HUNGRY HILL
UK, 1946, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price, Cecil Parker, Michael Dennison, F.J. Mc Cormick, Dermot Walsh, Jean Simmons, Eileen Herlie, Siobhan Mc? Kenna, Eileen Crowe, Dan O’ Herlihy.
Directed by Brian Desmond Hurst.
Hungry Hill is a melodrama set in Ireland amongst the British aristocracy during the 19th century. Filmed in black and white, when a number of similar films from the British industry were made in colour, it is a very sombre affair. The screenplay was a collaboration between Daphne du Maurier and writer-director Terence Young (who moved from small-budget British films to action adventures including the early James Bond films.
The film was a saga of generations, the saga of a family with fatal flaws. Cecil Parker is very good as the patriarch. Margaret Lockwood is somewhat subdued as the Irish belle. Dennis Price also seems miscast as the melancholy son. There is a very strong supporting cast. Of interest – but the subject has been treated much better in other films.
1.An entertaining Irish melodrama? Saga of a family? 19th century?
2.Production values: the cast, quality and strength? The black and white photography, the atmosphere of the 19th century, Ireland, the mines? Special effects for disasters? The musical score?
3.The credits and the focus on Hungry Hill? The tone of the title, the mine, the hill devouring the family and the townspeople? The saga of the generations around Hungry Hill? The focus on the Broderick family? Anglo-Irish? The resentment of the locals? The link with England? The family considered alien and resented? The ambitions of the elder Broderick? The disasters, the death of his son Henry? His disappointment in John? His liking for Fanny Rosa? His place in society, his daughters? Antagonism with the Donovans? His heroism in saving the miners – but his still not being accepted? His doting on his grandson, yet the fear of his being spoilt? His death? His grandson greedily taking his possessions? The futility of his empire-building?
4.John Junior and Henry, the contrast in attitudes, their father’s regard for each? Henry and his agreement with his father, concern for the mines? His death? John and his disdain, study of the law, sympathy for the people? His infatuation with Fanny Rosa? Her chasing Henry? His going to England, returning home, his passion for Fanny Rosa, the marriage, the children? His sympathy for the Donovans? The mine collapse and his heroism? His visiting the family, contracting the illness, Fanny Rosa’s upset, nursing him? His death? The daughters of the family – Jane and her vitality, the spinster sisters?
5.Fanny Rosa as the Irish belle, her passion, accepted by the gentry, flirting, the outings? Her marrying into the Brodericks? Her love for John, giving him strength, the illness, her resentment and nursing him? Her love for her son, spoiling him? His resentment as he grew older? Throwing off her possessiveness, her going to London, her gambling debts? His bringing her back home? The faded belle?
6.The portrait of John Junior, his being spoilt as a youngster, his greed, dislike for his grandfather? The army, his being spoilt, jealousy with the Donovans? With Kate? Katherine and her passion? The death of Sam Donovan? His coming to his senses, rescuing his mother?
7.The portrait of the locals, the miners, their resentments, strikes? The Donovans and their feuds? Kate, Sam Donovan and his hostility? The violent melodrama and misunderstandings? Katherine’s involvement?
8.High-flown romance, manners of the 19th century, styles, surface elegance, passions beneath the surface?
9.The popularity of this kind of British melodrama in the 1940s? In the miniseries of later decades?
