Child in the House | |
---|---|
Directed by | Cy Endfield |
Screenplay by | Cy Endfield |
Based on | A Child in the House by Janet McNeill |
Produced by | Benjamin Fisz |
Starring | Phyllis Calvert Eric Portman Stanley Baker |
Cinematography | Otto Heller |
Edited by | Charles Hasse |
Music by | Mario Nascimbene |
Production companies | Laureate Golden Era Film Distributors |
Distributed by | Eros Films (UK) |
Release date | 14 August 1956 (London) (UK) |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Child in the House is a 1956 British drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Phyllis Calvert, Eric Portman and Stanley Baker. [1] It is based on the novel A Child in the House by Janet McNeill. A girl struggles to cope with her uncaring relatives.
Elizabeth Lorimer is an 11-year-old girl being temporarily looked after by her unhappily-married aunt and uncle, while her mother is in hospital and her criminal father Stephen is allegedly out of the country, but is in fact hiding in London on the run from the police. Stephen secretly meets with Elizabeth, making her promise not to tell anyone where he is. Elizabeth is tricked by her aunt into revealing Stephen's location, and he gives himself up.
Kine Weekly said "Polished an appealing domestric melodrama, set in Belgravia. The distinguished adult players admirably support the young star, the dialogue is crips andthe staging impressive. ... The picture contains much more than that which meets the eye, but neither its child nor its feminine psychology is permitted to soar above the masses' heads." [2]
Variety said "With a minium of dialog, Mandy [Miller] arouses sympathy for the forlorn defiant child. Phyllis Calvert subtly conveys the underlying malice behind the aunt's apparent solitide. Eric Portman is wasted as her husband, with little to do but offer frigid politeness to his wife, and mute alliance with the youngster. Stanley Baker makes a mixed personality of the crooked father, his characterization being more realistic in the later reels when he is on the run. Dora Bryan brings a breath of cockney joyousness to the role of the sympathetic housemaid, livening the otherwise stilted atmosphere." [3]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Standard weepie with stars uneasily cast." [4]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Modest family drama of the novelette type in which adult problems are put right by the wisdom of a child." [5]
TV Guide called the film a "calculated tearjerker". [6] The Radio Times wrote "good for a tear or two, though Portman and Calvert are rather oddly cast." [7]
Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill, known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as The Man in Grey (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s. She continued her acting career for another 50 years.
Hell Is a City is a 1960 British crime thriller film starring Stanley Baker, based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Maurice Procter.
Hell Drivers (1957) is a British film noir crime drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins and Patrick McGoohan. The film was produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions. A recently released convict takes a driver's job at a haulage company and encounters violence and corruption.
The Good Die Young is a 1954 British crime film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins, Stanley Baker, Richard Basehart and John Ireland. It was made by Remus Films from a screenplay based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Richard Macaulay. It tells the story of four men in London with no criminal past whose marriages and finances are collapsing and, meeting in a pub, are tempted to redeem their situations by a robbery.
Mandy is a 1952 British black and white film about a family's struggle to give their deaf daughter a better life. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and is based on the novel The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis. It stars Phyllis Calvert, Jack Hawkins and Terence Morgan, and features the first film appearance by Jane Asher. In the US the film was released as The Story of Mandy, and later was sold to television as Crash of Silence.
The Sandwich Man is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis starring Michael Bentine, with support from a cast of British character actors including Dora Bryan, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Diana Dors, Norman Wisdom, Terry-Thomas and Ian Hendry. It was written by Hartford-Davis and Bentine.
The Shakedown is a 1959 black and white British crime-drama film directed by John Lemont, starring Terence Morgan, Hazel Court, and Donald Pleasence. A ruthless crook runs a blackmail operation, falls for an undercover cop, and is murdered by one of his victims.
Dry Rot is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey, and starring Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix, Peggy Mount, and Sid James.
Once a Sinner is a 1950 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Pat Kirkwood, Jack Watling and Joy Shelton.
Jumping for Joy is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries. It tells of the comic adventures of an ex-worker at a greyhound racing track.
Mandy Miller is an English former child actress who made a number of films in the 1950s. She is also remembered for her recording of the 1956 song "Nellie the Elephant".
Treasure Hunt is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Martita Hunt, Jimmy Edwards, Naunton Wayne and Athene Seyler. It is based on the 1949 play Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane and John Perry.
I Believe in You is a 1952 British drama film directed by Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, starring Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. Inspired by the recently successful The Blue Lamp (1950), Relph and Dearden used a semi-documentary approach in telling the story of the lives of probation officers and their charges.
The Narrowing Circle is a 1956 British crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Paul Carpenter, Hazel Court and Russell Napier. It is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Julian Symons. A crime writer finds himself framed for murder.
Mr. Denning Drives North is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring John Mills, Phyllis Calvert and Sam Wanamaker. Alec Coppel wrote the script, adapted from his own 1950 novel of the same title. An aircraft manufacturer accidentally kills his daughter's boyfriend and tries to dispose of the body.
Snowbound is a 1948 British thriller film directed by David MacDonald and starring Robert Newton, Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, Marcel Dalio and Guy Middleton and introducing Mila Parély. Based on the 1947 novel The Lonely Skier by Hammond Innes, the film concerns a group of people searching for treasure hidden by the Nazis in the Alps following the Second World War.
The Feminine Touch is a 1956 colour British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence. In 1957 it was released as A Lamp Is Heavy in Canada, and The Gentle Touch in the United States.
Too Young to Love is a 1959 British drama film set in New York. It was directed by Muriel Box and starring Pauline Hahn, Joan Miller, and Austin Willis. It was based on the play Pickup Girl by Elsa Shelley. An adaptation of the story was broadcast on British TV on 6 December 1957 in the ITV Television Playhouse series.
Blackout is a 1950 British crime drama film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Maxwell Reed and Dinah Sheridan. It was made as a supporting feature.
Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard is a 1939 British comedy-drama film directed by Fred Elles starring Mary Clare in her only title role and Nigel Patrick in his film debut.. It is based on the Mrs Pym novels by Nigel Morland, and written by Morland, who re-used the title for a 1946 book.