The Good Companions

The 1957 color film is a disappointment (no real surprise), an attempt to produce a big Hollywood musical when the story didn't call for one. The re-do keeps the basic story but loses all the heart and soul of the original film.

Janette Scott (daughter of Thora Hird and a one-time wife of Mel Torme!) is a pallid replacement for the ethereal Jessie Matthews. John Fraser has the John Gielgud role. Celia Johnson has the Mary Glynne role, and Eric Portman the Edmund Gwenn. Others in the cast include Mona Washbourne, Bobby Howes, Rachel Roberts, Thora Hird, Anthony Newley, Hugh Griffith, Joyce Grenfell, Marjorie Rhodes, Fabia Drake, Shirley Anne Field, Beatrice Varley, Alec McCowan, John Le Mesurier and dancers Beryl Kaye, Paddy Stone, and Irving Davies.

Most notable changes in plot include Miss Trant (Celia Johnson) not having a reunion with her one-time flame. The flame here is Joyce Grenfell pursuing the dancer Jerry (Paddy Stone), thus depriving the Trant character of any kind of development. The big night for Susie Dean (Janette Scott) is turned into a comic free-for-all, thus depriving the Dean character of the astonishing sequence enjoyed by Jessie Matthews of singing amid the debris (the show must go on). The finale instead is an interminable sequence of musical numbers that show Scott as a combination Debbie Reynolds/Connie Stevens without the singing or dancing talent (she's dubbed, and her dancing is pretty much limited to being hauled around by Stone and Davies).

Eric Portman serves as a would-be love interest for Johnson, but of course he's married, so that's a dead end. John Fraser seems totally lost in the John Gielgud role of Inigo Jollifant (funny no one ever asks him to repeat his odd name). Most of the remainder have little to do.

Then there's the usually dour Rachel Roberts who explodes in a solo number "The Gentleman Is a Heel." Who knew she could sing? The ever lovable Joyce Grenfell has a great scene with a cake. Her final line there is something like "Take this away, it's of no use now." When this came out in 1957, the original film had likely been unseen since 1933 so comparisons were unlikely. Taking that into consideration this was probably seen as a serviceable musical for the times, and definitely a star vehicle for 19-year-old Scott.

Grenfell had hit stage show a few years earlier in London and New York. Cast members included the film's dancers: Irving Davies, Paddy Stone, and Beryl Kaye.

How this wretched outdated film was made is a total mystery. I have not read the Priestley book and have no desire to, but somehow it caught a great deal of attention. The film mystifies me that Celia Johnson, Eric Portman and Janette Scott wanted to be in this overblown, Cinemascope disaster. I cannot write more as I watched this film hoping to feel better after an illness, but it just made me want to throw something at the screen. That said a lot of talent was used to make it, and the beginning ( for about half an hour holds the attention but it completely falls apart after that. ) The more inflated the talentless group of travelling music hall became the more improbable the whole concept of the film became. !957 was a year of rapid change in culture and to have made this work someone of sense should have set it as a period piece. And even then I doubt if it could have worked. Really not worth watching if you come across it.

I considered "The Good Companions" simply made and entertaining, as was the novel. The actors were well cast and each played their part to perfection. It was unusual for a British studio to 'try' a musical at that period of time, and I think it came off pretty well. For me it is an unexpected, delightful offering such as "Curtain Up".

This musical film remake of THE GOOD COMPANIONS (Dir:J Lee Thompson, for Associated British in 1957) features several tuneful songs by Paddy Roberts(m/l), C. Alberto Rossi(m/l) and Geoffrey Parsons(l). Miss Trant (played by Celia Johnson),and her encounter with the struggling concert party, the 'Dinky Doos', and the world of the touring theatre as depicted by J.B. Priestley was well known to English audiences since the thirties. As the setting of the story is updated from 1929 (when touring shows were highly popular) to the 1950's, when they were in decline, the musical style is also updated, and the songs are all catchy in the style of variety c1956. Indeed, the film is priceless as a 1950's British film musical which owes nothing to operetta or rock and roll - in its recording and celebration of fifties variety it is unique. It also remains faithful to the essential spirit of Priestley's novel in its celebration of show business and the theatrical life, and in particular, the metaphor of the touring theatre as an escape for the middle aged male from a society that is domesticated, drab and puritanical, epitomised in those dour apron wearing wives (played by Thora Hird and Beatrice Varley in the film) who appear at the stage door and attempt to drag their 'erring' husbands away from the chorus girls, and back to 'reality'. There is also the sense of community amongst the performers, and of communal travel by steam hauled trains through the length of Great Britain.

Eighteen year old Janette Scott, a potent symbol of a lost age of 1950's innocent screen romance, does not receive top billing, but clearly emerges as the star of THE GOOD COMPANIONS. She displays great spirit and loads of charm, especially in the 'Today will be a Lovely Day' number, and her enthusiasm is quite infectious in the skilfully staged finale. I would also single out for praise Eric Portman, who is perfect in the role of Jess Oakroyd, and brings richness and depth to the role. There is a wonderful moment at the end of TGC, when after Susie Dean's triumph, he nods leans forward and glances towards Miss Trant, who is sitting in the same row of the theatre stalls, and almost telepathically communicates with her to share Susie's moment of triumph. THE GOOD COMPANIONS is strong in character acting in a very English tradition (even a theatre manager has an individuality about him, even though he appears only briefly with one line of dialogue), and just look at the cast list of supporting actors!: Joyce Grenfell, Anthony Newley, John LeMesurier, Rachel Roberts, Thora Hird, Alec McCowen, Hugh Griffith, Shirley Anne Field, Bobby Howes, Melvyn Hayes, the list goes on and on - what a cast! It is also to the credit of the direction and writing, that with so many characters they are so clearly defined and that the narrative remains focused.

It is these qualities, together with the film's excellent production values (in its restoration, the film is one of the most visually elegant British films of its decade-the lighting of interiors is exceptional,rooms and decor are beautifully depicted-Jess Oakroyd's living room, public houses, theatre interiors, and a private dining room at the back of a seedy café which takes on a warmth all of its own because of the theatricals seated round the table). These qualities, together with the good natured charm of the young leads, make THE GOOD COMPANIONS excellent entertainment. A rarely seen, high spirited British showbiz musical,'The Good Companions' of 1957 is a 'must see' for 1950's nostalgia buffs.

If you have seen the original 1933 version of the Good Companions then you will understand why I say that this is a vastly inferior remake.True it is in colour,but if anything it detracts rather than adds to the film.In any event by the time this film was$ made concert parties had virtually died out.The two leads are very poor.Jeanette Scott cannot sing or dance which makes her appearance rather pointless.John Fraser is an inadequate leading man.The film differs from the original in a number of ways,all to its own disadvantage.There is the tacked on show at the end which is truly dreadful and represents all that is worst in fifties British musicals.So not surprising that in the final credits it is the dancers who take the top credits.Definitely not one of Associated British Pictures better efforts