Jassy

Margaret Lockwood is good in this sinister tale of 17th Century British mysticism. She is the eponymous character who can sense impending doom. A dangerous occupation back then, but luckily (or not) local landowner "Barney Hatton" (Dermot Walsh) sees a way of using her to help restore his family fortunes lost by his father (Dennis Price) at the hands of the pretty odious "Helmer" (Basil Sydney). As the plot unravels, we discover that "Jassy" has her own particular axe to grind too - and, well let's just say you wouldn't want to be "Helmer"! The look of the film has something of the Daphne du Maurier about it, but the plot is a little too slow to develop, and there is much too much dialogue. Still, Lockwood is well worth watching here - as usual - and there is just enough menace provided by the eerily lit and well scored production to keep this interesting.

A busy, almost overwrought period melodrama from Gainsborough that's so plot-heavy no scene seems to last longer than 30 seconds. The studio clearly lavished plenty of money on the production, and the stars give it their all to make Jassy an enjoyable, if slightly silly, watch.

Sprawling costume drama casts Margaret Lockwood as a gypsy girl Jassy who has second sight. She gets a job as maid in the household of a once-great family who have lost everything due to father's (Dennis Price) gambling. But she falls in love with the son (Dermot Walsh) whose ambition it is to regain the family estate from the cruel master (Basil Sydney).

Later, Jassy gets a job at the school for girls where she befriends the daughter of the cruel master (Patricia Roc) and poses as her friend when the girl is expelled from the school. She moves into the estate where she is made housekeeper. But the cruel master has his eye on her.

In another storyline, a brutish blacksmith beats his wife and daughter (Esma Cannon) causing the daughter to lose her voice via a throat injury. She eventually gets a job as maid in the estate where Jassy has gone to live. The "loony" as she is called, becomes the devoted slave to Jassy.

After a riding accident, the cruel master is saved by the loony. He is returned to his estate where Jassy takes full control. But after his death Jassy and the loony are accused of murder.

Lockwood is terrific as Jassy, the gypsy girl who is kinder and truer than all the grand people around her. Cannon turns is a superb performance as the pitiful loony. Dennis Price, Patricia Roc, Dermot Walsh, and Basil Sydney are also very good. Co-stars include Linden Travers, Ernest Thesiger, Cathleen Nesbitt, Susan Shaw, Hugh Pryse, Jean Cadell, Beatrice Varley, Torin Thatcher, and Nora Swinburne.

My comments are brief: Whoever owns the rights to distribute "Jassy" should get their butts in gear and release this colorfully stylish, wistful feature to DVD pronto! Americans (of which I am one) are generally (and shamelessly) content to glut themselves on Hollywood-based product (whether good or not), and continually ignore hallmarks of English cinema. "Jassy" (and "Blanche Fury", another jewel buried away in some vault) are overdue their chance to titillate new audiences and deserve to be released to DVD. Roan? Anchor Bay? Criterion Collection?

HeloooOOOO!...

Muriel Box grumbled to her diary when Gainsborough's first film in Technicolor hit screens "Bad notices, bad film - huge commercial success".

A barnstorming gothic melodrama set in 1830 with glowing Technicolor photography by Geoffrey Unsworth sweeping about Maurice Carter's sets, it enabled audiences suffering the daily realities of life in postwar austerity Britain to wallow in the vicissitudes of an era even harsher than their own while savouring the brightly coloured frocks devised by Elizabeth Haffenden for Margaret Lockwood & Patricia Roc.

It is also awash with familiar faces, although they are seldom onscreen for very long; notable exceptions being Basil Sydney as the riding crop-wielding meanie Jassy marries for the house he won off Denis Price playing cards; and Esma Cannon in one of her early dramatic roles as 'the loony'. (Price murdered Miss Cannon in the same year's 'Holiday Camp, but here they share no scenes).

Great fun.