I recently acquired a DVD copy of this film from a rare video dealer and agree that availability is a problem for connoisseurs of this genre.I heartily agree with the post of Rosalind Jane and would much prefer films like this at Christmas rather than watching the usual modern boring obsession with " the cult of celebrity" by TV companies.Trouble is today, there are too many vested commercial interests keeping mediocre talent in active employment in films.As I am 61 years old I am not in the right socio-economic group for profit hungry advertisers/TV companies (and even the ratings conscious BBC), as they are too obsessed by the 20/30 year old market with its higher spending potential.Most of the time us older viewers do not get much of a look in so must resort to seeking out and collecting advert free dvds of our favourite films. "Writers Reign" post "The Last Noel" effectively deals with the plot so I won't embellish further on that but provide my own comment.
The most emotional scene for me was Margaret Leighton telling her father, Ralph Richardson, about her 4 year old son Simon, who then died of meningitis, whom she bore out of wedlock.Post war Britain was indeed in a rather depressing,impoverished state and the mores and customs very different from the present day.Why on some council estates its almost something to be proud of and de rigeur for teenage pregnancies and "going on the social".Of course "The Holly and the Ivy", made in 1952, depicts a very middle class family so the stigma and social disgrace would have been all the more than would have been the case for say a working class family.
This film was based on the play so beloved of amateur dramatic societies in the late 40s and early 50s.Indeed my late parents appeared in this play with their society.During this time there was still great pressure on unmarried daughters to look after their elderly parents.This play was set long before women had equal legal and social rights as men and society expected women to fill the social breach when necessary.
If this play had been about a working class family, it would not have been quite so shocking to sensitive middle class eyes.Unfortunately working class playwrights were still some years in the future so one is left with the middle class writing for the middle class.I rated it 7/10.
The most emotional scene for me was Margaret Leighton telling her father, Ralph Richardson, about her 4 year old son Simon, who then died of meningitis, whom she bore out of wedlock.Post war Britain was indeed in a rather depressing,impoverished state and the mores and customs very different from the present day.Why on some council estates its almost something to be proud of and de rigeur for teenage pregnancies and "going on the social".Of course "The Holly and the Ivy", made in 1952, depicts a very middle class family so the stigma and social disgrace would have been all the more than would have been the case for say a working class family.
This film was based on the play so beloved of amateur dramatic societies in the late 40s and early 50s.Indeed my late parents appeared in this play with their society.During this time there was still great pressure on unmarried daughters to look after their elderly parents.This play was set long before women had equal legal and social rights as men and society expected women to fill the social breach when necessary.
If this play had been about a working class family, it would not have been quite so shocking to sensitive middle class eyes.Unfortunately working class playwrights were still some years in the future so one is left with the middle class writing for the middle class.I rated it 7/10.