Ha'penny Breeze

The River Orwell ran through Ipswich - mentioned occasionally in this film as the big place up river - were my family lived during the late sixties (at the same time as Veronica Lake, I later learned) and early seventies. I remember visiting Pin Mill in 1968, and this charming little sub-Ealing anecdote was already nearly twenty years old even then.

As usual none of the speaking cast even attempt the local accent. But it makes good use of the Orwell foreshore (which my family occasionally drove out to to stroll), and Aussie hero Don Sharp (who shows promise, I wonder what became of him?) is seen reading the local paper 'The Evening Star' in one scene at the local pub selling Cobbald ales (before they merged with Tolly in 1957. My father always preferred Adnams).

A pleasant sub Ealing little film about villagers of a long forgotten fishing village. The hero returns from the second world war with an Aussie pal & extols the virtues of his home village, only to find it run down & virtually deserted. They decide to renovate the old boat but get no help from the locals until a yachting competition comes up. They all rally behind the main character to rebuild a boat & trying to turn it into a race winning yacht. A rare starring role for Edwin Richfield, a familiar face in films & tv shows of the 1950's 60's . The boat builders Harry King & Sons is still there in Pin Mill. This film is regularly shown on Talking Pictures TV.

The astounding thing about this film is that I found myself watching it. My wife had recorded it as a time filler but I found it quite enjoyable. Set at the end of World War 2, returning prisoner of war David King has been regaling his pal Johnny with tales of his idyllic home village of Pin Mill. However, as they view it from a nearby hill it is obvious that the place is now a ghost town. David's sister Joan explains that sunken shipping in the estuary destroyed the fishing industry and with it the boat builders and associated trades. David decides to resurrect the fortunes of Pin Mill by converting his boat Elena into a yacht and winning a race, thereby attracting orders for boat building. This is a rather well-worn tale involving initially sceptical locals coming round and helping out. Such films were a staple of the British film industry at the time, but tended to be the preserve of the Ealing Studios with much bigger budgets. Here, the action is gentle and charming. The race does not end as expected. But, this is obviously a feelgood film and everything is resolved satisfactorily. Surprisingly, David King is played by Edwin Richfield, whose hawkish looks featured in many movie and TV roles in the fifties and sixties, usually as a villain or henchman. Nice to see him as a goody for a change. Never in line for any awards, this is still a fascinating glimpse of a bygone age when people were having to get used to a changing world.

This is a long forgotten B feature about the revival of a yacht building harbour.The story is a bore.The acting is amateurish.A lot of footage is devoted to a yacht race,so if you don't like watching such things then you will find viewing this film a chore.

After a slow and sombre start, this story gradually turned out to be a quite delightful and lovely film.

It seems it is quite a hard film to get hold of, but I do believe that it is now available on DVD.

At first, I started to wonder whether it was a film using "non-actors" or locals from the amateur dramatic society. However, looking at the credits, it seems that the characters were all played by both professional and well-known actors.

I only recognised the actor playing the part of "David King". His name was Edwin Richfield. Although never a big star, his face could be recognised in a variety of films, where he played police inspectors, officers in the Armed Forces and barristers. His most famous role was that of Inspector Mornay in "Interpol Calling", a detective series broadcasted from 1959 to 1960. He played in 33 episodes of this series and was Inspector Duval's (played excellently by Charles Korvin) opposite number in the French Sûreté.

I will make one confession. I missed the uncredited performances of Basil Radford and Michael Gough.

The story was filmed in Pin Mill, a small fishing village in East Anglia. It is ironic that the location played the part of a dispirited community, because Pin Mill has always been quite famous for its venue as a sailing area and was used as a base for Royal Naval Motor Launches during the Second World War. Many Landing Crafts were launched from there during the Normandy Landings. It has also been used for location work on other British films and is mentioned in a few novels, including "Swallows and Amazons".

I will give the film 10 out 10. They should make more films like this to advertise what a lovely country England is.