Kind of overlapping the era of British history that his previous work Cavalcade had covered, Noel Coward wrote one of his most popular plays in The Happy Breed which premiered in London in 1942 as Great Britain was fighting for its life. This film adaption coming as it did in 1944 when the tide of the war had turned, almost seems to justify Coward's faith in his country and the pluck of its people.
The image we have today of Noel Coward is the ultra-sophisticate hanging around with royalty and other titled folks, amusing them with a sample of his acclaimed wit. But the kind of middle class background that the Gibbons and their neighbors the Mitchells come from is exactly where Noel Coward had his roots. His early years are covered in Cavalcade and the years overlap into This Happy Breed. Both films really ought to be seen back to back as a great sample of British social history.
Newly discharged veteran from the Great War, Robert Newton and his wife Celia Johnson buy their dream house on Sycamore Lane to raise their three children. By chance their neighbors happen to be Stanley Holloway, Newton's wartime buddy and his family the Mitchells. The film is the story of the Mitchells and the Gibbons and how their lives interconnect in the years between the World Wars. Their family situations are seen against the backdrop of the events of the times like the General Strike, the Depression and the formation of the Coalition National Government to fight it, and the death of King George V.
Anyone who expects the eye rolling Blackbeard from Robert Newton will be pleasantly surprised. Newton could be restrained if he had to, and in David Lean he certainly had a director that would rein in his excesses if it were ever necessary. What surprised me was that Noel Coward himself played the lead when This Happy Breed debuted in London. I certainly would have liked to have seen Coward's interpretation of the part.
Kay Walsh who was Mrs. David Lean at the time played the elder daughter Queenie for Newton and Johnson. John Mills who is a career Navy man and Holloway's son loves Walsh, but she's a naughty thing and out for a good time. Let's say I think Mills just might qualify for sainthood in his performance with what he put up with.
This Happy Breed is a great play with average folks that Mr. Average American, let alone Mr. Average British could identify with and it's great social commentary of an important era in history.
The image we have today of Noel Coward is the ultra-sophisticate hanging around with royalty and other titled folks, amusing them with a sample of his acclaimed wit. But the kind of middle class background that the Gibbons and their neighbors the Mitchells come from is exactly where Noel Coward had his roots. His early years are covered in Cavalcade and the years overlap into This Happy Breed. Both films really ought to be seen back to back as a great sample of British social history.
Newly discharged veteran from the Great War, Robert Newton and his wife Celia Johnson buy their dream house on Sycamore Lane to raise their three children. By chance their neighbors happen to be Stanley Holloway, Newton's wartime buddy and his family the Mitchells. The film is the story of the Mitchells and the Gibbons and how their lives interconnect in the years between the World Wars. Their family situations are seen against the backdrop of the events of the times like the General Strike, the Depression and the formation of the Coalition National Government to fight it, and the death of King George V.
Anyone who expects the eye rolling Blackbeard from Robert Newton will be pleasantly surprised. Newton could be restrained if he had to, and in David Lean he certainly had a director that would rein in his excesses if it were ever necessary. What surprised me was that Noel Coward himself played the lead when This Happy Breed debuted in London. I certainly would have liked to have seen Coward's interpretation of the part.
Kay Walsh who was Mrs. David Lean at the time played the elder daughter Queenie for Newton and Johnson. John Mills who is a career Navy man and Holloway's son loves Walsh, but she's a naughty thing and out for a good time. Let's say I think Mills just might qualify for sainthood in his performance with what he put up with.
This Happy Breed is a great play with average folks that Mr. Average American, let alone Mr. Average British could identify with and it's great social commentary of an important era in history.