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Bookmark this pageThis Happy Breed (1944)
Director: David Lean
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
One of a number of British films in the '40s attempting to depict the lives of 'ordinary people', adapted by Noël Coward from his own play. Coward's homage to his roots daringly spans the whole of the inter-war period through the lives of Frank Gibbons (Newton) and his bickering, feuding, lower middle class family. Ronald Neame's camera rarely strays outside the family home of the decidedly un-funky Gibbonses, but there is a constant in-rush of public events - from wars to Wembley festivals - to leaven the domestic squabbling, and the evocation of the recent past proved enormously successful in war-torn Britain. Though Lean and Coward are less happy here than in the brittle, refined atmosphere of Brief Encounter, their adventurous excursion into suburban Clapham remains endlessly fascinating.Author: RMy
User reviews of this film
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- Julian Allen said...
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Posted on Feb 28 2008 16:54
Moving and funny depiction of family life between the wars.
This is expertly scripted and performed and could be seen many times without diminishing its impact - Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: David Lean
Producer: Noël Coward, Anthony Havelock-Allan
Cast: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Kay Walsh, Stanley Holloway, John Blythe, Amy Veness, Alison Leggatt, Laurence Olivier full cast
Duration: 114 mins
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