To the Victor (1938) User Reviews

Charming family entertainment

[Translation-1 · 7/10 · 8 March 2005]

The lives and loves of Cumbrias sheep-farmers, their women and, indeed, their dogs (Owd Bob of the title being one such) in the early Twentieth Century are depicted with warmth and humour in this gentle Ealing style comedy-drama adapted from Alfred Ollivants immortal canine classic and directed by future Disney stalwart Robert Stevenson (Mary Poppins, The Love Bug etc).

Canny auld Scot, Adam MacAdam (Will Fyffe), and incomer David Moore (John Loder), engage in a battle of wits as they prepare their sheepdogs, Black Wull and Owd Bob respectively, for competition in a forthcoming sheepdog trial. To add spice to the tale, it turns out that one of the dogs might be a sheep-worrier, and, be warned, its a real heart-breaker when the guilty mutt is eventually identified and dealt with in the customary fashion. Pass the Kleenex please!

The romantic interest is provided by a young and extremely lovely Margaret Lockwood who, throughout the film, exudes natural charm from every pore. Later the same year, she would, deservedly, find international fame as the dazzling star of Hitchcocks The Lady Vanishes though here, playing MacAdams gorgeous, headstrong daughter Jeannie, her very considerable acting skills are not greatly stretched.

To summarize, a light-hearted, mildly sentimental piece of good, old-fashioned entertainment of the type we see far too little of these days. Definitely worth a watch.. especially for sheepdog fanciers!

(Trivia - John Loder later married Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr who,in my opinion, bore a striking resemblance to Margaret Lockwood).

Another Fyffe/Lockwood, Father/Daughter Pairing

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 27 March 2008]

In "Rulers of the Sea" filmed in the USA in 1939, the successful pairing of Will Fyffe and Margaret Lockwood was again tested as father and daughter, presumably because of the success of their similar on screen partnership in "Owd Bob" filmed the previous year in the U.K. Margaret was so photogenic in 1938 and had considerable acting skills and in "Owd Bob" perfectly affects a charming lowland Scottish accent playing a dutiful daughter to her widower father,Will McAdam (Will Fyffe).Her "love interest" is David Moore (John Loder) who plays a Cumberland sheep farmer whose prize sheepdog gives the film its title.John was in real life probably most famous for marrying another raven haired beauty, Hedy Lamarr.

This a gentle story about Cumberland hill sheep farmers with a "who done it" theme relating to how sheep are being prematurely killed by a wild beast that needs to be tracked down.The suspicion eventually rests either on "Owd Bob" or "Black Wull" the prize sheep dog owned by Will Fyffe.Dog lovers will love this film but I thought that the dog trial competition scenes could have done with some editing as they seemed rather prolonged.In return another sub-plot could have been woven into the main fabric of the story/screenplay.For that reason I rated it 6/10.

A lost world of real people and real dogs

[robert-temple-1 · 10/10 · 24 September 2007]

This is one of the finest British films of the 1930s. The film is dominated by the magnificent character performance of the elderly Will Fyffe, who sweeps all before him like a Cumberland King Lear, raging and commanding all around him, hoodwinking people, drinking like ten troopers, bullying, swaggering, and loving his dog. No one in the film can hate him, no matter how hard they try. The charming Margaret Lockwood, as fresh as a virginal dairymaid, plays his daughter, and keeps him in order most of the time, whilst bewitching the viewers and John Loder, who marries her. The film is about country characters in the fells, and their sheepdogs. Three dogs get starring roles, and deserve Dog Oscars. This is a dog-lover's dream, a film which is not a sloppy overly-sentimental dog picture made in Hollywood, but a real film about genuine working dogs who earn their love and respect. Graham Moffatt and Marriott Moore are in there amongst the farm characters, to full and hilarious effect. Never was such a gathering of such superb rough countrymen brought together in a single film. Thomas Hardy would have felt right at home, got out his pipe, and joined them for a whisky in the pub, when it wasn't being wrecked in a fight. The most striking thing of all about this wonderful evocation of a lost era is that, despite the fact that so many of the characters are slightly and affectionately caricatured for purposes of fun, they are all such perfectly defined individuals. This film was made before everybody was the same. Do you remember, are you old enough, when people differed and had actual personalities? The very last of such people are dying off now, and in ten or at most twenty years, there will not be a single such country character left alive anywhere. To those of us who have known plenty of them, this film is their splendid epitaph. The pity is that, of future generations, all who might see this film as a museum piece one day will assume it to be invented and preposterous, something that was just made up for entertainment. They will not realise that people just like this really existed once, and they were just as funny, outrageous, impossible, infuriating, and delightful as in this amazing film. But at least there are still dogs to remind us of the lost and forgotten masters who once loved them and worked with them as we see here.

One of Britain's best!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 13 April 2018]

SYNOPSIS: Which sheep-dog has suddenly turned killer? Suspicion turns to a newcomer to the district.

NOTES: Best British film of 1938 - Frank S. Nugent in The New York Times. Second to Said O'Reilly to McNab (also starring Will Fyffe) as G-B-D's most popular Australian release of 1938. (In New Zealand, the order was reversed). Fourth on New York's National Board of Review's list of the Ten Best Films of 1938. Will Fyffe was also included in Best Acting of the year.

Second of four versions of the title novel (known as Bob, Son of Battle in the USA). The first starred J. Fisher White as Adam and was directed by Henry Edwards for Atlantic Union in 1924. 20th Century-Fox made Thunder in the Valley in 1947 with Edmund Gwenn in the McAdam role. Louis King directed. Fifty years later, the Ollivant novel was again remade, this time with James Cromwell, Colm Meaney and Jemima Rooper in the main roles, directed by Rodney Gibbons.

COMMENT: Hailed by contemporary critics as one of the greatest triumphs of British cinema during the 1930s, it's odd that this version of Ollivant's popular novel has been locked away for so long, whilst the entertaining though inferior Fox version has continued to be widely circulated. True, the black-and-white photography looks a little primitive alongside Fox's glossy Technicolor, but surely the somewhat drab gray tones are atmospherically most effective. And this after all is why Cox, a specialist in bleak lighting, was hired in the first place. Even if we take current prejudices against Cox into account, Owd Bob creams Bob, Son of Battle in every other department.

Fyffe's is truly one of the all-time great performances of the cinema. By sheer charisma and presence, he turns what is seemingly a thankless role into a marvelous success. What other actor could play such an embittered, surly, selfishly mean, miserly old tyrant with such persuasive power that all members of the audience automatically take his side, not just against the other villagers (because that's par for the course in this type of film), but even against the agreeably clean-cut hero (nicely played here by John Loder) and the ultra-charming heroine (everyone's favorite, Margaret Lockwood)? Fyffe plays the role virtually straight, but he still manages to invest plenty of sly fun into the action. We love the twinkle in his rascally eye as he outwits his rivals at nearly every opportunity. The script hands him the dominating role and he seizes it, plays it and has fun with it as only a really great actor can.

Also playing straight for once is Moore Marriott. This time instead of stooging for Will Hay, he uses his partner Graham Moffatt to bring off a couple of pleasing jests, including a bell-ringing recital. The other support roles are likewise colorfully filled by people like Bromley Davenport as a horse doctor and H.F. Maltby as slow-movingly obese police sergeant.

Stevenson has directed with a sure hand, making the most of his picturesque locations, and handling the action sequences (including a mighty pub brawl) with unusual vigor.

Fyffe Loses The Cup, But Wins The Laurels

[boblipton · 8/10 · 28 February 2020]

John Loder is the new shepherd in town, and his border collie, Owd Bob, is a wonder. The next croft over is run by Will Fyffe, and his black dog has won the annual cup for sheep dogs every year. However, sheep have been found with their throats torn out, and Fyffe's animal is accused.... and when Owd Bob wins the cup and Loder wins Fyffe's daughter, Margaret Lockwood, Fyffe goes to pieces.

It's a marvelous performance by Will Fyffe, and Robert Stevenson's direction is spot on. There's a half hour spent on the competition, and it's a fascinating and beautiful event, shot in Exmoor in Somerset, a far piece from the Cumbrian background of the Alfred Ollivant novel it's based on. While the other performers seem to offer standard characters, Fyffe's scoundrel is always compelling.