This Happy Breed (1944)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

Anthony Havelock-Allan (adaptation)
David Lean (adaptation)

Release Date:

12 April 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Noel Coward's attempt to show how the ordinary people lived between the wars. Just after WWI the Gibbons family moves to a nice house in the suburbs...

Plot Keywords:

Family | Based On Play

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Robert Newton	...	Frank Gibbons
Celia Johnson	...	Ethel Gibbons
Amy Veness	...	Mrs. Flint
Alison Leggatt	...	Aunt Sylvia
Stanley Holloway	...	Bob Mitchell
John Mills	...	Billy Mitchell
Kay Walsh	...	Queenie
Eileen Erskine	...	Vi
John Blythe	...	Reg Gibbons
Guy Verney	...	Sam Leadbitter
Betty Fleetwood	...	Phyllis Blake
Merle Tottenham	...	Edie

Also Known As:

Noel Coward's This Happy Breed (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

Germany:105 min | USA:115 min | UK:114 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1996) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Alderbrook Road, Clapham, London, England, UK

Company:

Noel Coward-Cineguild

Trivia:

The swelling orchestral fanfare which plays over the film's final shots is based around the main theme of the then-popular patriotic song London Pride - a song written and most notably recorded by Noel Coward, the film's producer and author of the play upon which the film is based.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Bob and Frank are talking in their opening scenes it appears that Frank's words have been changed since filming.

Quotes:

Ethel Gibbons: There will always be wars as long as men are such fools as to want to go to them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "As Time Goes By: The House Next Door (#6.6)" (1997)

A Good View of British Suburban Life

Saw This film an absolutely love it, The film gives what I believe to be an accurate snap shot of life in London between the two world wars, fantastic direction and a great cast make this film an absolute classic, this film I have watched many times and never get bored with it. I can imagine my own parents and grandparents living in a similar way and the changes that occurred to society during these two world wars.

Other films of David Lean that I would highly recommend would be Oliver Twist, Great expectations both great works from Charles Dickens and also the wonderful movie Brief Encounter again a snap shot of British life and the guilt imposed by society at the time.