Ha'penny Breeze

After a slow and sombre start, this story gradually turned out to be a quite delightful and lovely film.

It seems it is quite a hard film to get hold of, but I do believe that it is now available on DVD.

At first, I started to wonder whether it was a film using "non-actors" or locals from the amateur dramatic society. However, looking at the credits, it seems that the characters were all played by both professional and well-known actors.

I only recognised the actor playing the part of "David King". His name was Edwin Richfield. Although never a big star, his face could be recognised in a variety of films, where he played police inspectors, officers in the Armed Forces and barristers. His most famous role was that of Inspector Mornay in "Interpol Calling", a detective series broadcasted from 1959 to 1960. He played in 33 episodes of this series and was Inspector Duval's (played excellently by Charles Korvin) opposite number in the French Sûreté.

I will make one confession. I missed the uncredited performances of Basil Radford and Michael Gough.

The story was filmed in Pin Mill, a small fishing village in East Anglia. It is ironic that the location played the part of a dispirited community, because Pin Mill has always been quite famous for its venue as a sailing area and was used as a base for Royal Naval Motor Launches during the Second World War. Many Landing Crafts were launched from there during the Normandy Landings. It has also been used for location work on other British films and is mentioned in a few novels, including "Swallows and Amazons".

I will give the film 10 out 10. They should make more films like this to advertise what a lovely country England is.

DVD now on sale from Amazon at £4.69, just in time for the Christmas trade!

A pleasant sub Ealing little film about villagers of a long forgotten fishing village. The hero returns from the second world war with an Aussie pal & extols the virtues of his home village, only to find it run down & virtually deserted. They decide to renovate the old boat but get no help from the locals until a yachting competition comes up. They all rally behind the main character to rebuild a boat & trying to turn it into a race winning yacht. A rare starring role for Edwin Richfield, a familiar face in films & tv shows of the 1950's 60's . The boat builders Harry King & Sons is still there in Pin Mill. This film is regularly shown on Talking Pictures TV.

I recall seeing this old movie back in the 1950's when I was living in UK. It was particularly interesting at the time since the action takes place at Pin Mill in Suffolk on the River Orwell which is just up the river from where I lived at the time.

As mentioned by the other reviewer, it is b&w and involves yachts and I believe barges are also part of the action. I would love to see a release of this on late night TV or in a collection of B-movies since it has the kind of appeal which so few movies have today.

The astounding thing about this film is that I found myself watching it. My wife had recorded it as a time filler but I found it quite enjoyable. Set at the end of World War 2, returning prisoner of war David King has been regaling his pal Johnny with tales of his idyllic home village of Pin Mill. However, as they view it from a nearby hill it is obvious that the place is now a ghost town. David's sister Joan explains that sunken shipping in the estuary destroyed the fishing industry and with it the boat builders and associated trades. David decides to resurrect the fortunes of Pin Mill by converting his boat Elena into a yacht and winning a race, thereby attracting orders for boat building. This is a rather well-worn tale involving initially sceptical locals coming round and helping out. Such films were a staple of the British film industry at the time, but tended to be the preserve of the Ealing Studios with much bigger budgets. Here, the action is gentle and charming. The race does not end as expected. But, this is obviously a feelgood film and everything is resolved satisfactorily. Surprisingly, David King is played by Edwin Richfield, whose hawkish looks featured in many movie and TV roles in the fifties and sixties, usually as a villain or henchman. Nice to see him as a goody for a change. Never in line for any awards, this is still a fascinating glimpse of a bygone age when people were having to get used to a changing world.