Kipps

This is a minor work by a neglected master director, Carol Reed, who shared with his contemporary David Lean a great talent for adapting classic English novels to film. Unfortunately, Reed's original cut for the UK, slightly under two hours in length, was trimmed of another half hour before being shown in the United States. Consequently, that version, the one most people see, seems unnecessarily choppy at times. In recreating Edwardian England, Reed was helped here by the magnificent costumes of Cecil Beaton who would go on to design "My Fair Lady" for stage and film. Young Michael Redgrave as the feckless draper's assistant who unexpectedly rises above his station is ideally cast, as are any number of excellent supporting actors from the English stage, among them, most memorably, Max Adrian as the snob Coote and Arthur Riscoe as the playwright Chitterlow. Michael Wilding, Elizabeth Taylor's second husband, is seen briefly as Kipps' solicitor.

KIPPS is a film about the life of a rather stupid young man, played by Michael Redgrave. Mr. Kipps works as a clerk in a small department store and has little formal education. However, out of the blue, he receives a substantial inheritance. Kipps has dreams of becoming a country gentleman. Although he has a mansion and money, two things he doesn't have are an education or common sense. The audience may find that they like this artless man, but at times he's also incredibly foolish in his attempts to blend in with society. On top of that, he becomes engaged to a society lady who is VERY class-conscious and Kipps is forever feeling out of place around her or the company she keeps. How Kipps is able to somehow make a go of it all is something you'll have to see for yourself in this light drama.

While there isn't a lot about this movie that will linger, it is reasonably well-produced and acted--though I think they did make Kipps a bit dumb--too dumb. But, he's a likable fool and it all ends very well, so it's definitely worth watching. One thing that I wondered, though, as I watched. This film was made in the UK during the darkest days of WWII, yet you'd never suspect, as it's a period piece set about 1906--a rarity for a wartime British film, as most seemed to involve the war.

Having read the book of Kipps I knew what happened which was lucky because at times it doesn't seem as likely to happen as in the book - what am I on about? The romance of course. Young Artie has a choice - snobbish Helen who won't let him be himself ("there ARE H's, you know") or dear Ann the maid who has been his friend since they were children, and the longer he takes to make up his mind, the more idiotic he makes himself look!

Briefly, Kipps is a young draper's assistant who comes into money the very day he leaves his job. He thinks that the money will solve all his problems, but how wrong he is! And suddenly everyone he meets is either in society or trying to impress, and he is almost forbidden from talking to his old friends. Ann the maid is the only real character in the entire story, the only one who likes just to be herself, in a nice simple house, with a nice homely lifestyle.

This was my 19th Phyllis Calvert film, and I must say I'm very impressed with her cockney accent! I'm hoping that another one might pop up somewhere in what I'm still to see, but I somehow doubt it.

This is a proficient and workmanlike version of the H G Wells novel about Arthur Kipps ,who at the age of 14 ,is apprenticed to a draper in Folkestone ,Kent .He leaves his lower middle class home and the girl next door ,Ann ,on whom he is sweet ,but not before they exchange a token of endearment -two halves of sixpence ,which they pledge to join together if they should meet again .

Life as a draper's assistant is hard and the rule of the shop owner positively feudal but Kipps prospers until he is dismissed by his straight arrow boss following a night of drunkenness with the flamboyant actor Chitlow (Arthur Riscoe).His fortunes are revived when he inherits a large sum of money and a substantial property in the town .He is soon taken into society under the tutelage of Chester -a mannered and theatrical but effective performance by Max Adrian .He becomes engaged to the snobbish Helen Walsingham (Diane Wyngard)but things get complicated when a now grown up Ann (Phyllis Calvert)re-enters his life .

Class and snobbery are at the heart of Kipps -both movie and book -and these motifs form the core of the movie .It is well acted and although Redgrave lacks the lightness of touch that ,say Guinness,would have brought to proceedings ,he is still admirable .Wynard is fine but Calvert is just a tad too genteel in the role of Ann .The script ,by Launder and Gilliat ,rambles a bit and the direction of Carol Reed seems excessively detached .There is much to enjoy however ,despite its longueurs ,and students of vintage British cinema will lap it up

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.