Hindle Wakes [Holiday Week] *** (1952, Leslie Dwyer, Lisa Daniely, Brian Worth, Sandra Dorne, Ronald Adam, Joan Hickson, Michael Medwin) – Classic Movie Review 9735

Director Arthur Crabtree’s 1952 Hindle Wakes [Holiday Week] is a decently crafted, enjoyable remake of the 1931 Gaumont British film (and 1918 and 1927 silents) from Stanley Houghton’s famed 1912 play about an independently minded English north country mill girl called Jenny Hawthorne (Lisa Daniely) who sins with a ‘little fling’ with the boss’s son Alan Jeffcote (Brian Worth) on wakes (holiday) week, but then later announces she has no interest in marrying him.

Sandra Dorne plays Mary Hollins, Jenny’s Lancashire mill-girl pal who goes with her on the holiday to Blackpool during the annual wakes week in their home town of Hindle when factories and schools take a holiday. They run into Alan, who persuades Jenny to leave Blackpool to spend the week with him at Llandudno. Jenny set off for Wales with Alan after leaving a postcard with Mary to send to her parents (Leslie Dwyer and Joan Hickson) later in the week to try to cover her tracks.

Stars Daniely, Worth, Dwyer and Hickson, as well as Ronald Adam and Mary Clare as Alan’s parents the Jeffcotes, work really hard and well to make it a success, but, sadly, the piece’s charm seems to have faded along with its relevance, with its attitudes and posh English accents out of time and place. Still, nevertheless, it remains likeable and entertaining, helped by the engaging character of the liberated heroine, and the cast’s appealing performances. It provides good opportunities for the actors, and they take hold of them agreeably.

Also in the cast are Ronald Adam, Joan Hickson, Michael Medwin, Ronald Adam, Mary Clare, Bill Travers, Lloyd Pearson, Tim Turner, Diana Hope, Beatrice Varley, Rita Webb, Ian Wilson, Cyril Smith, Alistair Hunter, Lionel Grove, Ben Williams, Judy Vane, Roy Russell and Edward Evans.

Hindle Wakes [Holiday Week] is directed by Arthur Crabtree, runs 82 minutes, is made by William Gell Productions, distributed by Monarch Film Corporation, is written by John Baines, based on Stanley Houghton’s famed 1912 play, is shot in black and white by Geoffrey Faithfull, is produced by William J Gell and Phil Brandon, and is scored by Stanley Black.

It is the first credited film of Rita Webb, as Mrs Slaughter.

It is shot in Blackpool, Llandudno and Merton Park Studios, Merton, London.

Director Victor Saville’s 1931 version starred Belle Chrystall, Sybil Thorndike, John Stuart, Norman McKinnel, Edmund Gwenn and Mary Clare again as Mrs Jeffcote.

Hindle Wakes is remade as a TV movie in 1976, directed by Laurence Olivier, and starring Rosalind Ayres, Judi Bowker, Roy Dotrice, Trevor Eve, Rosemary Leach and Donald Pleasence. It is the second and last time Olivier directed for TV, following Uncle Vanya in 1967 with Michael Redgrave.

 © Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9735

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