Der Hutmacher und sein Schloß

It's a ghastly story and as close to a horror tale as you can get within the limits of realism. It was A.J.Cronin's first major novel and very Dickensian as such, telling an alternative Scrooge story without the main character ever learning his lesson. So things go consistently from bad to worse all the way through. James Mason and Deborah Kerr, both still very young here, provide some kind of a balance against all the wicked tyranny but not enough to bandage the very serious wounds of this gruesome detailed account of tyranny. Robert Newton is magnificent as always in his consistent viciousness, and all the other actors are perfect as well. The one thing you could object against here is the meaning and reason for A.J.Cronin to tell such a story.

It's incredibly unfortunate that Robert Newton isn't a household name. He was an unbelievably talented, versatile British actor from the silver screen era, but while his name hasn't lasted through the decades, other, far less talented actors have remained household names, like Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, and Gary Cooper. If you have no idea who Robert Newton is, rent Hatter's Castle tonight.

Robert Newton plays the patriarch in A.J. Cronin's epic Hatter's Castle. He owns a hat shop, and we are treated to his hardened business persona as well as his cold demeanor at home. He's extremely strict with his innocent, frightened daughter, Deborah Kerr, and he's cruel and callous to his wife, Beatrice Varley. Beatrice slaves away as a homemaker, and her exhaustion is palpable through the screen. Deborah is very young and very sweet, and she's quickly torn between two potential lovers, the slimy Emlyn Williams and the handsome doctor James Mason.

But back to Robert Newton. It's his movie, after all, and his tour-de-force performance-which was not honored by a single award or nomination-that makes this movie one of the great classics from the silver screen. As he always does, he completely embodies his character. He doesn't care about making the audience hate him, and even though he made a career out of playing villains, this role is totally different from the other bad guys he's played. He's cold, selfish, and merciless, yet as the story unfolds, he compels the audience to care about what happens to him. Bobby has an incredibly expressive face, and his intense energy makes his performance worth remembering.

This is a very heavy story, so if you like Thomas Hardy stories, you'll find a new favorite in Hatter's Castle. If you don't think you can handle it-if you walked out of The Mayor of Casterbridge-I don't think you'll like it. Try Jamaica Inn instead for an introduction to Robert Newton.

... not because it is dull or bad, but because the main character, James Brodie (Robert Newton) has no redeeming values whatsoever. He is a cruel vile man, a complete narcissist. People are either customers, servants, or enemies to him. Everyone else is invisible to him.

Brodie is a Scottish hatter in Victorian times. He has a sickly wife that he constantly belittles, a grown teen daughter Mary (Deborah Kerr) that he practically keeps prisoner, and a son Angus that he sees as an extension of himself, so he puts tremendous pressure on the boy to excel in school to show off to his rivals. Brodie also lives in a large castle, "Hatter's Castle", it is called derisively by the town, because it is just ridiculously large and medieval for a simple merchant to be living there. But because his customers tend to be important men, Brodie sees himself as important. Oh, and he has a mistress. And this mistress' brother-in-law, Dennis, needing a job, and Brodie granting that job, brings chaos into Brodie's family and business. For one thing, Dennis is not exactly a brother-in-law, and also he is a slimy little weasel, the likes of which a brute like Brodie would never expect would get the better of him.

James Mason, as a physician, is one of the few nice and normal characters in the cast, if you can believe that. He has very few scenes. There is a really good rendition of the Tay Bridge railroad disaster of 1879, and it is too bad that the film's physical condition is so rough, because it would be great to see in detail. In fact, this film is just crying out for a restoration. What you can see of the art design is impressive. It would be wonderful to see it in its original glory. A clearer print might even raise its appraisal another star. Mainly, though, this is Robert Newton's film. He does a splendid job of playing a despicable human being. I cringed every time he entered a room, and he made me want to stick around to the end to see what happened to his character. Recommended.

Although future mega stars James Mason and Deborah Kerr appear in Hatter's Castle, the film truly belongs to star Robert Newton. Most people today are familiar with Newton in his later pirate roles like Blackbeard or Long John Silver which allow full expression for his florid style. In Hatter's Castle Newton is kept in check by the director until the climax which calls for nothing less than what Newton was known to deliver on the screen.

Newton dominates Hatter's Castle playing a haberdasher with lots of pretensions. He's made a lot of money at business and that's what he's all about. His business, his family are all merely extensions of himself and his drive for what he considers respectability. He's going to have the grandest house for miles around, something they would call a castle back in the day, Hatter's Castle. With a house that would support a lord, can a peerage be far behind. That's what he's ultimately aiming for.

Newton's family, his props are his doormat of a wife Beatrice Varley who is dying from cancer and Newton wants to hear none of it and his children Deborah Kerr and Anthony Bateman. There are traces of incestuous longing for Kerr with Newton as he allows her no male companionship whether it's earnest young doctor James Mason who secretly treats Varley on the side and sneaky and sniveling clerk Emlyn Williams who also has ambitions. Newton also has mistress Enid Stamp-Taylor and their carrying on is an open scandal around the town. I'm sure Newton figures if that was good enough for all the lords and ladies in olden and modern times it's good enough for him. Of course they already had their titles, something he overlooks.

In the end it all blows up around him. Emlyn Williams really loses it all in the famous Tay railroad bridge disaster where a bridge over the Tay River to Dundee collapses and a train goes over with it with all crew and passengers lost. This might be the only film that deals with that tragedy and A.J. Cronin did incorporate it in his novel. Good special effects for its time in the British cinema.

The bare essentials of Cronin's work is incorporated here. The plot of the novel was shorn of several subplots and characters the most prominent was another son for Mr.&Mrs. Brodie. Speaking of which young Anthony Bateman should be given kudos for a very nice portrait of a shy young kid trying so hard to please his uncaring father.

After almost 80 years Hatter's Castle holds up well today. Honestly I can't think of a cast to match this one for a remake. Especially for Robert Newton.

"Daughter of Darkness" convinced me that Lance Comfort is a great director. "Hatter's Castle" strongly confirms it, it's a drama about a cruel tyran spoiling everybody's life, from his hatter's business to his family.

All casting is fantastic : James Mason as the young true lover of Deborrah Kerr (as the tyran's daughter, in her fifth movie), Emlyn Williams as the bad man, Enid Stamp-Taylor as the badman' and the tyran's mistress. And the best of course is Robert Newton as the tyran, he pronounces each line cruelly with sadistic expression, destroying eveything and everybody : a total complete toxic person (one of his best performance with "Oliver Twist" and "Long John Silver"). In the first sequence with Robert Newton, I was puzzled how it reminded me of another tyran, and I rapidly thought of Opale played by Jean-Louis Barrault in "le Testament du docteur Cordelier" 17 years later.

Cinematography is of course virtuoso with intelligent travellings avoiding editing, having several informations in the same sequence with two faces shot in depth of field, brilliantly rare.