The Halfway House

"The Halfway House" is one of the strangest films from the 1940s I can recall having seen. This is not a bad thing, as it abounds with originality and is well worth seeing.

The story is set during WWII and the film consists of many stories and characters who all share one thing in common...they all have gone to the same quaint Welsh inn to take their vacations. But most of these people are carrying burdens of one sort or another...such as broken marriages, sons killed in the war, ill health and much more. What none of them realize for some time is that this house is somehow back in time...and it's somehow a year earlier! Why and what all this means, you'll just have to see for yourself.

The film has exceptional writing and very nice acting. Stick with it, as it does start slowly and a few of the characters are at first rather annoying.

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've seen this film several times since the early '60s and I liked the story and plot which was really different to most other Ealing films I have seen. Loosely based on an unsuccessful play, it gained its idea from a somewhat odd incident when a single bomb fell on an inn in what was then a small Welsh village. The inn was destroyed but nothing else was by way of property, the 'bomb' was not dropped as a result of known enemy aircraft and absolutely NO OTHER bombs were dropped in the area, ever and it was never established definitively from where the bomb came. It's set in a beautiful area and I don't pretend to know how things were in the 1940s but as far as the unspoilt countryside, single lane roads and lanes, low human count, it could have been the '50s. The Inn concerned cannot initially be seen by one regular visitor played by Guy Middleton accompanied by a friend, then when he DOES see it in the distance lying low down in a vale, they share a cycle and when they arrive are greeted welcomly. Then more 'guests' arrive, a couple at the point of ending their marriage, another older couple who have lost their son during the War she being into the Spirit World. Other people make up the numbers and the whole film has an air of strangeness and mystery about it. The publican is played by Mervyn Johns (Went the Day Well) and his real life daughter Glynis is in the part of his daughter in the film. Valerie White (Hue and Cry) also stars. I tried to "locate" the Inn or site of it on Google Maps from limited info but unfortunately was unable to.

Surprisingly good camera work and color balance for a drama filmed in 1944. Even the out-of-doors scenes are crisp and the light is well balanced.

A group of strangers check-into an inn, each have their own emotional problems. The plot is interesting enough to hold the audiences attention, although a little slow moving in parts. The acting was very solid.

This is a very time-period relevant film. It really accurately reflects the attitudes, values and behaviors of middle class wartime Britain. A little slice of the Welsh countryside during war years.

A random group of characters go to the Halfway House in Wales to get away from the pressures of their daily lives. The innkeeper Mervyn Johns (Rhys) and his daughter Glynis Johns (Gwyneth) are on hand to greet the guests and give them advice. However, they don't seem to have reflections, they don't have shadows and they are living 1 year in the past - the calendar, the newspapers and radio broadcasts are out of date and the guest book hasn't been signed for a year. Who are the mysterious owners and what fate awaits the guests....?

The acting from some of the cast seems a bit stiff at times but the film keeps you watching. I like the more touching scenes, for instance, when Glynis Johns talks to the conductor Esmond Knight (David Davies) in the kitchen and tells him to come over to her "side", and the moment when they agree to see each other the next morning, knowing the fate of the inn. Captain Tom Walls (Harry Meadows) also has an impressive character transformation through the course of the film. It is a film with a mixture of strange incidents and it has, I think, an ambiguous ending. After several views, I think I get what happens…."Yea though I walk through the valley of death..........."