The Halfway House

Very imaginative plot, good acting and photography, typical wartime mature subject life and death British quality.

Mervyn Johns and his real life daughter Glynnis shine in this ghostly 1944 film and I disagree with most of the negative comments from other users above.Consequently I have rated this film 7/10.The other users seem to have either forgotten or misunderstood the average conditions that Britons were living under then and indeed up to 1955 when food rationing was abolished in the UK.

London Live TV station here in the UK is currently running a festival of Ealing films Mon-Sat starting @ 2p.m. which gives a chance for this slightly younger viewer (born in 1946), the chance to see their less frequently aired films.I notice they do tend to repeat these films so people who miss the original showing can catch up with it.This was my first viewing 17/7/15 and me and my wife (born 1947) enjoyed it immensely.I take on board the criticism of rather preachy dialogue about redemption but Britain dare I say was a more formally religious country then.Atonement for past misdemeanours was understandable with the population facing unexpected death from the V1 & V2s.

I guess most reviewers are too young to remember the mind set of people at home during war. This film IMO reflects a very present concern of many people in coming to terms with grief. Spiritualism had always been important from the mid 19th century with a falling off towards the end of the century. But with a major resurgence in 1914 and WW1. The young men of whole communities in England died because of recruiting ploys like the "Pals Brigades". With this in mind, the central theme of this 1944 film (fifth year of WW2 for England) will have struck chords with many in the audience. Only 20 years separated the two WWs - not long enough to forget.

Spiritualism was never in "conflict" with science. Many 19th C. scientists studied spiritualism with the same avidity as electricity or radio waves. A couple of years ago, I went along with a friend to a spiritualist meeting in an English provincial town. I was surprised by some of what I saw and heard but most striking was the attempt by the spiritualist to give comfort to the people there. A comfort that was gratefully received.

I am not advocating spiritualism just as I would not advocate the use of placebos to the exclusion of doctors. But I have lived long enough in many countries and cultures to have experienced some pretty strange things. Keeping open a little window of uncertainty and doubt in a PC world where many know all the answers.

This tongue-in-cheek film is interesting from a number of aspects. The spiv (still reviled in my youth in England), the war-split couple, the lost child, the spiritualist seeking solace... They may seem quaint today but will have struck chords with many in the audience which is what cinema is all about.

Even the RAF father of one of the reviewers may have been unhappy with the film because it did not delve deeply enough into what was an everyday reality for him and his colleagues. Death for him was just around the corner, very real, and no theatrical imitation could possibly approach that reality.

This film taught me a few things and reinforced other things about what it was like for my parents generation.

Britain, World War II.

A symphony conductor who has a few months to live.

A war profiteer.

A husband and wife coming to the end of their marriage, their daughter desperate to keep them together.

An elderly couple conflicted over the death of their son in the line of duty.

All of them wind up together at the Halfway House, a beautiful, yet strange Welsh country inn. Their hosts are Rhys and Gwyneth, the place appears to be stuck in a time warp, all the visitors here are here for a reason, a reason that will changed all their respective lives for ever.

Based on the Denis Ogden play, The Halfway House is brought to us from the wonderful Ealing Studios, it is, all things considered, an under seen gem from that particular Studio. There really is no great surprises as regards how the film unfolds, the makers, by way of Mervyn Johns first appearance, are not trying to bluff the viewer in any way, this is a halfway house after all. What drives the picture on is the unflinching stubbornness of the characters, despite the overwhelming evidence available to them, they all refuse to accept the mysterious hammer hitting them over the head. This makes the film a highly enjoyable piece, the mixture of comedy and mystery going hand in hand with it's fantasy led core, come the final reel the viewers should be in a state of warmth because in my honest opinion the film has undoubtedly done its job.

It's one of those films that wouldn't be out of place on Rod Serling's Twilight Zone show that aired some 15 years later, so enjoy the fantasy and the mystery unfolding, The Halfway House is a lovely little picture. 8/10

Ealing Studio's The Halfway House is a heartwarming supernatural wartime parable intended to raise morale in its blitzed British audience with the message that, despite such troubled times, the United Kingdom shall prevail, whilst at the same time lifting the spirits of the bereaved by suggesting that death isn't the end. There's also time to bash those who remain neutral during wartime or who try to profit from the conflict.

These messages are hammered home rather heavily, but do not stop the movie from being an enjoyable time; if anything, the film's status as wartime propaganda only makes it more interesting. Of course, a cracking cast doesn't hurt, and this one's got great performances to spare: Mervyn Johns plays Rhys, the ghostly landlord of the titular inn, and his real-life daughter Glynis plays his on-screen daughter Gwyneth (whose husky Welsh lilt is particularly appealing). Support is given by a range of reliable character actors, including Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay as a couple who are struggling with the loss of their son, Esmond Knight as terminally ill conductor David Davies, Guy Middleton and Alfred Drayton as a couple of racketeers, and Valerie White and Richard Bird as an estranged couple whose daughter (played by a young and very plummy Sally Ann Howes ) tries to get her parents back together.

Before the halfway mark of The Halfway House, I had guessed that the visitors to the inn were dead (victims of an air raid), but I was wrong, and glad to be so. Instead of taking this trite route, the film treads another path, with a Twilight Zone-style time twister plot and an ending that sees each person finding redemption and leaving with hope in their hearts. It's the kind of feel-good finalé that makes the film ideal for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for lovely Glynis.