The Good Beginning

John Fraser and Eileen Moore are newlyweds very much in love. He's got a good job at a local estate agent, but advancement is slow, and there is much that a young couple want. But they are sensible and refuse to buy on credit. At least until Fraser gets a rise, and exaggerates it into a fur coat for the wife. At first, buying it on credit seems sensible. Then he begins to fall behind on payments.

Quite clearly intended as a major film, by the time it went into production is wound up being rather purse-mouthed and saccharine at the same time. Part of the reason I don't care for it particularly is the carefully made up good looks of the leads, looking more like store mannequins than human beings under the bright lights of DP Lionel Barnes. With Lana Morris, Peter Jones, and Victor Maddern.

A charming little film which gives a snapshot of 1950s married life and an interesting insight into contrasting attitudes which seem

Johnnie and Kit are a newly married couple, moving into their apartment after a happy honeymoon. This being the 1950s, they've never lived together before and, though their love for each other is sincere, it becomes apparent that they have differing attitudes to certain things in life. Crucially, in 'The Good Beginning', it's about money.

Johnnie is working in finance, and is marked out as showing potential for a promising career. He enjoys the odd flutter on the horses, and popping for his lunch in the local pub. His wife, Kit, believes that they should live frugally, saving up in order to buy the nicer things in life (like a fridge!). In particular she is strongly opposed to buying things on credit ("the never-never"), as friends Brian and Evie are prone to do, despite her envy of their luxurious fur coats and sports cars.

Johnnie, being calm but firm, agrees to never take out credit, but refuses to sacrifice his own luxuries. When he is offered a considerable bonus and promotion at work his thoughts turn to enabling Kit to experience the luxury she has denied herself, though in doing so he enters a deceitful business.

At barely an hour long, The Good Beginning never outstays its welcome, and gives a fun and insightful snapshot into domestic life in the 1950s. It's interesting to see Kit's refusal to buy anything they hadn't yet earned (a now almost old-fashioned notion), contrasted with Brian and Evie's spendthrift attitude (for the entire film Brian and Evie are never shown to suffer any negative consequences for their actions, indeed the opposite is true).

This film has been released on DVD after being all but forgotten for the last 60 years. Its neglect is undeserved. With a tense finale, and compelling story, I thought this was one of the more entertaining British films of its time and though it's not a classic, it certainly deserves a wider audience.