South Riding **** (1938, Edna Best, Ralph Richardson, Edmund Gwenn, Ann Todd, Glynis Johns, John Clements, Marie Lohr) – Classic Movie Review 8636

Fine acting and good screen-writing are showcased in the highly competent, convincing and appealing 1937 black and white drama film South Riding from producer Alexander Korda and director Victor Saville, who takes it very briskly and professionally.

Love among the Yorkshire Dales is on the menu for schoolmistress Sarah Burton (Edna Best) and local squire Robert Carne (Ralph Richardson) in this vintage meaty drama, adapted by Ian Dalrymple and Donald Bull from the once-famous novel by Winifred Holtby.

It also stars Edmund Gwenn as Alfred Huggins, Ann Todd as Madge Carne, Glynis Johns as Midge Carne, John Clements as Joe Astell, and Marie Lohr as Mrs Beddows.

Also in the cast are Milton Rosmer, Edward Lexy, Herbert Lomas, Felix Aylmer, Jean Cadell, Joan Ellum, Josephine Wilson, Gus McNaughton, Peggy Novak, Lewis Casson, Jean Cadell, Skelton Knaggs, Laura Smithson, Florence Gregson, Davina Craig, Arthur Hambling, Ralph Truman and Frank Pettingell.

South Riding is directed by Victor Saville, runs 90 minutes, is made by Victor Saville Productions and London Film Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Ian Dalrymple and Donald Bull, based on the novel by Winifred Holtby, is shot in black and white by Harry Stradling Sr, is produced by Alexander Korda and Victor Saville, is scored by Richard Addinsell and is designed by Lazare Meerson.

It was shot at London Film Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England.

The film credits inform us: ‘Winifred Holtby died at the age of 37, one month after the publication of her greatest novel. In her story of the imaginary ‘South Riding’ of Yorkshire, she strove to preserve for us a part of the changing England that is typical of the whole. To her memory, this pictorial impression of her book is respectfully and gratefully dedicated.’

It is Glynis Johns’s movie debut at the age of 15.

A Yorkshire Television TV miniseries of 13 50-minute episodes followed in 1974, adapted by Stan Barstow, with stars Dorothy Tutin, Hermione Baddeley and Nigel Davenport.

And a BBC Television TV miniseries of three episodes followed in 2011, adapted by Andrew Davies, with stars Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey and Penelope Wilton.

Winifred Holtby died of Bright’s disease on 29 September 1935, best known for her novel South Riding, which was posthumously published in 1936.

Glynis Johns turned 100 on 5 October 2023 and died in Los Angeles on 4 January 2024. She was the oldest living Academy Award nominee in any acting category and the oldest living Disney Legend. She appeared in more than 60 films over eight decades.

Glynis Margaret Payne Johns was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on 5 October 1923, the daughter of Welsh actor Mervyn Johns.

Her first husband, the actor Anthony Forwood, died in 1988, and her son, Gareth Forwood, died in 2007.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8,636

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