The Quiet Woman

1951
1h 11m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Coastal pub proprietress is inveigled into a smuggling plot.Coastal pub proprietress is inveigled into a smuggling plot.Coastal pub proprietress is inveigled into a smuggling plot.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.0/10

260

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Featured reviews

4Prismark10

The Quiet Woman is a low key crime thriller with a lot of outdoor location shooting but a humdrum and light plot.

Duncan McLeod (Derek Bond) a local artist with his assistant Lefty Brown (Michael Balfour) do a bit of part time smuggling of liquor across the English Channel. They store the liquor at the local pub Quiet Woman. Now it has been taken over by newcomer Jane Foster (Jane Hylton) and her employee Elsie (Dora Bryan) and they tell McLeod that they do not approve of whatever arrangements he had with the previous owner.

However Jane succumbs to the charms of McLeod but trouble ensues when her criminal husband turns up after escaping from prison and demands his wife's help and the two customs officers are hot on the heels of McLeod.

A pleasant but undemanding film with Jane trying to start a new law abiding life but finds out that it is difficult to get away from her past. Harry Towb made his film debut as Jane's thuggish husband who in later years became better known for children's television show, You and Me.

8plan99

The normal 1950s mix of toffs and common people.

Saluting by the male characters and calling their betters "Sir" went on a lot in this film but their wartime experiences were part of the plot. It took me a while to recognise Harry Tawb as his distinctive look and voice was not fully developed yet.

The pub in this film was named after a mythical creature.

A nice snapshot of postwar gentlemanly dodgy dealing with the only loser being the excise man so we were all rooting for the smugglers of course. The smuggling was not the central plot however so this was more of a romance story than an exciting smuggling film was it was till enjoyable even for those not all that keen on romantic films.

6hitchcockthelegend

I'm glad to see that you do something else besides smuggling.

The Quiet Woman is directed by John Gilling and Gilling writes the screenplay from a story by Ruth Adams. It stars Derek Bond, Jane Hylton, Dora Bryan, Michael Balfour, Dianne Foster and John Horsley. Music is by John Lanchbery and cinematography is by Monty Berman.

The Quiet Woman of the title is double meaning, it's the name of the Inn that Jane Foster (Hylton) has become the landlady of, while it also appertains to herself once the story takes its turn into thriller territory.

It's a decent enough "B" picture, where a smuggling discovery leads to romance, which leads to jealousy, which leads to something from the past surfacing to set up for the nifty last quarter. The short running time means the pic doesn't have time to bore, but the whole splendid time capsule of the era is enjoyable, and so too is the East Sussex waterside locations used on the production. 6/10

9mhadesign

Great Film

I have this film on DVD, it is a great film from the 1950's, great acting and a good story line makes this movie, and with most old movies they where film on location as is this one, not in a studio I think it is always good to get a feeling of natural surroundings, which was filmed in Sussex in one of my local pubs, which is called "The Star Inn" the pub is located in the small coastal village of Normans Bay, East Sussex and still retains a lot of the original features from the movie. The pub dates back to 1402. Dora Bryan was in the film, she sadly died back in 2014 in Hove, East Sussex which is not far from where this film was made. I think most of the cast has sadly departed us now.

4boblipton

For A Movie About A Quiet Woman, There's An Awful Lot Of Talking

Jane Hylton runs a pub on the water, but she used to do other things. Derek Bond is an artist, but he also does other things. And John Horsley doesn't do anything, but he also does other things. We find out soon enough what these other things are. Not all of them are nice, but the movie still goes on for 67 minutes, because there has to be a final scene involving a fight at sea in the fog, in what appears to be about four feet of water.

There's some good camerawork by Monty Berman, but this sort of movie, which tries to retain the audience's interest by the occasional Surprising Revelation doesn't do much to interest me. Character is revealed by action, not talk - unless it's one of those movies in which the characters are terribly clever people who say interesting things, which these people aren't.

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Trivia
Dora Bryan replaced Diana Dors, who had quarreled with the director.

Goofs
When Elsie is going up the stairs after the flower delivery she trips as she goes round the corner on the landing.

Quotes
Duncan McLeod: Morning, Jane. Lovely morning.
Jane Foster: Good morning, Mr McLeod.
Duncan McLeod: Did I mention that my other name was Duncan?
Jane Foster: I believe you did. I don't remember mentioning that mine was Jane.
Duncan McLeod: Obviously an oversight
Jane Foster: [looking at him painting] I'm glad to see that you do something else besides smuggling.
Duncan McLeod: Oh, yes.
Jane Foster: Why do you smuggle?
Duncan McLeod: Keeps me out of mischief. I'm afraid you take rather a poor view of me, don't you?
Jane Foster: Possibly. It's quite a normal view to take of people who break laws. I mean, willfully break them.
Duncan McLeod: Trying to tell me you've never broken one yourself?
Jane Foster: What do you mean by that?
Duncan McLeod: Well we all do from time to time, don't we? Some more than others. You know - extra rations, dodging income tax and so forth. Quite human little failings really.
Jane Foster: Does smuggling liquor across the Channel come under the category of a human little failing?
Duncan McLeod: Oh, definitely.
Jane Foster: If you ever get caught, I hope the Customs authorities take the same view.
Duncan McLeod: Thank you! Didn't think you cared that much.
Jane Foster: I don't! If you want the truth, Mr McLeod, I hate people like you. You don't smuggle because you need the money, you do it out of bravado; because you think it's smart to get away with something.
Duncan McLeod: I wouldn't say that...
Jane Foster: Your worse than a real crook because you can look at what you're doing objectively and know that it's wrong. You think it's a good joke. But it's not. It's bad...
Duncan McLeod: You look wonderful!
Jane Foster: You make me quite sick, Mr McLeod!