Hindle Wakes

It's the end of the work cycle, and the staff at a factory in Lancashire head to Blackpool for the weekend. Passions arise.

It's an ok watch, I'd say it's perhaps a little slow, it does take a long time to get going. Some of the dialogue is a bit off, such as 'your daughter is dead, but don't take on.'

It's an interesting recollection on just how women were seen, and treated in society, it seems so archaic now. Yes it's about the clashes in culture, but it's more than that, it's an interesting snapshot.

Some nice filming, and some intriguing stock footage, look how many people are in that dance hall. Unfortunately the boat scene is absolutely hilarious, it just doesn't work.

Lisa Daniely is very good as Jenny, what a remarkable beauty she was. Her and Mary don't seen like factory girls, they are way too eloquent and refined.

Two people to look out for, Rita Webb, amusing as The Landlady, and of course Joan Hickson, also amusing as the bedraggled mother.

I've seen a layer version of it, and that was much better. This was ok, if a bit of a slog. 5/10.

Beautiful film, well acted and great to watch. Wonderful British character actors, all having a great time. All the factories up north and Scotland I think, had their two week break at Blackpool - not at once I hope.

I loved the scene when the crowd are on the platform heading for the train and Bill Travers chats to a girl and puts his hand somewhere he shouldn't - she makes a cheerful reprimand, hand removed and he's leant his lesson.

Loved seeing Britain's history, loved the dance hall scenes.

An experienced British cast star in this melodrama of a young mill-working girl on a seaside holiday with her friend. After a night at a dance hall, she hooks up with the son of a local mill owner and they have a clandestine time. All goes well until her friend is killed in a (frankly hilarious) boating accident, their tryst is discovered and they have to deal with the consequences. It's quite a nicely filmed period piece illustrating working class 1950s England and revealing the last vestiges of class-based snobbery; but the script is weak and wordy. Joan Hickson stands out as the matriarchal mother of the girl and Ronald Adam as the rather pompous father of the boy.

The movie captures many social conventions of 1950s Britain. Two conventions from this movie captured my imagination: (a) The idea that the first gal/guy you slept with - if found out - your parents would force your hand to marry them. I think youngsters today could learn a thing or 2 about responsibilities & about being responsible - for better or for worse. (b) England/Great Britain 'had' so much to offer. Nowadays holidaying in & around the UK is such a big deal, but there is still plenty to sea - (see) - & do. Today a lot of seaside towns are being left for London or the next biggest town commuters, and their hotels & resorts are being turned into apartments & flats.

Extraordinary that there had been two silent and one talkie versions earlier - a testament to the strength of the original play. It raised the, for its time, very controversial question of "The Single Standard": should women have the same freedoms as men? By 1952 however the boldness and independence of the central character's actions had been largely overtaken by changes in society especially the sexual licence during wartime, consequently it had lost its controversial edge.

In this production the drama revolves more round the parents - they were of a generation that still held to Edwardian values even if their offspring didn't. Shorn of its controversial edge but retaining the questions of differences of class or rather money, the part that does remain is a well played modest domestic drama involving the parents.

As another reviewer has pointed out the Lancashire mill girl daughter speaks and dresses like a débutante, indistinguishable from her upper class love "rival" - film companies apparently at the time obliged actresses to lose all trace of regional or working class accents. Small wonder the revolution of kitchen sink realism in play and film occurred within less than 4 years.

The earlier versions including the silent ones are rated higher than this probably because they were closer to the time when the story would have been controversial and highly charged. However now is probably the time for a period revival with its theme of a strong and independently minded working class young woman defying convention and self-interest.