Love on the Dole

Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen have nothing on this! That this was released at the start of the war to boost morale seems bizarre. Superbly made - yes, engaging - yes but it's also one of the most miserable films I've ever seen.

This is not light entertainment - you don't want to watch this after a bad day at work. But if you want an absolutely gritty and authentic, albeit intense depiction of working class life in England in the early thirties then this is a must. It's as far removed from Hollywood or even Gainsborough escapism as imaginable. The weird logic in releasing this just as the horror of the war was beginning was that at least things are better than they were a few years ago. You'd never have got anything as critical of society as this being released in Nazi Germany, or even the USA at this time.

The title, Love On The Dole might suggest that this is a typical 1930s depression movie with a sweet young couple managing to find happiness against the backdrop of adversity: it's definitely not. As you'll realise if you make it through to the end, love in this context is trying to do what's right for those you love even if that's sacrificing your own chance of happiness. It's not a happy film but it does have a really positive message about the goodness of humanity. This isn't about a young couple in love, that type of love is a luxury that can't be afforded. Love and marriage and for many, even happiness is just something that exists at the pictures.

Although it's not easy viewing, it is compelling and gives a first-person, genuine insight into life in Manchester as the English Depression which began after the First World War became even worse as the effects of America's economic collapse hit our shores. Some of you might think that a few of the accents are more 'generic northern' than 1930s Manchester but the current Manc accent hadn't evolved by then so did sound a little more like West Yorkshire. Deborah Kerr in addition to doing a pretty passable Lancashire accent also gives an outstanding performance - you'd never guess this was her first major role.

If you like those 'kitchen sink dramas' which portrayed the social realism of the 1960s, see how it was done in the 30s.

This 1941 British film was believed lost for decades. Where a copy was finally found I have no idea. But let's be thankful this grim and gritty film survives for 2 reasons: it's Deborah Kerr's first starring role in a film, and the chronicle of slum-life outside Manchester in 1930 is beautifully done.

Kerr plays Sally, a teenager who lives with her parents and her 17-year-old brother (Geoffrey Hibbert). The family makes do as the Depression goes along with the kids more worried about love and marriage than earning a living. But then the father's work week is cut to 3 days and the son is let go after he finishes his apprenticeship.

Kerr's idealistic boyfriend gets killed in a street riot when the government starts cutting back on unemployment checks and welfare. The son's girlfriend gets pregnant but no one can afford to feed and care for the youngsters.

As things gets worse and worse, Kerr finally gives in to a wealthy bookie (Frank Cellier) and becomes his "housekeeper" with a promise to get jobs for her father and brother. Kerr is shunned by the neighbors, her reputation is ruined, but the family survives.

Amid the grim surroundings are some wonderful vignettes. The son wins some money on a horse race, but instead of saving it he does as his father suggests and blows the money on a trip for him and his girl friends to Blackpool. As the father says, it'll give him something wonderful to look back on all his life.

Another subplot concerns a gaggle of old ladies, led by an agent for a pawn shop who measures out sharp advice along with shots of booze at threepence a drink. They serve as a sort of Greek Chorus, making comments on everything that happens in the neighborhood.

Kerr, at age 20, radiates warmth despite the harsh story. Hibbert is also excellent as the stoic brother. George Carney and Nary Merrall score as the hapless parents. Clifford Evans plays the doomed boy friend. Marie Ault, Marjorie Rhodes, Maire O'Neill, and Iris Vandeleur are terrific as the old ladies. The final speech, given by Merrall is a high point of the film. Joyce Howard is the pregnant girl friend.

I suppose there are many similarities between this story and Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH. What struck me, however, is how the political story of the working poor in 1930s England has so many parallels to our current recession.

This is one to search for.

Twenty-year-old Deborah Kerr has the biggest role in this movie about a poor family and the people around them. It was her second movie appearance -- another had wound up on the cutting-room floor -- and she is affecting amidst the turbulent tale of a girl working in the cotton mills while her father, George Carney, and brother, Geoffrey Hibbert, can barely keep their heads above water on their meager wages. Then times get worse, and the men wind up on the dole....

It's the beginning of the Kitchen Sink dramas of the 1950s, arising out of the Manchester School, so there's a trip to Blackpool, and a pending marriage with socialist Clifford Evans, and gossiping neighbors, and even police striking down marchers protesting the dole getting cut. Director John Baxter spent most of his career directing unpretentious entertainment, and while he manages the personal tragedies well, there's no real sense of anything larger, just the grind, grind, grind of poverty in the depths of the Great Depression; but perhaps there's nothing more required to make the larger point.

Absolutely stunning movie, finally a true representation of life of the working families of the 30's. A scandal that they could not get this film made in the 30's because it's story was regarded as sordid and dangerous by the board of censors. If like me you come from working class families who lived through that era, the stories this film tells are true. The movie must have been shockingly brutal to the establishment and credit to the producer's for taking it on. The downside to the movie is the acting and the direction. The accent's are awful but actors then had to have a clipped middle england accent to get work. I loved the film especially the 4 old ladies holding court on the street. Special mention must go to Marjorie Rhodes character, Mrs Bull who's savage honesty of each situation was a breath of fresh air in the acrid atmosphere of relentless poverty.

A British drama; A story set in Salford, England, during the depression. A proud miner struggles to provide for his family, while his daughter fends off the advances of two men: a kindly Labour Party representative and an oily bookmaker. Tightly scripted and deeply affecting, it deals with the theme of a classic 1930s dilemma: escape poverty or keep faith with the morality of her class and Lancashire values. The film resonates with a strong feeling for the genuine harshness and brutal truths of poverty and unemployment. There are all-round good performances, especially by Deborah Kerr, who is subtly affecting in her portrayal of personal conflict, and Geoffrey Hibbert, who plays his part with innocence and remarkable poignance. While the film has a gloomy feel, it also has comic relief as well as pathos, and there is a heartfelt feeling throughout the different subplots that avoids mawkishness and over-sentimentality. As an aside, this was an adaptation of the Walter Greenwood novel, scripted by himself, and was censored up until its release for its "sordid" story and comment on social conditions. The film reinforced the view at the time that Britain and its working classes had survived such hardships and would survive others. The outbreak of war was one of the main catalysts for change in housing conditions in communities like Hanky Park due to full employment and a Labour Party landslide victory in 1946.