But once you've got over its peculiar patrician tones and bitty structure, there's much to enjoy – not least the changing frocks and haircuts and wallpapers. In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home. He and Coward later teamed for Brief Encounter and Blithe Spirit. This Happy Breed is a decent war drama. Publication date 1944 Topics Comedy, Drama Publisher Two Cities Films. Beyond the profound effect of world events, such as these wars, on their lives, and the ebbs and flows of general western society in all aspects, husband and wife Frank and Ethel Gibbons have to hold their family together through other more personal events. It tells the story of an inter-war suburban London family, against the backdrop of what were then relatively recent news events, moving from the postwar era of the 1920s to the gradual inevitability of another war, and social changes such as the coming of household radio and talking pictures in the cinema. [5] The role was given to Robert Newton, whose reputation for alcoholism led the producers to require Newton to sign a contract relinquishing £500 of his £9,000 salary, every time his drinking caused a delay in production. An ordinary sort of life is led by the family through the years with average number of triumphs and disasters until the outbreak of … Henry Hobson (Charles Laughton) is a successful bootmaker, a widower and a tyrannical father of three daughters. Laurence Olivier narrates from Noel Coward's script, Ethel (Celia Johnson) and Frank (Robert Newton) moving the family into the new house, opening David Lean's hit between-the-wars drama This Happy Breed, 1944.. View the TCMDb entry for This Happy Breed (1944) The title, a reference to the English people, is a phrase from John of Gaunt's monologue in Act II, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Richard II. "[citation needed], Radio Times gave it five out of five stars and said "This second of David Lean's four collaborations with Noël Coward provides a fascinating picture of the way we were. Was this review helpful to you? As he explained in a letter to Coward: "Rightly or wrongly, I believe it is just that very political irresponsibility that got us into another war". This Happy Breed (1944) - Trivia - IMDb The comment early in the movie about the cat and buttering its paws comes from a technique used when a cat moves houses. Coward had played Frank Gibbons on stage, and he wanted to reprise the role on screen. When Neville Chamberlain returns from Munich (September 1938) with the promise of "peace in our time,” Frank is disgusted by people's enthusiastic response. This Happy Breed Synopsis: Noel Coward's attempt to show how the ordinary people lived between the wars. During the General Strike of 1926 (in which Frank and Bob volunteer as driver and conductor of a bus), Reg is injured in a brawl in Whitechapel Road. The men who go away to war aren't followed it's their loved ones at home. In 1928, Charleston dance mania arrives in England and Queenie wins a dance contest. Frank is delighted that his next-door neighbour is Bob Mitchell, a friend from his days in the army. A young and idealistic woman, who has adopted the Salvation Army and whose father is an armament industrialist, will save more souls directing her father's business. Opening in 1919, shortly after the end of the First World War, the film focuses on the Gibbons family - Frank, his wife Ethel, their three children Reg, Vi and Queenie, his widowed sister Sylvia and Ethel's mother - after they settle in a rented house in Clapham, South London. The title, a reference to the English people, is a phrase from John of Gaunt's monologue in Act II, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Richard II. Film, Drama. The most famous is probably "Brief Encounter" and the most war themed is "In Which We Serve", but "This Happy Breed" is the homefront movie. It tells the story of an inter-war suburban London family, against the backdrop of what were then relatively recent news events, moving from the postwar era of the 1920s to the gradual inevitability of another war, and social change… According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winners' at the box office in 1944 Britain were For Whom the Bell Tolls, This Happy Breed, Song of Bernadette, Going My Way, This Is the Army, Jane Eyre, The Story of Dr Wassell, Cover Girl, White Cliffs of Dover, Sweet Rosie O'Grady and Fanny By Gaslight. This Happy Breed anticipates the social change that would come about in Britain after the war, with the election of our most radical left wing government. Use the HTML below. While she ... Scorsese Helped Curate Edgar Wright and Quentin Tarantino’s Movie Club with These British Films, The Speed of Passion: Close-Up on David Lean’s "Breaking the Sound Barrier". Just after World War I, the Gibbons family moves to a nice house in the suburbs. King Edward VIII abdicates (11 December 1936). The project included correcting the colour and a full digital restoration of the picture and soundtrack. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, Present Laughter. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame is based on the 1939 play This Happy Breed by Noël Coward. A man and his second wife are haunted by the ghost of his first wife. Stanley Holloway is the other and somehow is the father of the ubiquitous John Mills. 8 Which serves it in the office of a wall. The British Union of Fascists tries to stir up anti-Semitic sentiment in the city. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? This Happy Breed opens shortly after World War I, when a middle-class family, led by the patriarch, Frank Gibbons (Robert Newton), moves into a nicer home in the suburbs. Title: This Happy Breed Summary: Noël Coward's attempt to show how the ordinary people lived between the wars. Written by This Happy Breed. View production, box office, & company info. At Christmas 1925 the family acquire their first crystal set radio. This Happy Breed ranks with 1949's One Woman's Story and 1950's Madeleine as the most obscure title in David Lean's canon. [2] Reg marries Phyllis. Fictionalized story of British aerospace engineers solving the problem of supersonic flight. News of the electoral rise of the German Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, begins to appear in the newspapers. William Shakespeare, "King Richard II", Act 2 scene 1 These sometimes add information, such as … "[11], Time Out London said, "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. The two plays later alternated with Coward's Blithe Spirit. After a drunken regimental reunion, Bob expresses his faith that the League of Nations will keep the peace, and scoffs at Frank's concerns about the disarmament policies of the new National Government and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. One, This Happy Breed, was set in a modest suburban household; the other, originally titled Sweet Sorrow, later Present Laughter, depicted the affairs of a star actor. Billy, home on leave from the Royal Navy and now a sub-lieutenant, announces to the family he ran into Queenie while on shore leave in France. This Happy Breed by David Lean. With its mix of politics and melodrama, THIS HAPPY BREED is a quintessential British domestic drama, featuring subtly expressive Technicolor cinematography by Ronald Neame and a remarkable supporting cast including John Mills, Stanley Holloway, and Kay Walsh. title details and video sharing options. This Happy Breed is a play by Noël Coward. The National Board of Review named Celia Johnson Best Actress for her portrayal of Ethel Gibbons. Noel Coward and David Lean worked together to bring their saga into our hearts and minds, as we rejoice in the good times and empathise with the bad ones. [3] Stanley Baldwin wins the 1935 United Kingdom general election. Celia Johnson is superb ....the best scenes belong to neighbours Robert Newton and Stanley Holloway".[13]. Besides their immediate family, their household consists of her mother, Mrs. Flint, who is always feigning that she is on her deathbed, and his spinster sister Sylvia Gibbons, who clings to odd notions of life as her only sense of independence, the two not getting along in seeing the other an intrusion on the household. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame is based on the 1939 play This Happy Breed by Noël Coward. And their three offspring, while generally getting along, are a disparate group. Season 15, Episode 22: Air date: 28th May 2006 Written by: John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch Directed by: Jonas Grimås Episode guide Previous Wine and Roses: Next Keeping Secrets: Two men on a motorbike steal a bread van. The girls each want to leave their father by getting married, but Henry refuses because marriage traditions require him to pay out settlements. Billy reveals they were married two weeks previously in the Plymouth Registry Office and he has brought her back to London; Ethel forgives her. Abandoned by her lover, she and an older woman opened a tearoom to make ends meet. (Laurence Olivier provides the uncredited introductory narration.). Title: As time passes, Ethel's mother dies, Aunt Sylvia discovers spiritualism and Reg and Phyllis are killed in a car crash. We demand change. It proved to be the most successful British release of 1944 and the first of many critically acclaimed films directed by him. 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. Add the first question. Coward follows various members of the Gibbons clan as they pass through a variety of highs and lows that make for an engrossing, if rather contrived War-time soap opera. In 1942, David Lean and Noël Coward had co-directed In Which We Serve. Only son Reg is easily swayed, especially by his best friend Sam Leadbitter, who wants to see social justice at all cost. Just after WWI the Gibbons family moves to a nice house in the suburbs. (1944). You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. In our nation and in ourselves. This Happy Breed is a 1944 British Technicolor drama film directed by David Lean. Only son Reg is easily swayed, especially by his best friend Sam Leadbitter, who wants to see social justice at all cost. 6 This happy breed of men, this little world, 7 This precious stone set in a silver sea. Just after World War I, the Gibbons family moves to a nice house in the suburbs. They lead an ordinary life throughout the years, but everything changes when World War II breaks out. The second was Coward’s classic supernatural comedy Blithe Spirit (1945), regarded as a good effort but little more than a stage play on celluloid. 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