User Reviews

The film begins with Esther (Kathleen Ryan) arriving at a new job as a cook for an upper-class family. Things do not go smoothly at first--mostly because Esther is a very moralistic woman. However, her high ideals change when she meets William, a man who also works on the estate (Dirk Bogarde). His life is horse racing and he's rather worldly--much the opposite of Esther. Yet, oddly, they have a relationship. Esther learns she is pregnant at the same time William leaves with another woman! The next several years are very, very tough on Esther and her child--with extreme poverty hardship.

Out of the blue, William sees Esther and only then realizes he has a son. During the intervening years, he'd apparently been abroad with the horses. He's now reasonably well off--owning a pub and doing some bookmaking. This is not the most admirable of jobs, but he seems like a decent man who wants to do what's right by his son and Esther. While she initially rejects any attempts for William to help, eventually she relents and they marry.

Several uneventful years pass. Eventually, the bookmaking business begins to sour and so does his health. William cannot seem to stop with gambling and is still hoping for a big killing so he can afford to move his family to Egypt for his health. They never say what ailment he has--and you assume it must be Tuberculosis (due to the need for a dry climate). Will he succeed and change their lives for the better or will the family face financial ruin and disaster? Tune in to this working-class tale to find out for yourself.

While this is not the most exciting film I have ever seen (it definitely is a bit uneven dramatically speaking), I really liked the acting. The film was not sensationalistic--it just seemed to feature real people in real situations and there is a lot to admire in this 19th century tale. Also, while a subplot involving a preacher who has fallen in love with Esther and asks to marry her is not a major part of the film, it is very much like a working of "Jane Eyre". The choice between a flawed man she loves and a safe but passionless preacher is in both stories (although in most movies, this important subplot is omitted in "Jane Eyre").

This is a forgotten movie based on an apparently forgotten novel by George Moore. It is actually rather enjoyable. The two Derby Day sequences in the second half of the film are richly detailed and capture the excitement of the crowds and the horse races themselves very well. There is excellent camera work here and throughout the film.

The plot of the film is drastically simplified from what occurs in the novel--even by movie standards. In the one review of the film that I have been able to track down (Leonard Maltin's Guide to Classic Films), the story is criticized as being essentially soap opera. Actually, everything that happens in the movie also occurs in the novel. It's just that the novel is so much richer in incident, detail, and significance.

Dirk Bogarde has his first starring role in the movie, playing a rogue-like character of the sort that he would play again in some later films. His is moving in his final scenes, when he is mortally ill with tuberculosis and bets all of his money on a horse that would lose the big race. Kathleen Ryan, as Esther, is suitably sympathetic. Cyril Cusack is given a wimpy role as a preacher who loves Esther, and it is no wonder that Esther chooses to go with Bogarde, in spite of his previous abandonment of her.

The movie is a very good period piece that is interesting in spite of its simplistic story.

Producers: Ian Dalrymple, Peter Proud. Executive producer: Ian Dalrymple. Made by Ian Dalrymple's Wessex Film Productions. Presented by J. Arthur Rank.

Copyright 1948 by Independent Producers Ltd. Never theatrically released or broadcast in the U.S. (but made available to Canadian television stations through T. of C.). U.K. release through General Film Distributors: 11 November 1948. Australian release through G-B- D/20th Century-Fox: 6 October 1949. 9,738 feet. 108 minutes (Available on a very good Spirit Entertainment DVD).

SYNOPSIS: The period is the eighteen eighties. Primly brought up Esther takes a job as servant in a country estate where racehorses are trained. Esther succumbs to the 'racier' atmosphere and also to the charms of footman William Latch, son of the housekeeper. She becomes pregnant, but Latch has eloped with the niece of his employer. Esther is forced to have her baby in the workhouse and brings him up alone despite the condemnation of respectable society. Eventually, she agrees to marry good Fred; but Latch turns up again, and persuades Esther to marry him for the sake of their son Jackie. Always a gambler, his fortunes decline.

NOTES: Bogarde's third film. He appeared as an extra in a crowd scene of the 1939 George Formby comedy Come On George, and had a bit part as a policeman in the 1947 Dancing With Crime.

COMMENT: I love this film. Although it received mixed - verging on negative - reviews and was none too popular at the almighty box- office, I think it a grand realization of Moore's crowded-with- fascinating-characters, incident-paced yet enthralling and realistic novel. Most expansively produced too on a scale seldom seen in British films.

Although Bogarde claims he received no guidance from either director, he gives to my mind the best performance of his entire career. It's a difficult role with many facets, but Bogarde always plays with such complete assurance and conviction, sincerity and charm that we are completely won over -- even when the character does and says things that are not wholly engaging.

Kathleen Ryan also manages the transition from youthful innocence to a more jaundiced maturity with total credibility, whilst always engaging our total sympathy.

It would be wrong to single out one or two – or even five or six – in the long roster of brilliant support players. Even the crowd artists carry off their fleeting cameos with such flair it's hard to believe this rowdy, jostling Derby Day is not the real thing. Technically Esther Waters is a marvel of fine craftsmanship. Superb photography, breathtaking sets, forceful direction and astute film editing join with the superlative efforts of the players to bring this teeming script to vivid life.

Dirk Bogarde made his motion picture debut in this British melodrama based on George Moore's classic novel. He had replaced Stewart Granger who bowed out at the last minute. Bogarde won over critics and audiences with his performance as a rascal gambler who causes hardship for the title character (Kathleen Ryan).

This is really Miss Ryan's film, a starring vehicle for her after earning plaudits for her work a year earlier in ODD MAN OUT, supporting James Mason. Here she is a young servant whose religion and steady hand make her an ideal gentlewoman helping manage a nouveau riche household.

One thing that probably comes across better in the novel than it does on screen is how limited her opportunities in life seem to be. The movie starts with her arriving at the Barfield estate, but the source material details the death of her father and her illiteracy before going into service.

Another interesting aspect of the character and her story, which is somewhat glossed over by the filmmakers, is the connection she has with a supervisor who happens to be Bogarde's mother. The two form a strong bond, when Bogarde is one of the first members of the staff to show kindness towards Ryan. At the same time Ryan also develops a strong bond with their female employer, Mrs. Barfield (Fay Compton), who practices the same religion.

Most of the film focuses on the troubled relationship between Ryan and Bogarde, who plays a footman that helps with the family's horses. Bogarde is prone to betting, and he intends to make a fortune his own way. He runs off with a rich relative of the Barfields', but not before getting Ryan pregnant and leaving her to fend for herself.

There is a sense of family among the servants, and they want what's best for her and the unborn child. However, when her pregnancy becomes apparent and she is without the benefit of marriage, she must leave the estate. She ends up giving birth at a workhouse infirmary. The middle portion of the story is straight out of Dickens. After the workhouse, she goes back into service as a wet nurse for a wealthy woman who doesn't want to breastfeed her own newborn.

Meanwhile the crooked couple watching Ryan's son offer to kill him and save her the responsibility of childrearing...for a fee. These horrors pass, and Ryan eventually finds regular employment as well as romance with an evangelist (Cyril Cusack). Unfortunately this stability is short-lived when Bogarde boomerangs back on to the scene.

While I don't think Bogarde and Ryan exhibit any real chemistry together, their moments as a couple on screen are well-acted. Marriage occurs on a festive Derby Day, one of the film's best sequences. Bogarde is now a bookie who also runs a pub, which Ryan oversees. I thought Bogarde's character would be unfaithful again, but luckily that doesn't happen. Yet there's considerable drama when police shut down his betting operation.

As if this were not enough, he develops a bad cough. And in a tale like this, it's only going to mean one thing-- tuberculosis. Soon Bogarde is dying in hospital, with plans to place one more bet with all their savings...which he loses, before taking his last breath. A memorable death scene.

I especially like how everything comes full circle. After Bogarde's death, Ryan goes back into service-- at-- you guessed it, the Barfield estate. The last scene has her serving tea to her old employer while receiving a visit from her now adult son. This is a very good movie that leaves the viewer with something to think about when it's all over...and those feelings linger for quite some time.