A Man's Affair

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A Man's Affair
A Man's Affair film Opening titles (1949).jpg
Directed by Jay Lewis
Written byJay Lewis
Harold Stewart
Produced byJay Lewis
Starring Hamish Menzies
Cliff Gordon
Diana Decker
CinematographyNorman Johnson
Douglas Ransom
Edited byFrancis Edge
Music byJohn Bath
Production
company
Concord Productions
Distributed by Exclusive Films
Release date
  • 1949 (1949)
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Language English

A Man's Affair is a 1949 British second feature ('B') [1] comedy film directed by Jay Lewis and starring Hamish Menzies, Cliff Gordon and Diana Decker. [2] It was written by Lewis and Harold Stewart, and made by Exclusive Films. Both Lewis and most of his crew were former members of the Army Kinematograph Service. [1]

Contents

The film portrays a pair of coal miners who meet two holidaying girls in the Kent resort of Ramsgate.

Plot

Young colliery workers Jim and Ted meet two girls, Sheila and Phyl, on holiday at the seaside. When spiv Leonard tries to gain the affections of the girls, the couples quarrel, but are later reconciled.

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This rather naive story does not offer very much scope to any of the participants. Within these limits, however, the film is well produced, there are some artlessly amusing sequences and the six main characters do their best with the unpretentious material at their command." [3]

Kine Weekly wrote: Unpretentious romantic comedy drama, staged at Ramsgate and lightly tinged with propaganda. It turns on the chequered love affair of a young coal miner and a pretty typist and makes a mild assault on social barriers. A little too ingenuous to bring more men to the pits, it is, nevertheless, agreeable light entertainment. ... Hamish Menzies and Diana Decker are natural and likeable as Jim and Sheila, and the support, which includes Joan ( No Room af the Inn ) Dowling, is adequate. ... The love story is a trifle novelettish and the mining sequences are not particularly instructive or thrilling, but the leading characters please and, while doing the rounds of Ramsgate, create a happy holiday spirit. As a comedy drama it's a jolly boost for Kent's most colourful seaside resort." [4]

Picture Show wrote: "Simple, pleasant mixture of romance and comedy ... It has no particular thrills or excitement, but it is a happy, pleasant picture, agreeably acted." [5]

References

  1. 1 2 Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 36. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. Palmer p.188
  3. "A Man's Affair". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 16 (181): 60. 1 January 1949. ProQuest   1305817379.
  4. "A Man's Affair". Kine Weekly . 385 (2183): 22. 3 March 1949. ProQuest   2732609411.
  5. "A Man's Affair". Picture Show . 53 (1380): 10. 10 September 1949. ProQuest   1879652423.

Bibliography