Pink String and Sealing Wax

Pink String and Sealing Wax
Directed by	Robert Hamer
Screenplay by	Diana Morgan
Based on	Pink String and Sealing Wax (play) by Roland Pertwee
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Mervyn Johns Googie Withers Gordon Jackson
Cinematography	Stanley Pavey
Edited by	Michael Truman
Music by	Norman Demuth
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	Eagle-Lion Distrib. Ltd
Release date	3 December 1945 (1945-12-03) (UK )
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Pink String and Sealing Wax is a 1945 British drama film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers and Gordon Jackson. It is based on a play with the same name by Roland Pertwee. It was the first feature film Robert Hamer directed on his own.

Plot

The editor of the Brighton Herald newspaper dictates a story to his secretary regarding a local murder, which is to be the first to be investigated by a public analyst. A judge dons his black cap and sentences a woman to be hanged.

A member of the jury, Mr Sutton (Mervyn Johns), is cheered by this verdict and heads home. He pops in to see his son David (Gordon Jackson) in his chemist shop. At home his daughter Victoria wants to be a professional singer. She is instead told to teach piano. He blocks David's engagement until he can support himself. His wife chastises his harsh approach.

David goes to a pub to drown his sorrows. Two women next to him are gossiping about the landlord's wife, Pearl, and her liaison with a local man, Dan Powell. We see ouside that the rumour is true. Dan enters the pub. Her husband Joe demands she stop the relationship. Meanwhile at the bar, Dan's girlfriend tells Pearl to keep away.

David gets drunk and bumps into Pearl. Meeting her outside he chats her up. She takes his arm and starts to walk with him. David gets home and is helped to bed by his sisters. The sisters try to see Madame Patti, an opera singer, to get tips on how to begin a singing career. They wait outside the stage door. They grab the singers attention by singing "there's No Place Like Home"

A growing friendship begins between David and Pearl. Pearl tells Dan about him when next hey meet. They think David can be used to their benefit. To accomplish this she befriends a young man who works in his father's chemist shop and thus has access to poison.

MR sutton complains of his maids absence. "I do not pay her £12 a year for you (his wife) to wash the dishes" on the maid's once per month day off.

Main cast

• Mervyn Johns as Edward Sutton
• Googie Withers as Pearl Bond
• Gordon Jackson as David Sutton
• Jean Ireland as Victoria Sutton
• Sally Ann Howes as Peggy Sutton
• Mary Merrall as Ellen Sutton
• John Carol as Dan Powell
• David Walbridge as Nicholas Sutton
• Catherine Lacey as Miss Porter
• Garry Marsh as Joe Bond
• Maudie Edwards as Mrs. Webster
• Frederick Piper as Dr. Pepper
• Laura Simpson as the Waif
• Valentine Dyall as Policeman

Release

The film premiered in London on 3 December 1945 at the Tivoli Cinema on The Strand and the Marble Arch Pavilion. The critic in The Times praised Googie Withers and Gordon Jackson for their roles, and concluded that Robert Hamer, "has made, in spite of occasional lapses and longueurs, a promising beginning as a director."

External links

• Template:BFI Explore
• Pink String and Sealing Wax at the BFI's Screenonline
• Pink String and Sealing Wax at the British Board of Film Classification
• Pink String and Sealing Wax at IMDb