The Girl Who Couldn't Quite

Last updated

The Girl Who Couldn't Quite
The Girl Who Couldn't Quite.png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Norman Lee
Screenplay byNorman Lee
Marjorie Deans
Produced byJohn Argyll
Starring Bill Owen
Elisabeth Henson
Leo Marks
Cinematography Geoffrey Faithfull
Edited by Lister Laurance
Music by Ronald Binge
Production
company
Distributed by Monarch Film Corporation
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£50,000 [1]

The Girl Who Couldn't Quite is a 1950 British drama film directed by Norman Lee and starring Bill Owen, Elizabeth Henson and Iris Hoey. [2] The screenplay was by Norman Lee and Marjorie Deans based on the 1947 stage play of the same name by Leo Marks.

Contents

Plot

Ruth is a teenage girl who has never been able to smile. One day she hears a man singing outside the house and she laughs. Her mother invites the man, a tramp called Tim, into the house in the hope that he will help Ruth. Tim becomes friendly with Ruth and encourages her to talk about her childhood. She reveals that she suffered traumatic experiences as child, which led to her inability to smile. The pain of these memories causes her to fall into a coma. When she wakes, she has no memory of Tim, who now seems frightening to her. Tim leaves the house and returns to the road.

Cast

Production

The title of the play on which the film is based arises from a conversation Leo Marks had with Noor Inayat Khan GC, who had been a British resistance agent in France in World War 2. [3]

The film was shot at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. [2]

Critical reception

Kine Weekly said "Elizabeth Henson acts with her heart and her head and makes a highly successful début as the wistful and neurotic Ruth, and Bill Owen draws a real and likeable character as the philosophical Tim, Iris Hoey. Betty Stockfield and Stuart Lindsell also do well in direct support. Their diction is impeccable. The picture ... has a few loose ends and occasionally lapses to time-honoured farce, but even when it is slightly off the beam its central characters retain their hold on the emotions. ... [a] humorous and human story, clever performance by Elizabeth Henson, refreshing atmosphere, compelling feminine angle and provocative title." [4]

Monthly Film Bulletin said "A tear-shaker of the dampest variety, handled with some tact, and simply played by Bill Owen and Elizabeth Henson." [5]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Sentimental bosh from a mildly popular play of its time." [6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Blend of laughter and tears isn't as unbearable as it might have been." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Its Great to Be Young</i> (1956 film) 1956 British film by Cyril Frankel

It's Great to Be Young is a 1956 British Technicolor musical comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Cecil Parker and John Mills. It was written by Ted Willis. The story concerns an inspirational school music teacher.

<i>The Good Die Young</i> 1954 British film by Lewis Gilbert

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 by Vernon Harris and Gilbert 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.

<i>Curtain Up</i> 1952 British film by Ralph Smart

Curtain Up is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Ralph Smart and starring Robert Morley, Margaret Rutherford and Kay Kendall. Written by Jack Davies and Michael Pertwee it was based on the 1949 play On Monday Next by Philip King.

<i>Our Girl Friday</i> 1953 British film

Our Girl Friday is a 1953 British comedy film starring Joan Collins, George Cole, Kenneth More and Robertson Hare. It is about a woman who is shipwrecked with three men on a deserted island.

<i>Miss London Ltd.</i> 1943 British film

Miss London Ltd. is a 1943 British black-and-white comedy musical directed by Val Guest and starring Arthur Askey and Evelyn Dall. It was written by Guest and Marriott Edgar and produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures. It was Guest's directorial debut.

<i>Wicked as They Come</i> 1956 British film by Ken Hughes

Wicked as They Come is a 1956 British film noir directed by Ken Hughes and starring Arlene Dahl, Philip Carey and Herbert Marshall. It is based on a novel 1950 novel Portrait in Smoke by Bill S. Ballinger. The novel was also adapted for TV in 1950.

<i>Derby Day</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by Herbert Wilcox

Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier and Gordon Harker. An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously enjoyed on screen together. To promote the film, Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby.

<i>Double Confession</i> 1950 British film by Ken Annakin

Double Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell and Peter Lorre. The screenplay by William Templeton is based on the 1949 novel All On A Summer's Day by H.L.V. Fletcher.

<i>Once a Sinner</i> (1950 film) 1950 British film by Lewis Gilbert

Once a Sinner is a 1950 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Pat Kirkwood, Jack Watling and Joy Shelton. It was written by David Evans.

The High Terrace, also known as High Terrace, is a 1956 black and white British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Henry Cass and starring Dale Robertson, Lois Maxwell, Derek Bond, Eric Pohlmann and Lionel Jeffries. It was written by Norman Hudis, Alfred Shaughnessy and Brock Williams from an original story by A. T. Weisman.

<i>Sally in Our Alley</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

Sally in Our Alley is a 1931 British romantic comedy drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gracie Fields, Ian Hunter, and Florence Desmond. It was written by Miles Malleson, Archie Pitt and Alma Reville based on the 1923 West End play The Likes of Her by Charles McEvoy.

<i>The Terror</i> (1938 film) 1938 British film by Richard Bird

The Terror is a 1938 British crime film directed by Richard Bird and starring Wilfrid Lawson, Linden Travers and Bernard Lee. It was based on the 1927 play The Terror by Edgar Wallace. The play had previously been adapted as the American film The Terror(1928).

<i>Portrait of Alison</i> 1956 British film by Guy Green

Portrait of Alison is a 1956 British crime film directed by Guy Green and starring Terry Moore, Robert Beatty and William Sylvester. It was written by Green and Ken Hughes based on the BBC television series Portrait of Alison which aired the same year.

<i>Piccadilly Incident</i> 1946 British film

Piccadilly Incident is a 1946 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Coral Browne, Edward Rigby and Leslie Dwyer. It was written by Nicholas Phipps based on a story by Florence Tranter.

<i>The Teckman Mystery</i> 1954 film

The Teckman Mystery is a 1954 British mystery film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver and Michael Medwin. It was written by Francis Durbridge and James Matthews, based on the 1953 BBC TV serial The Teckman Biography by Durbridge. It was distributed by British Lion.

<i>Penny Paradise</i> 1938 film by Carol Reed

Penny Paradise is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Carol Reed and starring Edmund Gwenn, Betty Driver and Jimmy O'Dea.

<i>Hindle Wakes</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by Arthur Crabtree

Hindle Wakes is a 1952 British drama film, directed by Arthur Crabtree and starring Lisa Daniely, Brian Worth, Leslie Dwyer and Sandra Dorne. It was the fourth screen adaptation of the 1912 play by Stanley Houghton, dealing with a young woman engaging in a holiday sexual flirtation, regardless of the disapproval of her parents or wider society.

<i>Child in the House</i> 1956 British film by Cy Endfield

Child in the House is a 1956 British drama film directed and written by Cy Endfield and starring Phyllis Calvert, Eric Portman and Stanley Baker. It is based on the 1955 novel A Child in the House by Janet McNeill. A girl struggles to cope with her uncaring relatives.

<i>Things Are Looking Up</i> (film) 1935 British film

Things Are Looking Up is a 1935 British musical comedy film directed by Albert de Courville, produced by Michael Balcon for Gaumont British and starring Cicely Courtneidge, Max Miller and William Gargan. It was made at Islington Studios by British Gaumont, an affiliate of Gainsborough Pictures. The film's sets were designed by Alex Vetchinsky. The film was distributed by Gaumont British Distributors.

<i>Night Ride</i> (1937 film) 1937 British film

Night Ride is a 1937 black and white British drama film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Julian Vedey, Wally Patch and Jimmy Hanley.

References

  1. "THE STARRY WAY". The Courier-Mail . Brisbane: National Library of Australia. 21 January 1950. p. 2. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 "The Girl Who Couldn't Quite". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  3. Shrabani Basu in Spy Princess ISBN   978-0-930872-79-3 p. 95
  4. "The Girl Who Couldn't Quite". Kine Weekly . 395 (2228): 27. 12 January 1950 via ProQuest.
  5. "The Girl Who Couldn't Quite". Monthly Film Bulletin . 17 (193): 9. 1950 via ProQuest.
  6. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 404. ISBN   0586088946.
  7. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 212. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.