Der Hutmacher und sein Schloß

... 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.

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.

Nothing to do with Cromwell but Christmas was banned in Scotland in 1573. Had this Victorian tale been set in a country other than Scotland, Robert Newton's abhorrent hatter in this story would surely have had a Scrooge-like Christmas Day transformation!

Horrid hatter, James Brodie unlike Scrooge is utterly unlikeable and even if he'd lived in a country which had Christmas, no number of spirits could redeem him. Robert Newton delivers just the right amount of brooding Victorian malice. He plays the role just right to make it believable - sinister but not quite at the level of a pantomime villain. He thoroughly engrosses you as you desperately yearn to see him get his cumuppance.

The great Welsh actor (and writer) Emlyn Williams gives an equally believable performance as the thoroughly obnoxious Dennis "Uriah Heep's less trustable brother!" It's difficult to say who is more dislikable. With the two leading characters being so unrelentingly unpleasant, there's not a lot of lightness here. Inevitability you compare this with Dickens and when you do that it's clear how much more depth and layers and humour Dickens imbued into his stories. This was however the very first thing A J Cronin ever wrote so as a first go at writing a story, it's still pretty impressive.

It's not Cronin's best work, his characteristic social and political criticism hadn't developed yet but it's still a decent Victorian style melodrama. As a film, it has pace, atmosphere and tension - it's beautifully produced.

Robert Newton plays James Brodie, a hatter who is consumed by the desire for power and importance. He has built himself a large grand house (the Hatter's Castle of the title) He bullies his wife and children, tyrannises over his employees, and is horrible to everyone who he encounters. His daughter ( Deborah Kerr) is loved by the handsome young local doctor James Mason, who (of course) Newton hates. Newton has a mistress, the lovely Enid Stamp-Taylor, who persuades him to give a job to her 'step brother' (actually former lover) played by the splendidly slimes Emlyn Williams. This of course leads to trouble and not just for Newton. The character of James Brodie is so unrelentingly horrible that I was unable to take him seriously. Especially absurd is the idea that he won't have servants and expects his wife to do all the housework - nobody with social pretensions in the Victorian era would have thought of not having servants, they were simply essential.

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.