HINDLE WAKES
UK, 1952, 82 minutes, Black and white.
Lisa Daniely, Leslie Dwyer, Brian Worth, Sandra Dorne, Ronald Adam, Joan Hickson, Michael Medwin, Mary Clare, Bill Travers.
Directed by Arthur Crabtree.
Hindle Wakes is based on a play by Stanley Houghton, a standby of British theatre and filmed in 1918 as well as in 1927 and 1932. This 1952 version updates the play. The film is set in a Yorkshire town, Hindle, but focuses on life in the mills and the holidays that the mill workers take in Blackpool.
The film is conventional in its presentation of Yorkshire life, factory life, the ordinary people in the street as well as the rich mill owners and their families. However, a great deal of the time is given to holidaymaking, swimming, dancing in Blackpool.
The film has some social, moral and feminist stances. The young son of the mill owner takes the daughter of a mill worker, and she herself works in the mill, for a week in north Wales. When the parents find out, they decide that the couple should marry. The man does not want to. The girl takes her stance and decides on independence rather than marriage. While this might be taken for granted in more recent times, it was quite a strong stand in the period of the play and the various film versions.
The film has a strong cast of British supporting actors – with Joan Hickson, Bill Travers and Michael Medwin in early roles. Director Arthur Crabtree was a cinematographer and moved into direction with Madonna and the Seven Moons and They Were Sisters. He directed several films but after Hindle Wakes moved into television.
1.The origins of the play in the early 20th century? Various film versions and updating? 1952?
2.The realism of the Yorkshire settings, the town of Hindle, the details of the mill, poorhouses, mansions? The transition to Blackpool, the hotels, the dance floors, the tower? North Wales? Musical score?
3.The title, the focus on the town, its moral and social stances? The upstairs-downstairs mentality? Breakthrough in moral behaviour, decisions? The independence of women?
4.The Hawthorn family, Chris as a genial man, his friendship with Nat Jeffcote, the different paths that they took? His dominating wife? Her continual hectoring? Jenny, his love for her, being a modern girl, her friendship with Mary, going to the mill? Chris and his going fishing with Nat, the reminiscences? The crisis, his handling of it, his wife and her nagging? Going to see Nat, the discussion, the decisions to do the right thing? Finally going to the family meeting, everybody making decisions, Jenny and her feeling left out, her making a stance? Her mother’s collapse?
5.The Jeffcote family, Nat, his marrying his working-class wife, her pretensions to society? The running of the mill, his success? His disappointment with Alan? The details of the mill, supervision? Alan, pampered by his mother, lazy, working in the mill? The holiday? Nat and his going fishing with Chris, the bonds between them? Alan and going to Blackpool? The crisis, Alan and his wanting to marry Betty? His father’s taking a stand? His mother’s upset? His mother’s being pleased with Jenny’s decisions?
6.Blackpool, Mary and Jenny going, expectations? George Ackroyd and Alan? The dancing, the drinking? Picking up the girls? The flirting?
7.Jenny, the relationship with Alan, his discovering that she knew who he was? Their time together, the rollercoaster, the tower? Asking about Wales? Jenny’s decision to go? Hesitations? Signing in at the hotel? The week together? The implied sexual behaviour?
8.Mary, promising to send the postcard, going out with Tommy, the crash with the ferry, her death? The policeman and the news, Chris Hawthorn and his telling Mary’s mother?
9.The week away, Jenny returning home, being found out, her lies?
10.The family meeting, the different stances? Betty and her telling Alan to do the right thing? His being relieved, out of obligation, proposing to Betty? The stances of the parent generation? The moral perspective of Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, the middle, the end of the 20th century? Social and moral changes?
