Carnival

"Miss Pearl" is not so good, not so bad! That's how she is described when she takes to the boards as a ballet dancer. This ambitious, enthusiastic, lass (Sally Gray) comes from an ordinary family who struggle to make ends meet whilst she tries to make a success on the stage. Her relationship with her mother (Catherine Lacey) is a tough, but loving one, and with the gentle support of her put-upon father (Stanley Holloway) she starts to make some progress. Along the way, she falls for the pretty hapless artist "Avery" (a perfectly plausible effort from Michael Wilding). He wants her to marry him, but should she take the plunge? When her mother dies, many of her options are removed though and she finds herself stuck in a loveless message with the somewhat puritanical "Trewhella" (Bernard Miles) where she is expected to be an obedient farmer's wife in Cornwall. When "Avery" decides to pay her a visit, the green eyed monster rears it's head with tragic results! Gray is certainly way too old for the part, but she still adds a certain lustre to the otherwise rather dreary proceedings. There is a some joy from the supporting cast with fellow dancers "May" (Hazel Court) and "Irene" (Jean Kent) adding a little jollity and Nancy Price does well as her over-bearing mother-in-law who could have, single-handedly, set back the cause of women's rights by 200 years. The story has some interesting threads, and given it was released just after the end of WWII, it was probably intended to inject some optimism and hope into the lives of those still recovering from six years of devastation, but despite it's strong cast, it just lacks punch.

Having just watched Carnival I was interested to see what other IMDb users thought about it. Astonishingly there was just one review! Extraordinary! Well - if you get the chance, do try to catch this excellent piece of British cinema history. As well as being an unusual, well acted and interesting drama, Carnival is crammed with wonderful English stars and character players ... in fact, there are so many that well-known faces such as Kathleen Harrison aren't even billed in the credits! The film marked Sally Gray's triumphant return to the screen following a five year absence, and although a good ten years too old for her role, she still gives a luminous performance, commanding all her scenes with a natural authority and star quality. There is one scene which made me smile, as the supposedly 19 year old Sally looks into a mirror and wistfully says "In eleven years I'll be 30. I wonder what I'll look like". Not much different, one imagines the audience thinking. The plot concerns a young dancer (Sally Gray) in turn of the century London. Her home life is not particularly harmonious, living with her mismatched parents (Stanley Holloway and Catherine Lacey) and her younger sister (Hazel Court). Courted by stage door johnnies along with her fellow dancers (Jean Kent, Brenda Bruce), she resists temptation but does fall in love with a temperamental artist (Michael Wilding). When he asks her to go away with him, she must choose whether to follow her heart or stay on the straight and narrow. At this point the film takes a most unexpected and fascinating turn, leading to a genuinely shocking conclusion, and I defy anyone to guess what will happen in the last three minutes!

The only film directed by writer & producer Stanley Haynes (who committed suicide in 1958) is a relentless gothic melodrama based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie providing escape for housewives suffering the daily grind of life in austerity Britain into a world of stays and bustles and the grim satisfaction of seeing Sally Gray being let down by debonair but shallow artist Michael Wilding (who thinks "Domesticity is the enemy of art") and abused by pious bully Bernard Miles. It all ends in tears, thus enabling the ladies to return to their own drab lives feeling slightly better.

The occasionally witty dialogue is presumably what earned Peter Ustinov his 'additional dialogue' credit; while Hazel Court glows as Miss Gray's grave younger sister.

Everything is perfect about this film, although it is a shocker. Naturally you get worried as you get involved in the fates and faulty characters of all these personages, where everyone has a crux of her own, while only Jennie Pearl seems to come clear of everything, and yet it is impossible to foresee how events will turn out, as unexpected things happen all the time, twisting their fates around and taking you unpleasantly for more than one surprise ride.

The story is Compton Mackenzie's, who also gave us "Whisky Galore" among other priceless classics, a masterful story-teller and brilliant wit especially for dialogue, which permeates this whole film, while also the director worked on the script with even Peter Ustinov. Just for the dialogue, the film is worth watching at least twice.

The actors are all brilliant, from the jovial and incorrigible Stanley Holloway as the father, Catherine Lacey as his self-torturing wife, Sally Gray herself as something between Glenda Jackson and Katharine Hepburn and a marvellous dancer as well, this film is mainly about ballet and art and the problems artists of these crafts are facing, and Michael Wilding is overwhelmingly charming as usual. To this comes the astonishing and towering character that Bernard Miles is creating, who almost takes over the entire film. The grand finale in Cornwall crowns the masterpiece.

This was apparently Stanley Haynes' only film, while his main contributions was as a producer.

It's very difficult to say what is best about this film, since everything is so perfect, especially the sparkling dialogue and brilliant interplay of the actors, there are many adorable scenes, and the music adds to it, actually composed (like the ballets) exclusively for this film, which therefore could be regarded as something of a foreplay to the emerging of the greatest of all ballet films, "The Red Shoes" two years later.

Not one cockney in sight but you can't really blame simpleton country farmer Bernard Miles (Trewhella) for his humorous comment referring to Londoners in this way. A lot of northerners even today refer to all Londoners as cockneys and I know this as I'm a Londoner living up north. Anyway, the central casting of Sally Gray as dancer Jenny or Ginny is completely wrong in this film. She is meant to be born into a working class family but has this ghastly air of superiority only found in the most confident of wealthy children. And her accent is pure upper class. This is completely wrong for the film. Also, her name changes in the film – she definitely starts off as a Ginny and by the end of the film and the cast list at the end of the film, she has turned into a Jenny. She was called Ginny! Loads of times!

The film suffers as its two main characters – Gray and artist Michael Wilding (Maurice) are totally unappealing and we just don't care what happens to them as they are awful. The two characters who stand out are Stanley Holloway (Charlie) as Gray's dad who portrays a working class dad correctly and with a dash of humour and Bernard Miles as the humble farmer from down South who undergoes a character change and walks away with the film's acting honours. Nancy Price is also memorable as the uber-religious nut-case mother of Miles.

The story is one of taking the wrong path when it comes to love and the effect it has when everyone gets it wrong! Holloway and artist Michael Clarke (Fuzz) are the most likable characters and your sympathies are with them. Back to the story, you can see how this will end and I just didn't care. Back to northerners, they also say "tea" when they mean "dinner" and I'm just another blasted cockney from South Kensington!