The Quiet Woman

Having previously been married to a criminal, Jane Foster (Jane Hylton) takes over a coastal pub named 'The Quiet Woman' to start a new life with the help of her loyal and protective employee Elsie (Dora Bryan). She is indignant to discover that the previous owner had allowed an amiable local artist and part-time smuggler Duncan McLeod (Derek Bond) to use the pub for storing contraband goods but despite this, a romantic attachment develops between them. Helen (Dianne Foster), an old flame of McLeods, tricks her way into staying at the pub to pose for him but becomes jealous of Jane and taunts her about knowing her past and threatens to expose her. Pressure then mounts on McLeod when an old Naval colleague Inspector Bromley (John Horsley) arrives at the pub to stay for several weeks. He now is working as a customs officer. And then Jane's escaped convict husband turns up and demands her help.

This is a pretty typical British B picture of the period with flimsy plot and the minimum of props, much being made of outdoor filming and studio-bound back projection of seascapes in the latter stages that fail to convince the viewer the action is taking place in mid-English Channel. The best aspects of this film are the solid acting from a cast of well-known character actors/actresses of the period. In particular Dora Bryan gives a nice performance as Jane's trusted friend who is fiercely protective of her employer while keeping the romantic aspirations of McLeod's sidekick Lefty (Michael Balfour) at bay. The pleasant coastal photography gives the film a genuine seaside atmosphere.

If like me, you grew up with second feature films like this in the early 1950s, then you accept them as entertainment and enjoy the way things were done in those far more innocent times. If you criticise them, it should only be done against the criteria that prevailed then and not by today's standards. Given that, the only disappointment for me was the weak, improbable ending. I have the distinct impression that the scriptwriter suddenly decided he had better things to do than invent a plausible finale. A pity.

Saluting by the male characters and calling their betters "Sir" went on a lot in this film but their wartime experiences were part of the plot. It took me a while to recognise Harry Tawb as his distinctive look and voice was not fully developed yet.

The pub in this film was named after a mythical creature.

A nice snapshot of postwar gentlemanly dodgy dealing with the only loser being the excise man so we were all rooting for the smugglers of course. The smuggling was not the central plot however so this was more of a romance story than an exciting smuggling film was it was till enjoyable even for those not all that keen on romantic films.

The Quiet Woman is directed by John Gilling and Gilling writes the screenplay from a story by Ruth Adams. It stars Derek Bond, Jane Hylton, Dora Bryan, Michael Balfour, Dianne Foster and John Horsley. Music is by John Lanchbery and cinematography is by Monty Berman.

The Quiet Woman of the title is double meaning, it's the name of the Inn that Jane Foster (Hylton) has become the landlady of, while it also appertains to herself once the story takes its turn into thriller territory.

It's a decent enough "B" picture, where a smuggling discovery leads to romance, which leads to jealousy, which leads to something from the past surfacing to set up for the nifty last quarter. The short running time means the pic doesn't have time to bore, but the whole splendid time capsule of the era is enjoyable, and so too is the East Sussex waterside locations used on the production. 6/10

Jane Hylton runs a pub on the water, but she used to do other things. Derek Bond is an artist, but he also does other things. And John Horsley doesn't do anything, but he also does other things. We find out soon enough what these other things are. Not all of them are nice, but the movie still goes on for 67 minutes, because there has to be a final scene involving a fight at sea in the fog, in what appears to be about four feet of water.

There's some good camerawork by Monty Berman, but this sort of movie, which tries to retain the audience's interest by the occasional Surprising Revelation doesn't do much to interest me. Character is revealed by action, not talk - unless it's one of those movies in which the characters are terribly clever people who say interesting things, which these people aren't.

The Quiet Woman is a low key affair indeed, it starts off at a very casual pace, indeed the first half hour feels like it could have been a comedy, it's pleasant, but slow. At about halfway there is a change up, and the thriller element comes through, for me it then becomes a lot more interesting, we get to learn why the two women are there, it's good.

Harry Towb was very good as Jim, he added something that had lacked, a bit of grit. His appearance does change things up.

I just love Dora Bryan, she was a true unique talent, she adds a lift to this film.

It looks very nice, good location work, it's nicely filmed, and stands up well.

It's a good, if slow moving film, 6/10.