TURN OF THE TIDE

UK, 1935, 80 minutes, Black and white.
John Garrick, J. Fisher White, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Wilfred Lawson, Moore Marriot, Sam Livesy, Niall Mac Ginnis, Joan Maude, Derek Blomfield, Hilda Davies.
Directed by Norman Walker.

Turn of the Tide is an impressive British film of 1935, with location shooting in North Yorkshire in a coastal fishing town, with scenes of the sea, the rocks and the beaches.

It was contemporary at the time but looks historical now. It is the story of two rival families who fish the seas, one a local family and the other coming from 20 miles away and considered foreigners and enemies. The enemy family buys an engine for their boat, while the patriarch of the local family is vigorously, and often viciously, hostile. However, in the next generation, there is a romance between the families, played out by Geraldine Fitzgerald in an early role, about to appear in The Mill on the Floss and going to Hollywood for a long career as well is Niall Mac Ginnis, a strong presence in British films for decades.

While there are some tensions, they tend to be within the family, an attempt to fish for lobsters, lobster fever, with the old patriarch cutting the pots. There is a final rescue sequence for a large ship which is caught on the sand bar and the families combining for a rescue instead of the official tug, sponsored by the old patriarch. With the money given for the rescue, the more sensible members of the families combine to pool the money and buy a larger boat for deep sea fishing.

Director Norman Walker was quite prolific in making such films as The Great Mr Handel.

The film is of interest because it was the first film produced by J. Arthur Rank and, when it failed to get distribution, Rank, a devout Methodist who produced values films, decided to go into production, building Pinewood Studios and organising distribution.

1. A film of 1935? British production by this time? Location photography? Studio work? The production by J. Arthur Rank?

2. The contemporary story, the North Yorkshire coast, the village, homes and streets, the market, Church? The countryside, the salmon pool? The scenes of the beaches, the boats, out at sea, the fishing, the storms? Getting the larger boat off the bar? The musical score?

3. The basic rivalry between the families, the Lunn family coming from 20 miles away, considered new and foreigners? The local family?

4. The different generations in each family? The leadership? The Lunn family, the father and his decisions, the sons, older and younger, wives, close-knit, working together with the fishing? Buying the engine? Their achievement? Making the lobster pots, the comments about lobster fever? The cutting of the pots, their trying again? The contrast with the Fosdyck family, to Isaac and his bigotry, making decisions? His not wanting Ruth to court a Lunn? His sons, going fishing, less successful, not having a motor?

5. Ruth and John, in the family, courting, the disapproval from the family, the deciding to be independent? John and his proposal, Ruth accepting? Uncle Isaac and his hostility?

6. The scenes of fishing, the rivalry, cart and horse and taking the fish to the market, the prices? The effect of the engine? Uncle Isaac and his disdain of the engine?

7. Storms, dangers? The comic touches with trying to get the salmon, falling in the water?

8. The dangers, the signals, the men getting into the wet clothes for rescues?

9. The operator of the tug, approaching Isaac, offering a deal?

10. The episode with the boat, the captain, on the bar, the men arriving, rowing, the families combining? The rivalry with the tug? The men’s success? The money? The proposal that they combine the money to buy the bigger boat for deep sea fishing?

11. The background to English life at the time, in the country villages, with the fishing families?