So Well Remembered

A typically well-made British drama (with an Anglo-American cast including John Mills, Martha Scott and Trevor Howard); rarely seen today and deserves a far wider audience. Based on a novel by James Hilton ("Lost Horizon"), who also does the narration, "So Well Remembered" captures perfectly the gloom of a poverty-stricken British village; chronicles the efforts of a newspaper editor (Mills) to fight for better living conditions. Great atmospheric black-and-white photography; good performances by Mills and Martha Scott as his ambitious, class-conscious wife who grows ever resentful of her husband's dedication to his village. A small dramatic gem. (Unfortunately not available on video, but was released on laserdisc as part of the now out-of-print RKO Classic Collection).

Hectic House in Macclesfield bought an original print of this film and have released it on VHS & DVD- primarily as a historic record of the town in the 1940s. It has been suggested that Macclesfield was chosen as the location for "the Lancashire mill town of Bowdley" in 1946, as the Luftwaffe had paid no visits in the preceding years - and much of the film is set in the 1920's. The quality is not fantastic, and it has a sepia tint which may or may not be original. The film went out of copyright, and was unavailable in the UK for many years. Could the film's disappearance have anything to do with Dmytryk's trouble with HUAC?

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.

This is a picture of intelligence and substance that deserves to be better known. It includes exceptional performances by two of the finest actors of our time, John Mills and Trevor Howard. Flawed, perhaps, by a less-than-clear rendering of the Olivia Channing character (whose attitudes, emotions and actions lack consistency), it is nevertheless deeply moving.

In any number of scenes director Edward Dmytryk reveals the strong influence of Orson Welles' narrative and cinematic methods in "Citizen Kane." Such can only add to a film's effectiveness, even if less than totally original.

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.