Hobson's Choice (1954 film)
| Hobson's Choice | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | David Lean |
| Produced by | David Lean |
| Written by | Harold Brighouse Wynyard Browne David Lean Norman Spencer |
| Starring | Charles Laughton Brenda De Banzie John Mills |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Editing by | Peter Taylor |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films London Films United Artists Warner Home Video (UK VHS) |
| Release date(s) | April 19, 1954 (UK) June 14, 1954 (US) |
| Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Hobson's Choice is a 1954 film directed by David Lean.[1][2] It is based on the play of the same name by Harold Brighouse. It stars Charles Laughton in the title role of Victorian bootmaker Henry Hobson, Brenda De Banzie as his eldest daughter Maggie and John Mills as a timid employee. The film also features Prunella Scales, in one of her first roles, as daughter Vicky Hobson.
Hobson's Choice won the British Academy Film Award for Best British Film 1954.
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[edit] Plot
Willie Mossop (John Mills) is a gifted but unappreciated bootmaker employed by the tyrannical Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) in his moderately upscale shop in 1880s Salford. Hard-drinking widower Hobson has three daughters. Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) and her younger sisters Alice (Daphne Anderson) and Vicky (Prunella Scales) have worked in their father's establishment without wages and are eager to be married and free of the shop. Alice has been seeing Albert Prosser (Richard Wattis), a young up-and-coming solicitor, while Vicky prefers Freddy Beenstock (Derek Blomfield), the son of a respectable corn merchant. Hobson doesn't object to losing Alice and Vicky, but Maggie is far too useful to part with. To his friends, he mocks Maggie as a spinster "a bit on the ripe side" at 30 years of age.
Her pride injured, Maggie bullies the browbeaten, unambitious Willie into an engagement. When Hobson objects to her choice of a low-class husband and refuses to start paying her, Maggie announces that she and Willie will set up in a shop of their own. For capital, they turn to a satisfied customer for a loan. With money in hand, they are married, and, between Maggie's business sense and Willie's shoemaking genius, the enterprise is successful. Within a year, they have not only paid off their business loan, but taken away nearly all of Hobson's clientele. Under Maggie's tutelage, the formerly illiterate Willie has become an educated, self-confident man of business, and he and Maggie have fallen in love. Maggie is not so hard-hearted as to destroy her father, who is now an almost-bankrupt alcoholic: at her urging, Mossop goes into partnership with Hobson, on condition that Hobson take no further part in the business. Hobson retains some shred of dignity, under the pretense that the partnership is his idea.
[edit] Cast
- Charles Laughton as Henry Horatio Hobson
- John Mills as Will Mossop
- Brenda De Banzie as Maggie Hobson
- Daphne Anderson as Alice Hobson
- Prunella Scales as Vicky Hobson
- Richard Wattis as Albert Prosser
- Derek Blomfield as Freddy Beenstock
- Helen Haye as Mrs. Hepworth, the satisfied customer and financial backer
- Jack Howarth as Tubby Wadlow, another Hobson employee
- Joseph Tomelty as Jim Heeler
- Julien Mitchell as Sam Minns
- Gibb McLaughlin as Tudsbury
- Philip Stainton as Denton
- John Laurie as Dr. MacFarlane
- Dorothy Gordon as Ada Figgins
[edit] Soundtrack
Malcolm Arnold took the comical main theme for the film from his opera The Dancing Master. Throughout the film, it is linked to Hobson so often that he even whistles it at one point. Arnold wrote the score for a small pit orchestra of 22 players, and he enlisted the help of a Belgian cafe owner to play the musical saw for one pivotal scene. After a night of drinking at The Moonraker, Hobson is seeing double, and he fixates on the reflection of the moon in the puddles outside the pub. Arnold deploys the musical saw to represent the willowy allure of the moon, as the clumsy Hobson stomps from puddle to puddle, chasing its reflection.[3]
[edit] Reception
In his New York Times review, Bosley Crowther called Hobson's Choice "a delightful and rewarding British film", and praised the performances of the three leads and its producer/director.[4] TV Guide gave the film four stars, characterizing it as "a fully developed comedy of human foibles and follies with Laughton rendering a masterful, sly performance, beautifully supported by de Banzie and Mills."[5] In the opinion of Daniel Etherington of Channel4, the "character interactions between the couple and the old bugger of a dad are fascinating, funny and moving."[6] His verdict is, "Displays the Lean mark of quality and sterling work from its leads. A gem."[6]
[edit] Awards
The film won the Golden Bear at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival in 1954[7] and British Film Academy Award Best British Film 1954.[8]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Variety film review; March 3, 1954, page 6.
- ^ Harrison's Reports film review; June 12, 1954, page 94.
- ^ Jackson, Paul R.W. The life and music of Sir Malcolm Arnold: the brilliant and the dark, pp. 45-46.
- ^ Bosley Crowther (June 15, 1954). "Hobson's Choice (1953)". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9D01E3D6153AE53BBC4D52DFB066838F649EDE&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
- ^ "Hobson's Choice". TV Guide. http://movies.tvguide.com/hobsons-choice/review/101042. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
- ^ a b Daniel Etherington. "Hobson's Choice Review". Channel4. http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=104260§ion=review&page=all#reviewnav. Retrieved December 23, 2009.
- ^ "4th Berlin International Film Festival: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1954/03_preistr_ger_1954/03_Preistraeger_1954.html. Retrieved 2009-12-23.
- ^ David Lean at Hollywood.com
[edit] Bibliography
- The Great British Films, pp 162–164, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X
[edit] External links
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