Kipps

It's a simple tale about a simple man, it was H.G.Wells' first novel, but it was a success, and the film takes good care of all the novel's assets, especially the characters - Carol Reed was always among the best in making actors create characters with some convincing depth. On the other hand, the lacks of the film are also entirely due to the lacks of the novel. What saves the film are the two women characters, Phyllis Calvert and Diana Wynyard, each other's opposites but both adorable, Phyllis for her honest sincerity and rustic simplicity, and Wynyard for her overwhelming beauty and style. She always made amazing appearances on screen, and here grown in the years to some maturity she is striking to some almost breathtaking degree; and although the intrigues of her family lead to a disastrous crisis, she is the one who doesn't lose her face, while all the others do. The character of poor simple Kipps (or Cuyps) had a very difficult choice indeed between the two, but Michael Redgrave makes the best of it and is convincing enough. It was remade 25 years later as a musical called "Half a Sixpence" with Tommy Steele as the singing Kipps, a sumptuous wedding cake of a glittering film with splendid music, but the music is outstanding enough here as well.