Hindle Wakes

I could only give this eight because I only watched half an hour of it, but what a laugh! I loved every brief minute. It was nostalgic, with its depiction of a Blackpool in its heyday, and I guffawed heartily at the cut-glass accents of the mill-workers. Paul Whitehouse could not parody this, because it does the job itself. The raised eyebrows from the concierge when the unmarried (gasp!) couple book into the Llandudno hotel as Mr and Mrs are priceless. I look forward to seeing the film in full so as to discover if there is a moment to top the scene at the swimming pool. Let me set it: you have two brylcreemed Lotharios at the open-air baths in hot pursuit of the two ladies they met at the Winter Gardens the night before. The ladies - in their demure fifties fashion - spot them and make haste to flee the gents' advances pronto. They retreat to where no gent may set foot, and when Gent 2 asks Gent 1 where did they go, Gent 1 points to the sign about the womens' changing room that reads: "Ladies' Boxes". PRICELESS!! How keen we gents are to get into ladies' boxes. What-ho!

A decent insight into the social life and attitudes of the 40's 50's in Britain. However it's let down by some ridiculous casting, namely the gorgeous Lisa Daniely cast as a Lancashire Mill workers daughter with an accent straight out of a Surrey finishing school.

It's the end of the work cycle, and the staff at a factory in Lancashire head to Blackpool for the weekend. Passions arise.

It's an ok watch, I'd say it's perhaps a little slow, it does take a long time to get going. Some of the dialogue is a bit off, such as 'your daughter is dead, but don't take on.'

It's an interesting recollection on just how women were seen, and treated in society, it seems so archaic now. Yes it's about the clashes in culture, but it's more than that, it's an interesting snapshot.

Some nice filming, and some intriguing stock footage, look how many people are in that dance hall. Unfortunately the boat scene is absolutely hilarious, it just doesn't work.

Lisa Daniely is very good as Jenny, what a remarkable beauty she was. Her and Mary don't seen like factory girls, they are way too eloquent and refined.

Two people to look out for, Rita Webb, amusing as The Landlady, and of course Joan Hickson, also amusing as the bedraggled mother.

I've seen a layer version of it, and that was much better. This was ok, if a bit of a slog. 5/10.

Lisa Daniely is a mill girl in the Lancashire town of Hindle. On the week of her annual holiday, she goes with a friend to Blackpool, where she encounters Brian Worth, the son of owner of the mill where she works -- and an old friend of her father, Leslie Dwyer. She goes with him for a week at a hotel. When this is discovered, confusion and morality break loose.

It's at least the sixth screen version of Stanley Houghton's 1912 play; I count three earlier movie versions, and a couple of TV adaptations. This one spends a third of its length with cameraman Geoffrey Faithfull making what looks to be an advertising movie for Blackpool's tourist industry.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the story, its point and its position as a key work in the Manchester school, it's not so good. Miss Daniely doesn't even attempt a Lancashire accent, and those who insist on doing "the right thing" seem old-fashioned and small-minded. There's no sense of morality to be punctured, just reflex action and self-interest; even Ronald Adams as Jeffcote, who's meant to be proponent of the old morality, is largely reduced to a straw man. He tells his old friend Dwyer that the man who's wronged Miss Daniely will do the right thing before discovering it's his own son, and his insistence after discovering it seems a bit insincere for all its swiftness.

This is the sixth or seventh version of this show I have seen, including a later television version from the 1970s and a couple of stage versions. It suffers from its post-war attitude that of course, the times they are a-changing, and there's no real sense, even as she speaks the lines, that Miss Daniely has a skilled trade that makes her independent of any man. She's simply looking for a better one than the weak and self-indulgent Worth, one who will adore her utterly, and perhaps give her a black eye.

The movie captures many social conventions of 1950s Britain. Two conventions from this movie captured my imagination: (a) The idea that the first gal/guy you slept with - if found out - your parents would force your hand to marry them. I think youngsters today could learn a thing or 2 about responsibilities & about being responsible - for better or for worse. (b) England/Great Britain 'had' so much to offer. Nowadays holidaying in & around the UK is such a big deal, but there is still plenty to sea - (see) - & do. Today a lot of seaside towns are being left for London or the next biggest town commuters, and their hotels & resorts are being turned into apartments & flats.