Quand vient l'hiver

This MGM film from 1947 was based on a fine book from the 1920s set in the World War One era. That book, and the silent film originally made from it (which I think is lost) were extremely popular in their day, though largely forgotten now.

The story, with spiritual-religious overtones, is about Mark Sabre, a man who is truly doing his best to live according to his principles.

It's set in a small English village, where, despite being misunderstood and even persecuted for his humanitarian actions, Sabre carries on according to his values. In the course of events, he loses his job, marriage, even his health, but refuses to surrender or lose his soul, as it were.

The updating of the story from one war to another (World War Two) seems rather arbitrary. It should work, but the whole thing had more validity in the earlier period. I'm not sure why.

There's also something slightly off about the tone of the production. There's not enough subtlety, especially in the rather heavy-handed direction (Victor Saville). Some of the supporting characters aren't very well rounded - especially when they're the less likable ones. Angela Lansbury as Sabre's wife and Reginald Owen as his boss fall into this category. They're almost hissable villains, at times.

Deborah Kerr and Janet Leigh, on the other hand, come across better as more likeable and principled people in Sabre's life.

Walter Pidgeon is meant to carry the film, more or less (Kerr, the leading lady - though excellent - has less screen time). As an actor, Pidgeon is, as always, good, but still not in the category of a Ronald Colman or a Robert Donat. He's also too old for the part, and (though it's not that important), not actually English.

Nonetheless, it's a compelling story, and, while the film is no masterpiece, the basic plot and premise of the original novel carry it along and hold the interest.

Good deeds better be their own reward since they can easily backfire as the movie shows. Poor Mark Sabre (Pidgeon) undergoes something of a mid-life dedication to doing good for others above everything else. Maybe it's a reaction to his cold-hearted wife (Lansbury) or renewed affection for now married former flame Nona (Kerr). Whatever the reason, circumstances are conspiring to ruin him because of his kindness. So how will things finally sort out.

It's the kind of production MGM specialized in—classy players in classy surroundings (British). Nonetheless, the topic of unwed motherhood was rather daring for its time, figuring quietly but importantly in the plot here. It's Britain 1939 and civil society is responding to WWII mobilization, including the small town of Pennygreen, whose sons are suddenly marching off to war. While on the homefront, volunteers are flocking to boost civil defense.

The movie's first part meanders some, appearing to head in one direction— namely, straightening out Sabre's love life. But then his lady-love Kerr largely disappears from screen, gone into civil defense. At the same time, the second part changes direction, picking up in suspense, when the unlucky Effie enters the picture. Because of Sabre's selfless attitude, we can't be sure how the movie will end. Still, I wonder if there isn't a backstory to Kerr's abrupt absence and the resulting shift of direction.

Anyway, in my book, a youthful Leigh steals the film with a highly sensitive turn as the star-crossed Effie. It's easy to see why she climbed the Hollywood ladder so quickly. At the same time, the unknowns playing High Jinx and Low Jinx manage to spark proceedings with their imaginative character concepts. Of course, vets like Pigeon and Kerr come through on cue, while Lansbury's stony wife would send any guy packing.

All in all, it's well done soap opera with a few surprises that should please fans of tangled relationships.

This was sort of two movies in one. It started out with Angela Lansbury as a self-centered woman who was fearful that her husband (Walter Pidgeon) would be drawn back to his old flame. Lansbury was quite good as the wife who had an interesting approach to this situation. But later, the movie turned into a story about a young woman (Janet Leigh, doing a good British accent), who turns to Pidgeon for help and inadvertently causes a host of problems for him. Deborah Kerr is also good as Pidgeon's old girlfriend, but even with the good cast, the movie overall is little more than a confused soap opera, and the ending doesn't make much sense. Not one I'd recommend, unless you're a particular fan of anybody in the cast.

This film is based upon a novel by a long-forgotten novelist, Arthur Stuart-Menteth Hutchinson (1879-1971), who was born in colonial India, and who earlier wrote a novel called THE HAPPY WARRIOR which was made into a silent feature film as long ago as 1917, in which Leslie Howard made his first feature film appearance. This film, IF WINTER COMES, was also initially made into a silent film in 1923 with a cast of actors all of whom are now entirely forgotten in the mists of time. The very powerful and disturbing story was thus a postwar tale, but one told of the aftermath of the First World War, but which is here recycled and set in the aftermath of the Second World War. Walter Pidgeon plays the lead, a gentle and kindly man living in the fictional Surrey town of Tidborough and married to an embittered harridan of a wife, played by Angela Lansbury, who certainly knew how to play embittered women and have a pinched face and the tongue of a serpent. The film is chiefly notable for the second screen appearance of Janet Leigh, aged twenty but successfully playing an innocent 16 year-old girl named Effie Bright, who is all sweetness and light. And who ever had a sweeter smile than Janet Leigh at this age? Despite being American, she manages a British accent successfully enough. The romantic female lead is played by an impassioned Deborah Kerr, at her most intense. She has returned to the town and has her heart set on joining up again with Walter Pidgeon whom she had jilted three years earlier when she ran off and married the wrong man. Pidgeon is a bit wooden, so that one wonders why all this passion is swirling around him. He is excellent at being kindly and noble, and in fact during my brief acquaintance with him in my teens, he was exactly like that offscreen. 'You couldn't find a nicer man.' But that is not the same as inspiring an controllable passion in Deborah Kerr when she is on heat. Oh well, that's the movies for you. Victor Saville did an excellent job of directing, and the film works very well. Dame May Witty has a cameo role, and it is always a pleasure to see her. The story however is very powerful and upsetting. It is about a man with a good heart who through his kindness becomes a central figure in a vast misunderstanding, where he stands accused of all sorts of terrible things which he did not do. Most of the people of the town are exposed as bitter and small-minded, and they turn against him en masse. It is really very harrowing indeed. This makes for good drama, and there is plenty of desperate tragedy.

This movie, wonderfully performed, touches some deep aspect of human life under stress. The combination of war and love affairs is not new. Neither it is the attraction between a mature man and a young girl. However, the spectators must be mislead if they follow that path. Why the movie is about trusting, at different levels: husband and wife, lovers, mature and young, at home, at work, at the pub. There is also a political involvement: the voice of the people, which has two sides. Love can be lost, honor will not. This motto is crucial.The war is an ominous backstage, never shown. Walter Pidgeon makes an extraordinary performance, the rest of the cast does not lag behind. The final scene is simply convincing: as it has to be. Appreciating it requires some insight, undoubtedly.