So Well Remembered

The biggest question I have about So Well Remembered is why this film was lost all these years? Usually 'lost' films are from the silent and early sound era. I've never heard of a film done as late as 1947 being lost. And sad too because from this talented cast I've seen some of the best performances from them.

Another thing that puzzles me as far as the film being lost is that James Hilton was such a popular author on both sides of the pond. I would have thought this film would have been as frequently revived as Random Harvest, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and The Lost Horrizon.

Hilton narrates the film and for both British and American audiences it was a familiar voice, they heard it many times on radio. Hilton was never shy about promoting his own work on the best media available to him.

Like Random Harvest the story takes place in the years between the World Wars. John Mills is an earnest young reformer who both wants to do some good in this old world for the people of the small Lancaster mill town that he comes from. They are a poor lot, many living on the dole because the factories have closed and they were swindled out of their life savings by Frederick Leister who was the owner and chief employer of the town. Leister went to prison and upon this the story begins as his attractive young daughter Martha Scott is looking for employment as a librarian.

The towns folk want to visit the sins of the father on her, but Mills is a forgiving sort and persuades the town to hire her. This leads to romance and they marry. But gradually over the course of the movie, the two are shone to be a bad match with their different agendas.

Martha Scott is an actress sad to say pretty much forgotten. My first memory of her is hosting a short anthology series, Modern Romances in the early days of television. Up to now I thought her best film role was as the dutiful minister's wife in One Foot In Heaven. But in So Well Remembered her part as the scheming manipulating wife is best described as a combination of Regina Hubbard from The Little Foxes and Estella from Great Expectations. And that this performance was lost all these years didn't help Martha Scott for posterity's sake.

Trevor Howard plays Mills's best friend, the alcoholic town doctor, no doubt a character Hilton borrowed from many a Hollywood western. Howard serves as the film's conscience however, he's seen too much and lived too much in poverty to be charitable. Except he does perform one good act of charity in the film.

The hero/protagonist that John Mills plays would have been done by Jimmy Stewart if So Well Remembered had an American setting. Mills is like so many Capra heroes, the decent and honorable man on whom the people look for leadership and who has his flaws as well. At one point he does fall victim to temptation in a crisis brought on indirectly by the scheming Scott. But Mills realizes what he's done and pulls back from temptation.

Patricia Roc and Richard Carlson play an attractive pair of young lovers, connected to the others and whose lives have been directed by the foibles of the older generation. So Well Remembered is a fabulous restored classic and a tribute to its author James Hilton, a man so well remembered and so well loved in the UK and the USA.

The British Rank Organisation came up with a gem of a 1947 film, "So Well Remembered." Interesting to see the usually kind and sympathetic Martha Scott playing a nasty sort of woman here. You wouldn't think that from the beginning of the film when Scott as Olivia seems to be a victim of her father's imprisonment.

Sociologists would enjoy this film tackling the housing situation in Britain circa the post-World War 1 period. The areas shown are slums with diphtheria running rampant.

John Mills is our hero here. He sacrifices a very lucrative career in parliament to devote his energies to improving housing in his area and therefore trying to solve the problem of poverty. He weds Olivia who can't seem to bring their young son to a clinic when the diphtheria epidemic strikes. After the child dies, she leaves her husband, remarries and has a son by that film, played by an adult, Richard Carlson. Carlson is extremely good here,especially in his disfigured scenes when mother Scott becomes totally possessive.

Trevor Howard shines as an alcoholic doctor. The unevenness of the film may be shown from the problems of poverty to the all-possessive Olivia who tries to smother her war-injured son.(Carlson). She is finally rebuked in her effort to do this by Mills, who should have done this years before.

An interesting film, well acted.

First of all let me tell you that the copy I watched on video is produced by Hectic House Records and sold in the town of Macclesfield, England, - the location at which the movie was shot. Bear in mind that this film has recently been re-discovered, owned by a private collector. The production is in Sepia (that sort of brownish/greenish effect that is neither colour or black and white). The quality of sound is absolutely appalling. Even using a high quality video/TV/separate powered speakers a lot of patience and forgiveness is required by the viewer.

Now on to the movie. What can I say? It is an absolute gem. John Mills' portrayal of George Boswell is almost reminiscent of his performance as Willy Mossop in "Hobson's Choice" (although dare I say even better). Trevor Howard once again plays a doctor (recalling "Brief Encounter"), except this time a sullen, often drunken character; but nevertheless a highly moralistic and commendable Dr. Richard Whiteside. Martha Scott's performance as Olivia Channing reminds males of all ages how it is always possible for a weeping, vulnerable pretty young woman can be a devil in disguise! Great performances from the rest of the cast, including a 'natural' performance from Hayley Mills as baby Julie.

Macclesfield as a Town has changed considerably since 1947; in fact it's one of the wealthiest areas of the whole of the UK in 2004. But scenes in "So Well Remembered" do remain recognisable.

This movie deserves a complete make-over as it is so outstandingly good.

Told by way of a retrospective, we join John Mills ("Boswell") who has spent the last twenty five years - including those of WWII - trying to improve the lives of his mill town inhabitants. Back in the day, he is the editor of the local newspaper, and a town councillor, who finds himself defending the job opportunities of "Olivia" (Martha Scott), slated for a position as assistant librarian but finding herself the victim of prejudice. Her mill owning father had been responsible for the building of some of the slum housing in the town. The two fall in love and marry, but things start to take a more serious turn for the couple when an outbreak of diphtheria impacts on both their ambitions (for parliament) and their family leaving the couple separated, and him even more focused on enriching the lives of his local electorate. It is only much later, when conditions in one of her mills deteriorate and a strike looms, that they meet again and he - with the help of his friend "Dr. Whiteside" (Trevor Howard) starts to realise that some of the tragedy that has followed him throughout his life might not have been quite so accidental as he had thought. This film benefits from two strong leading performances and some solid supporting from Patricia Roc ("Julie") and Richard Carlson ("Charles" - the son of "Olivia" upon whom she has come to dote and depend). It's narrated by the writer (James Hilton) and that adds just enough to fill in the gaps as the story of ambition and sadness reaches quite a powerful and touching conclusion. Certainly one of Mills' better efforts, and together with offering us an interesting social commentary of post industrial revolution life in 1930s Engand, makes for a decent watch.

I viewed this 1940's movie on TCM last evening and was impressed by the quality of the film-making and the leading character's integrity and social conscience. These qualities led the youthful councillor, played by John Mills, to defend the woman he would fall in love with, Martha Scott, little knowing the consequences he would face in later life.

John Mills always seemed so gifted at portraying classy British gentlemen and this is certainly the case in this role. Martha Scott was less convincing as his wife, whose later character was at odds with her former self. Her son Charles, by a second marriage, was much too old for the part and looked more like a brother than a son.

The movie shows how two people come into conflict over personal values and family crises. The film-making is superb and the opening shots drew me into the story because each was a perfect black/white photograph. The quality of the movie made me think it was re-mastered and did not show the faded, sepia-tone look that some reviews were critical of. The rain was so real it gave me a chill just looking at the screen as the young couple went running through the cobblestone streets and took refuge under a bridge.

Though somewhat flawed, this movie is a worthy addition to the library of British black/white cinema from the mid-20th century. Thank goodness for TCM bringing them back to the screen.