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Morch, 1946
FILM AND RADIO GUIDE
41
A TEACHER LOOKS AT THE MOVIES
Frederick Houk LaWf Famous Educator, Reviews Current Photoplay Offerings
IT HAPPENED AT THE INN. Comedy drama of French peasant life. In French, with English titles. Jacques Becker, Director. MGM International. Highly recommended.
French vivacity and energy, as well as French peasant thrift, appear in full force in It Happened at the Inn, a Frenchspeaking film with English titles. In some respects the story is a kind of French Silas Marner story, for it tells about an extremely old man who has a mass of gold hidden away in a place known only to himself. Arrived at his one hundred and sixth year, and seemingly on his death bed, the old man refuses to tell his heirs just where the treasure is. The efforts of the entire Goupi clan to learn that secret bring about the events that give the film story its rapid action.
What with aged grandfather, middle-aged sons and their wives, cousins and the like, the Goupi family is a clan in itself, a clan containing many widely differing personalities. Strikingly individual, each person stands out in sharp relief. Tonkin has served in Indo-China and prefers to live in a hut filled with Asiatic souvenirs, sleep in a hammock, and live a lonely life. “Red Hands” is a half-wit who takes beatings with much the air of a friendly dog. “Pinchpenny” is a calm-minded, shrewd man, the best brains of the family. “The Emperor,” the grandfather, is a tough-minded old centennarian as determined in
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age as he was in his youth.
Through excitement and tragedy the story rises to a strong climax in which Tonkin emulates the climbing powers of an ape.
Like Silas Marner, a book that It Happened at the Inn much resembles, this film story carries a meaning for those who care to find it: “Self-dependence is better than any treasure, however great.”
F. H. L.
FROM THIS DAY FORWARD. RKO. Social comedy of post-war reconversion. John Berry, Director.
Somewhat resembling certain aspects of A Tree Groius m Brooklyn, From This Day Forward tells a sordid story of poverty-stricken life in a great city and of the efforts of a returned service man to find a place for himself in life.
Happy to return to normal existence after the hardships of war, a strong, handsome soldier back in his city surroundings feels certain that he can master all conditions. He plans at once to marry his former sweetheart, get a job, and become steady and independent. Red-tape filling out of endless forms, competition with thousands of others who apply for work, the closing of factories when work has been obtained — all beat upon him and dull his spirit. Losing position after position, drawn into temporary drunkenness, and finally entrapped and arrested because of entanglement with an offen
der, the returned soldier all but gives up entirely.
In spite of the poverty of her people and the wretchedly offensive conditions under which they live, the sweetheart (Joan Fontaine) lavishes her love upon the unfortunate man, struggles for him, fights for him, and at last restores him to confidence in himself.
Such devoted love redeems much of the emphasis upon drink and coarse tenement life. Joan Fontaine’s beauty and charm add marked values.
F. H. L.
★ ★ ★
A YANK IN LONDON. Social comedy. 20tli Century-Fox. Herbert Wilcox, Producer and Director. An Associated British Picture Corporation Production. Strongly recommended.
In spite of an uninviting title that appears to announce a hilarious farce or a musical production, A Yank in London tells a delightful story that sets forwards the democracy of British life.
Two American GI’s f i n d themselves billeted in London in an aristocratic mansion, the residence of an elderly Lord. Little by little they discover that the mansion, its owners, and its servants, all have sympathetic spirit. They see the members of the household bravely bearing up against the hard necessities of war. They find the Lord of the mansion open-hearted and friendly.
In Lady Patricia, the grand