WHERE THERE'S A WILL
UK, 1955, 80 minutes, Colour.
Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer, George Cole, Ann Hanslip, Michael Shepley, Dandy Nichols, Thelma Ruby, Edward Woodward, Sam Kydd.
Directed by Vernon Sewell.
This is one of the many supporting features made for cinema release during the 1950s. It is amusing and entertaining in a British kind of way.
The screenplay, rather wordy, is an adaptation by R. D..Delterfield of his play. While it is a comedy, there is some social critique, especially of 1950s bureaucracy.
The title indicates that where there’s a will, there are relatives. An old man dies after stepping on a mine on his Devon property. The relatives arrive but there is no will. At the centre, in an agreeable performance, is Leslie Dwyer, middle-aged technician at a London Turkish Baths. He sees this as his opportunity to become a farmer and has done some short courses.
However, there is his rather dominating older sister, played by Dandy Nichols, 10 years before Till Death Do Us Part. There is the younger sister whose husband, something of a London spiv (George Cole doing the same kind of role as he did in the St Trinian’s films – and 20 years before Minder). There is also the older sister’s daughter who works as a typist but longs for something else, who encounters the son of the local squire who wants to set up a riding school (very young Edward Woodward 30 years before Equaliser).
The farm is run down, but managed by the long-time housekeeper, Kathleen Harrison. Lots of situation comic turns, many pratfalls, some repartee, and the continued disputes between the members of the family, plans to sell, plans not to sell, complications about mortgage.
The film was directed by Vernon Sewell, a long career in direction, especially smaller features in the 1950s and some horror films in the 1960s, The Crimson Curse.
1. Where there’s a will… There’s relatives?
2. British comedy of the 1950s? Verbal, situation, performance? Small budget? Local issues?
3. Devon, the railway, the countryside, the farm, the fields, animals, dilapidation, the house? The musical score?
4. The death of the owner, the mine exploding? The issue of the will? Finding it at the end? The correct beneficiary? And happy solution within two minutes at the end?
5. The focus on healthy, his age, work in the Turkish baths, ambitions to be a farmer, courses? Walking up the hill, enthusiasm, the portrait like him, the encounter with Mafeking, the money deal, signing the document? Meeting Annie, soaked, the new clothes? His ambitions, not wanting to sell, all the complications of the mortgage, the old lady and the loan and her selling it to Squire Stokes? Annie and her wanting to give him the money, proposal? His caution? Feeling defeated? The happy ending?
6. Annie, the faithful servant, with the guests, the issue of the money, falling for Alfie, the offer? Finding the will?
7. The relatives, Fred as the spiv, all his plans, sales, caravan parking… The severity of his wife, Amy? Maud, age, severity, snobbery? The plans, the finances? June, her mother and pressure for the typing career? Encountering Ralph, the riding school, his proposal, her defying her mother?
8. The lawyers, the bureaucrat and his documentation, Alfie tearing it up? The old retainer and his story, a comfortable life but it being reduced by the bureaucracy? Social criticism of the time?
