Kathy promises other children who missed Jesus that “he will come again.” It is interesting to note that actor Alan Bates later starred in THE KING OF HEARTS in which he is, again, treated as some kind of quasi-religious subject by innocents. Likewise, Hayley Mills played a similar girl infatuated and helpful of a criminal man in her earlier pre-Disney success, TIGER BAY.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 8, 2023 9:00:54 GMT
Essential: THE CHALK GARDEN (1964)TopBilled: In some ways the real-life struggle that Enid Bagnold experienced getting her play produced is just as interesting as what ended up on stage and eventually on screen. A prominent British producer had turned her down, but then an American producer– Irene Selznick, ex-wife of David O.– took an interest. However, Ms. Selznick felt the writing needed focus so they began an extended period of polishing the material. Finally, with the play now in tip top shape, they needed to secure the right cast. Bagnold envisioned Edith Evans in the role of eccentric Mrs. St. Maugham; but Selznick hired Gladys Cooper. For the part of Miss Madrigal, Selznick approached Katharine Hepburn, who didn’t seem to connect to the role, so it went to Irish actress Siobhan McKenna. As for the disturbed granddaughter Laurel, sixteen year old Betsy von Furstenberg was cast.The play was a hit on Broadway, and its success convinced the British producer who had previously turned Bagnold down, to mount a stage adaptation in London, where it ran for two years. This led to a feature film adaptation. Though it would not be the first time a work of Bagnold’s had reached the screen; an earlier story she wrote about a girl and a horse had already been filmed– NATIONAL VELVET. Bagnold’s wish of Edith Evans playing Mrs. St. Maugham was realized in the film version of THE CHALK GARDEN. Ross Hunter, who was producing the feature at Universal, considered using Ingrid Bergman as mysterious Miss Madrigal but instead they brought in Deborah Kerr who had more box office clout than Bergman at this time. Laurel would be played by Hayley Mills, who was about 18. Hayley was reunited with her father John on camera since he would costar as Maitland, the household valet. Most of the play’s mystery and its backstory of secrets is preserved for the movie. You might say some of the drama is predictably convoluted though nonetheless satisfying. The story’s title comes from the fact that Mrs. St. Maugham is desperate to grow a garden, but lime and chalk prevent it from being a success. This has symbolic meaning, as she is anxious to help her disturbed granddaughter grow and prosper.Into the mix, governess Madrigal is hired. She seems to be a bit magical a la Mary Poppins, though she has a dark past involving the death of someone close to her. At the same time, Maitland’s murky background is also addressed. To say these people are not squeaky clean is an understatement. All the performers do a fine job conveying the conflicted natures of their characters, bringing us to a fuller understanding of their somewhat confused identities. Not to mention how their fates are interconnected during this important time as the St. Maugham estate in Sussex.While Hayley gets to play some of the drama’s more shocking moments as a pyromaniac setting fires, I think the instability of the adults that surround her, may be a bit more interesting to watch. After all, the girl is still a teen and has plenty of time to adapt, but the adults are past their prime and still in the process of learning to live their lives productively and peacefully. The film was a hit for Universal, and Edith Evans received an Oscar nomination as supporting actress. While remembered as a cheeky comedy about the problems of an upper class family, there is still plenty of emotional angst to balance out the eccentric moments with serious contemplation about intergenerational resolve.I have a feeling that Katharine Hepburn regretted turning down the role of Miss Madrigal, as it would have led to a much-needed career resurgence for her. In the 1970s, she agreed to star in another one of Miss Bagnold’s plays, a similarly themed treatise on warped values and self-sacrifice called ‘A Matter of Gravity.’ It was not as great a success as The Chalk Garden. Instead of being about a female coming of age, it focused on the older woman’s relationship with a troubled grandson, played by young Christopher Reeve.***Jlewis: Hayley Mills is teamed up with both her father John Mills (obviously they got along great to appear so often together) and big names Deborah Kerr and Edith Evans in this Ronald Neame adaptation of Enid Bagnold’s popular play. Hayley did this one in the spring of 1963 in between two mainstream Disney films, SUMMER MAGIC and THE MOON-SPINNERS.A U.S.-U.K. co-production with backing by Ross Hunter, it was filmed in England (interiors at MGM’s British facilities) but is cut from the same cloth as so many other Ross Hunter Hollywood productions with strong female protagonists, gorgeous Technicolor sets (I watched a nice fine-grain print) and overly slushy orchestration that emphasizes every single thought and emotion each character has to such a degree that one could potentially make a Saturday Night Live parody of it.
 Ever since Paramount initially bought the rights to the play in 1955, so many big names expressed hit and miss interest. Alec Guinness was involved in the stage version and was considered, while Ethel Barrymore, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Sandra Dee were all prime contenders. The final result emerged on screens at a time when such melodramas were on their way out and the reviews were predictably mixed, but the star power helped at the box-office.Deborah Kerr plays Miss Madrigal, a governess with a past not revealed until the final ten minutes (dare I spoil?) who is hired by very well-cast Edith Evans’ Mrs. St. Maugham to oversee her rebellious grand-daughter Laurel (Hayley Mills). The primary butler and confident of Maugham is Maitland (John Mills) who develops a bit of a crush on Madigral. Key drama: Grandma wants to keep her own daughter Olivia (Elizabeth Sellars) from taking custody of Laurel due to her remarrying after her first husband drank himself to death. A visiting judge McWhirrey (Felix Aylmer) becomes the catalyst for the big reveal in our final reel. This involves Madigral in a court case fifteen years prior and, thus, she currently sees elements of her own teenage self in Laurel. Leading up to all of this are sarcastic verbal games between a teenager and her stiff and poised house-instructor. Hayley gets to play a brat with a soft side, not unlike her future role in THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS. But her character loses her antagonism once she discovers people for who they really are and not by initial appearances.Overall, the performances here are good even if Deborah Kerr isn’t too much different here than in other stiff-upper-lip roles she was taking on at this stage of her career. Also we get plenty of psychological analysis: the chalky soil prevents the Maugham estate from growing lush gardens but Madigral has some solutions for that which parallel the emotional support for teenagers.I kinda enjoyed this one in spots but can’t say I will remember it all that much since some dramas of this vintage do blur in my memory. It also runs a little too long before getting to the all important conclusion and feels rather stagey in parts. Yet there is some pleasing countryside scenery to accompany the usual interiors. I also enjoyed the music score by Malcolm Arnold despite it going full throttle in comparison to WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, keeping one awake through the end.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 15, 2023 15:17:18 GMT
Essential: THE TRUTH ABOUT SPRING (1965)
TopBilled: The first thought I had when I read the description about this film is that gee, it seems a lot like a Walt Disney movie, only it’s not made by the Disney company. There are quite a few elements from Hayley Mills’ previous Hollywood hits woven into this British-American adventure tale produced by Universal.I suppose it was deliberate, because her fans had already come to expect her in certain types of stories, playing characters that were similar in nature to what she’d recently done for Disney. But just because a film may lack originality, that doesn’t mean it can’t succeed at entertaining and giving an audience what it wants. In this case, Hayley is joined by fellow Disney alum James MacArthur. He plays a law school graduate from up north who comes down to Florida for some fishing. He meets Hayley, when he learns she and her father (John Mills, Hayley’s real-life dad) operate a small sailboat that would be perfect for his excursion.MacArthur is rich, while the Millses don’t have much money. MacArthur’s background consists of complex rules and expectations, while the Millses enjoy a more simple and carefree existence. MacArthur’s character is a bit worldly. He has seen and done a lot, while Hayley’s character, named Spring (hence the title) is sheltered and lacks sophistication. The opposites attract formula is the basis upon which many romcoms have been built; and in this case, things get a bit zany when MacArthur learns of a hidden pirate treasure and is intent on helping to recover it.When you watch a movie of this ilk, you know you will go into it with some suspension of disbelief. But I think this picture lifts itself above its obviousness. At its heart it is basically a three-character study. And part of the growth of Hayley’s character in the movie involves her maturing beyond the fairly unstructured relationship she’s had with her father so that she may experience love with a lad closer to her own age. Surprisingly, they do not find the pirate treasure before the end of the movie, though they have formed a lasting bond that is a treasure of a different kind. Of course, Hayley’s Spring is conflicted about starting a new life without her father, going north as a bride.The title that the producers chose for the film is catchy, but we have to ask what it means. What really is the truth about Spring? Is it that she is blossoming, yet will remain resilient in spite of all the changes she experiences? Or is she just merely entering another season in her life? ***Jlewis:
“She’s only eighteen and she’s Spring…” John Mills and his daughter Hayley costar in what may be the most Disneyesque of their non-Disney films (i.e. Universal and Rank distributed this one). Although Hayley was under contract with Disney for five years, the senior Mills had also worked for the mouse-house in SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON alongside James MacArthur, who is also featured here.In the supporting cast is David Tomlinson, fresh off MARY POPPINS. After filming in England (MGM British) and the Spanish Mediterranean coastlines (posing as Florida and the Bahamas) was completed in June 1964, Hayley returned to California for yet another Disney production, THAT DARN CAT! The great Richard Thorpe took on the director’s chair. His name was associated with MGM’s ambitious-but-modest adventure features such as TARZAN ESCAPES, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, IVANHOE and many others. On the surface, this vehicle was right up his alley, even if the end result is less adventuresome than the initial enthusiasm. The 1921 novel by Henry DeVere Stacpoolie that this is loosely based on, Satan: A Romance of the Bahamas, had been covered for the screen before as SATAN’S SISTER (1925). Daddy and daughter get to play daddy and daughter this time around, although you might not recognize John Mills at first under all of his whiskers as Captain Tommy Tyler. Hayley’s Spring is a tomboy with her hair cut short (but stiff poofy in a feminine way) and is initially not impressed with William Ashton (MacArthur), a visiting lawyer from Philadelphia.William, whose stuffy uncle (Tomlinson) owns of a huge yacht, joins the Tylers on their boat, Catfish Kelly, in the Bahamas area for some recreational fishing; his striped pajamas creating quite the sensation with the rustic pair. The basic plot involves their exploration for Spanish treasure, both cooperating and competing with others for it (Niall MacGinnis’ Cleary and Lionel Jeffries’ José Carkez being semi-comic figures).Yet it basically boils down to boy meets girl and the girl discovers she is no longer a tomboy under his charms. We see her early on admiring her one dress kept in a safe-keep, suggesting that her feminine side is struggling to come out.Had this film been made recently in these more enlightened times, it would attempt to explore more gender identification issues than just follow the stock hetero-romantic tropes that Hollywood had already employed for decades. Note too that she is the one shown preparing the meals for her men, with William breaking a dish as she is washing them.One nice Hayley touch that offsets this: when Ashton first kisses her unexpectedly, she slaps him! Granted, she apologizes later and asks for more. The cast clearly enjoyed themselves in this recreational excursion but I must admit to being bored at times due to the performances all being rather golly-gee obvious. In my opinion, this is the weakest of the six Hayleys I have watched back to back, even if it still has some interesting tidbits here and there. Of course, Hayley is her usual adorable self. Treasure is not found, but happily ever after is. John Mills admitted later that this was hardly one of his better efforts, but he enjoyed the vacation aspects of the shoot. It got shown on television quite a bit in the sixties and seventies as family friendly filler, prompting quite a bit of nostalgia among boomers when they became teens like Hayley in this film. Universal dragged its feet in issuing it out on DVD, but the demand was great enough that it finally caved in as part of its “Vault” collection in 2014.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 22, 2023 7:00:14 GMT
Essential: SKY WEST AND CROOKED (1965)
TopBilled:
 John Mills had been acting in films since 1932, and his motion picture career hit its peak in the postwar period, where for about ten years he was one of Britain’s top box office draws. By the time he reached the late 50s, one would expect a slight downturn in his movie fortunes. But as luck would have it, his daughter Hayley’s acting career took off and starting with TIGER BAY (1959), father and daughter began a series of high-profile screen collaborations.These collaborations, in which John was usually billed after Hayley, provided extra momentum, and by the time we reach the mid-60s, we have this unusual offering in which John directs Hayley. It would be the actor’s only feature film as director. Filmed in a village in South Gloucestershire, they used an original story by Hayley’s mother, Mary Hayley Bell. She had previously provided the drama for Hayley’s earlier hit WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND which seemed to borrow plot elements from TIGER BAY. This time the production is filmed in color, and the subject matter is a bit more somber at first, involving the death of loved ones that Hayley’s character Brydie White experiences.The opening sequence has Brydie injured in the head, while a boy she’s playing with has been killed after a rifle accidentally goes off. The boy’s parents are still grieving a while later, blaming Brydie for their son’s death. However, Brydie’s own injuries and the trauma from the shooting have left her a bit mentally incapacitated. She visits her dead friend’s grave but doesn’t quite remember how he was killed. Added to this is the fact that Brydie feels compelled to bury animals in the local village, since they too were loved, and are now gone. Another child helps her gather up the dead animals and they dig graves for them in the cemetery, which unnerves the locals. In these scenes, we are supposed to sympathize with well-meaning Brydie even if her measures are rather unorthodox. Besides becoming an outcast in the village, she has an extra burden. That comes in the form of a drunk single mother (Annette Crosbie) who is focal point of gossip. To say their mother-daughter relationship is dysfunctional is an understatement. Things escalate when Brydie is confronted with the truth of her role in her friend’s death. Not able to cope with the truth, she runs off. While she has disappeared, her mum consumes even more booze and eventually dies of a heart attack. Yes, some of this is not exactly feel-good material. But as a character study about a girl with obvious handicaps, struggling to survive, I think it has merit.Undoubtedly, this was a chance for the young actress to return to more serious material, away from the lighter Disney fare she had been doing…to give her a character with a bit more hardship and depth to play. In that regard, it’s an interesting cinematic experiment, and as the narrative rolls along, we do get drawn into her world and want to see her overcome obstacles. The film’s second half involves the character on the run with some gypsies. This includes a friendship with a guy named Roibin (Ian McShane) that develops into tender genuine feelings. We root for the couple, though the other gypsies consider the girl an ‘outsider’ and bad luck to them. Later, she goes back to her village, learning about her mother’s death. But there is nothing there for her anymore, and she is eager to rejoin the gypsies. She’s been taught to read signs of how the gypsies travel, and she’ll catch up to them.In the U.S. market, the film was retitled GYPSY GIRL which probably seems more apt. Though I think that gives away the ending, since we can infer she catches up the gypsies if she ultimately becomes one of them. The phrase ‘Sky West and Crooked’ is a British expression meaning something is not quite right in the head. And for much of the film’s running time, things aren’t quite right with Hayley’s character, until she goes off on her own and finds love. ***Jlewis:
Also titled THE GYPSY GIRL, father directs daughter. John Mills also produced through the Rank Organization. As with WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, Hayley Mills’ mother Mary Haley Bell co-wrote the screenplay, making this another family affair. It is also the most unusual of the Mills offerings we are reviewing this month, featuring an offbeat premise. We begin with a flashback involving a boy and a girl playing with a gun in a countryside, but not realizing that it was loaded. We see the girl ten years later as Brydie White (Hayley Mills) meeting a visting romeo-of-sorts, Roibin Krisenki (Ian McShane), just as she gets chastised for her spaniel doing his business in a cemetery.She suffers from much memory loss with a scar on her forehead, but she didn’t get killed like her friend. Her mother (Annette Crosbie) considers her quite the handful with her frequent adoption of strange pets and fascination with cemeteries and death, frequently burying any deceased animals she and younger Julian (Andrew Wicks) collect. There is a certain quirky quality to this English community, with Little Badminton in South Gloucestershire providing the scenic backdrop. The local undertakers are named, humorously, Mr. and Mrs. Cheeseman (Norman Bird and June Ellis). From gossip over tea time among the well-to-do uppity matrons, we learn that Brydie’s mother wasn’t married at the time of her pregnancy (but a “Mr. White” did exist and is no longer around) and her alcoholism makes her “unfit” to be a mother. Yes, this community is quite the judgmental bunch. The Reverend Phillip Moss and his wife (Geoffrey Bayldon and Pauline Jameson) question all of the additional “graves” appearing by the church with the children adding their pets and, like other strongly opinionated-in-their-beliefs Christians, Phillip insists that non-human animals lack “souls” and do not belong on such “sacred” ground.Yet he understands Brydie’s good intentions and becomes an on again and off again overseer of the teenager. Unfortunately, others don’t feel the same way, especially the father of the deceased boy, Edwin Dacres (Laurence Naismith), who still blames Brydie for what happened long ago. Her potential love interest, Roibin, is unwanted as a migrant invader due to his Romani “gypsy” background. Yet he and his grandmother (Rachel Thomas) support her when she has an emotional breakdown after Edwin tells her she was responsible for his son’s death so long ago…which may not exactly be true. In a state of hysteria, her health breaks down and she requires nursing by Roibin and his itinerant family.Since they are outcasts, Brydie is reported missing and the police investigating fail to find her initially. Meanwhile, in true melodrama fashion, her mother is distraught and has an alcoholic meltdown that leads to sudden death by heart attack! Brydie later visits her mother’s grave when she learns what happened and the good Reverend takes charge of her again to decide whether or not Brydie needs to be institutionalized. Eventually the good man of faith decides that Brydie should reunite with Roibin as two outcasts who belong to each other. Loves conquers all emotional trauma. Dog joins them too.This is an unusual thought-provoker that has a lot to say about small town prejudices and how gossipy talk of “shame” drives people to destruction (like Brydie’s mother dying in the company of mean spirited women). Traditional religious beliefs are also questioned to a degree here, but the central character of Rev. Phillip is still a good man who cares a lot about Brydie’s welfare and helps her find her happiness. It is the way humans structure themselves and those under their control that tends to be bad. This was a common theme in many films made circa 1965 during a transitional period in British society when the youth was questioning the authority of their elders and the established mores.It may not be a particularly memorable film overall, but it features (in my opinion) one of Hayley’s most impressive performances. I suspect that, had this modest offering had a wider distribution in the United States and her box-office clout was better than it was, Hayley could have been nominated for an Oscar here. Ian McShane is also interesting here even if his performance is more subdued than elsewhere (later works like TV’s LOVEJOY and DEADWOOD would make him more famous). Oh…like two other titles profiled earlier, Malcolm Arnold provides the score here. However, it differs from them in that you only really notice it towards the end when the happy ending unfolds. There are many scenes when no music is heard at all.
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Post by topbilled on Apr 29, 2023 13:50:04 GMT
Essential: THE FAMILY WAY (1966)
TopBilled:
 John Mills was proud of the work he did in this film as a blustery working class bloke. It was one of the best roles he had in a long and distinguished career, perhaps second in quality to what he played in HOBSON’S CHOICE. As an actor he seemed to specialize in portraying flawed yet capable men. In this case, it’s an exaggerated masculine type who’s rough around the edges, but ultimately does right by his son. Supposedly John Mills tried to obtain the rights to Bill Naughton’s play ‘All in Good Time,’ which serves as the basis for THE FAMILY WAY. But the Boulting brothers had beaten him to it and were keen to cast Peter Sellers. However, when Sellers was unavailable, the Boultings agreed to cast John, alongside daughter Hayley with whom he had already made several hit motion pictures.John and Hayley did not play father and daughter on screen in several of their films together. The first venture, TIGER BAY (1959), saw John as an unrelated police investigator. A subsequent effort, THE CHALK GARDEN (1964), had John as the butler of Hayley’s well-to-do grandmother. And in THE FAMILY WAY, Hayley is playing John’s daughter-in-law, though she does call him ‘dad’ in a scene at the end. The story for this film reminds me of Tennessee Williams’ PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT. We have a young couple (Hayley and Hywel Bennett) wed at the beginning. But a sudden change in circumstance prevents them from taking a planned honeymoon. Instead, they are thrown right into married life, taking up residence in a home owned by Bennett’s folks (John Mills and Marjorie Rhodes who perfected her role on Broadway and earned a Tony nomination).Bennett has a somewhat tense relationship with his father, but both parents and a brother (Murray Head) seem to want the new marriage to work. The newlyweds have their own bedroom, but it comes with little privacy and plenty of noise is heard through the dwelling’s thin walls. Making things a bit more awkward at first is the fact that things are hardly romantic on their wedding night. It seems Bennett can’t perform, and he encounters this same problem every night. Eventually, his sexual frustration increases and leads to a near rape of his bride. But then he regains his head, so to speak, and the couple do finally make love as they should. Much of the film’s main story focuses on Bennett’s temporary impotency. They go ten weeks before the marriage is consummated. There are plenty of comic bits related to this situation, since several gossipy neighbors functioning as a Greek chorus, convey their suspicions that the couple is having issues. Bennett’s coworkers also weigh in on the matter, though some of that isn’t very funny and leads to a tussle on the street. There’s an intriguing subplot involving the parents, who continually reference a long-absent friend named Billy who was with them in the early days of their marriage. It is implied that Billy, who was a gentle soul, may have been Bennett’s biological father. But John Mills’ character is still unconscious of this ‘fact.’ Yet to his credit, he steps up at the end and is a father in every sense of the word.I think it helps that the frequently mentioned Billy remains off screen, and that the backstory is not entirely spelled out. This allows us the audience to fill in the gaps with our own imaginations. Overall this is a poignant and thoughtful movie, and it stays with you long after viewing it. There are splendid performances all around, even the lesser roles are played with intelligence and insight. Oh, and we get to see Hayley’s nude backside in a bathing scene. She couldn’t stay Pollyanna forever. ***Jlewis:
Hayley Mills turned twenty a month before filming began on this one and was trying to get past her child star image by doing her first…gasp!…nude scene. Not to worry, since this was just a brief back-view shot with her cute bottom exposed. Also daddy John Mills was involved in the cast (playing her father-in-law) and Roy Boulting was one of the top producer-directors of British cinema with his brother John, so the notoriety helped Hayley’s evolving career post-Disney. Roy and Hayley, in fact, got quite chummy during filming and would later marry in 1971 just as her career was starting to fade into the sunset (before a comeback on the small screen with the highly engaging THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA).Oh…and Paul McCartney of The Beatles and his producer George Martin contributed to the mostly instrumental musical score. Well…some of it. The rock group would, soon after, record “Strawberry Fields Forever” and dive deep into their Sgt Pepper opus and, therefore, the contribution was minimal. It was just enough to increase promotion for the film and its soundtrack album featuring “the George Martin Orchestra.” “Once upon, there was a virgin. She was twenty years old and, I must say, a rare bird.” By 1966, fewer twenty year olds were waiting until marriage before enjoying themselves, but Jenny Piper comes from a very religious background and gets the full-scale church wedding, complete with anti-fornication sermons. She is now entering the Fitton family. Her groom, Arthur (Hywel Bennett), is part of a lively bunch who are all rather intrusive since Arthur has yet to be able to afford a place of his own: daddy Ezra (John Mills), mum Lucy (Marjorie Rhodes) and brother Geoffrey (Murray Head, later famous in SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY). She, in turn, often has to deal with her own parents and their frequent intrusions: the Pipers, Leslie (John Comer) and Liz (Avril Angers), along with the lovable Uncle Fred (Wilfred Pickles).The whole plot involves the newlyweds getting a decent honeymoon and “consummating” their marriage. Starting off on the wrong foot, so they say, is a bed that breaks down, thanks to a practical joke by Arthur’s boss, Joe Thompson (Barry Foster). Another major obstacle involves getting shammed by a travel agency on a proposed trip to Majorca and losing a lot of cash. Then there are their conflicting day-shift and night-shift jobs. Naturally, the wilder motorcycling brother-in-law Geoffrey occasionally catches Jenny’s interest when the more uptight Arthur isn’t available. There are hints along the way that Arthur has more of a problem with all of this than Jenny. As they site-see in some rare together time in the busy towns, all kinds of sexy advertising teases them on billboards. A marriage counselor is called upon after six weeks of abstinence. Eventually both sets of parents realize what is going on as well and chip in to some sort of…strategy!“To think a son of mine can’t prove his manhood” is an unexpected line we hear from John Mill’s mouth, not to mention his questioning if his son is…“queer.” Hilariously, wife Lucy has fun putting Ezra in his place in front of the in-laws, discussing how a certain “Billy” had joined the two of them on THEIR honeymoon. Yet he and Billy were bro-buddies who got “scrubbed in the tub” together as tykes, so he HAD to bring him along! (The subject of Billy comes up twice, including the emotional ending.)Nature has a way around many obstacles, so we do get our happy ending as the couple get financial support moving out on their own and getting a much needed honeymoon. Humorous moments involve Uncle Fred giving Jenny advice while holding rabbits. The symbolism here is pretty obvious.In the Halliwell Film Guides of the 1980s, Leslie Halliwell singled out the performances of Marjorie Rhodes and Avril Angers (the two talkative mothers), but noted that the one hour 1961 TV adaptation of Bill Naughton’s Honeymoon Deferred was better. He considered this version “overstretched.” Maybe it does run a trifle long with some unnecessary padding, but the cinema screen still offers better visual scenery than any small screen version. Included are many vintage sights in Rochdale, Slough and Naughton’s own Bolton in Greater Manchester. (Interior shots were done at Shepperton Studios). Although Warner Bros. distributed it in the United States, there was practically no Hollywood money involved in this British Lion production, a rarity among British films during the height of Hollywood’s “Swinging London” phase.
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Post by NoShear on May 2, 2023 18:22:00 GMT
Coming up:
Run of the Mills
April 1
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND (1961)...Hayley, based on a story by Mary Hayley Bell (Hayley's mother)
April 8
THE CHALK GARDEN (1964)...John & Hayley
April 15
THE TRUTH ABOUT SPRING (1965)...John & Hayley
April 22
SKY WEST AND CROOKED (1965)...Hayley directed by John, screenplay by Mary Hayley Bell
April 29
THE FAMILY WAY (1966)...John & Hayley I realize I'm way late to your post here, TopBilled, but it reminds me of a once TCM Message Boards tradition of yours: TCM and Other Sources for Classic Film |
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Post by Fading Fast on May 2, 2023 19:29:20 GMT
Somehow I missed it when Topbilled posted his outstanding review, so now that I've seen it, I'm now posting mine that I wrote a few years ago.
The Family Way from 1966 with Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett and John Mills
The Family Way is a lighter version of an English kitchen-sink drama about a young newlywed couple who are unable to consummate their marriage as a lack of privacy, they live with his parents, causes "performance" issues for him.
Of course he, Hywel Bennett, doesn't want anyone to know, but his family, friends and neighbors slowly kinda sorta suss out what is not going on in the newlyweds' marriage. Wife Hayley Mills is as understanding as could be, but even she recommends they see a marriage counselor, which he refuses as he doesn't want to tell his problem to a stranger. But, secretly, he does go to see one.
What we have now is a shy young man, with an horribly embarrassing performance issue, summoning up the courage to talk to a professional. It's the 1960s in England, so one expects the counselor to be a elderly, serious-looking man.
Instead, he walks into the office and the counselor is an attractive young woman. Effectively, our in-his-late-teens hero has to tell a pretty woman he can't get it up. Life can really suck on a bad day.
Perhaps feeding into this problem, Bennett, his mother tells us, has always been a sensitive boy whose passion for reading irritates his working-class father who's angry his son isn't "more of a man." We later learn, the father himself seems to have some repressed homosexual leanings, which, it is implies, fuels his "tough guy" persona.
The real fun and point, though, of The Family Way is watching the secret slowly leak out to both families and the neighbors in this small town.
In a priceless scene when the couple's parents, all normal-for-their-day sexually repressed men and women, try to discuss "the problem" amongst themselves. They do so without ever really saying what is going on or using any descriptive words. The conversation goes on humorously awkward like this:
Girl's mother: I had a heart to heart with Jenny (the young wife).
Boy's mother: She didn't give you any details?
Girl's father: There wouldn't be any, would there?
The neighbors are less discrete, which fuels the climax as Bennett rightfully accuses Mills of telling someone "their secret." She did tell her mother and from there it just spreads until their "problem" becomes the subject of over-the-back-fence gossip.
There are a few other things going on - a travel agent embezzled their honeymoon funds, which is why their marriage began in his parents' small and thin-walled house. Also not helping things is Bennett's still-living-at-home, studdly motorcycle-racing brother who takes too much of an interest in now-frustrated Mills. But the crux and humor in this one is why "nothing" is happening in this marriage.
In The Family Way we do see some real day-to-day problems of the working class and how even the newlyweds' parents' marriages are far from perfect, but the general tone is humorous enough to make it, overall, a fun movie.
N.B. #1 While it was probably risque at the time, the one short scene where we see Hayley Mills' plucky bare bottom, compared with today's ubiquitous and graphic sex scenes, is more cute than racy.
N.B. #2 When the parents have their big confab, the possibility that Bennett is (using the language of the day) "queer" comes up, prompting one parent to say, effectively (and paraphrasing), "so what if that's what he is, that's what nature wanted." Once again, we see the past was not as closed-minded nor black and white on issues as it's often portrayed.
N.B. #3 Britain's 1960s socialist government doesn't come across as ruthless and dictatorial, but bureaucratically indifferent to those it serves and grossly inefficient in its efforts to help, in this case, a young couple find a place to live.
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Post by topbilled on May 3, 2023 14:49:34 GMT
It's nice to see other people are fans of THE FAMILY WAY.
At the end of April I had emailed Jlewis telling him I was glad we did a whole month on Hayley and her parents. I enjoyed all five films, but THE FAMILY WAY occupies a special place in my heart.
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