The Quiet Woman

Last updated

The Quiet Woman
"The Quiet Woman" (1951).jpg
Directed by John Gilling
Written by Ruth Adam
John Gilling
Produced by Robert S. Baker
Monty Berman
Starring Derek Bond
Jane Hylton
Dora Bryan
Cinematography Monty Berman
Edited byJack Slade
Music by John Lanchbery
Production
company
Distributed by Eros Films
Release date
  • March 1951 (1951-03)
Running time
71 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Quiet Woman is a 1951 British crime film directed by John Gilling and based on a story by Ruth Adam, about a criminal's wife who attempts to build a new life after her husband goes to prison, only to be menaced by him when he escapes. It starred Derek Bond, Jane Hylton and Dora Bryan. [1]

Contents

Plot

Duncan McLeod (Derek Bond), a gentleman artist and former Naval officer, assisted by his crewman Lefty Brown (Michael Balfour), engages in smuggling contraband liquor between France and Britain across the English Channel. Duncan and Lefty store the liquor at "The Quiet Woman", a local pub in a coastal town on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, only to find one day that its complicit owner has moved away without telling them, and the pub is now being run by Jane Foster (Jane Hylton) and her friend Elsie (Dora Bryan). Jane makes clear that she does not approve of activities that break the law, and demands that Duncan and Lefty remove their cache of contraband liquor from her property immediately or she will contact customs officials. Duncan and Lefty are attracted to Jane and Elsie respectively, and try to court them. The women are initially cold, but over time become more receptive to them. Unbeknownst to Duncan, Jane was unhappily married to criminal Jim Cranshaw, who is now serving a prison term. Jane is keeping her past a secret while trying to build a new, law-abiding life.

Two new arrivals in town take rooms at the pub: Bromley (John Horsley), a former Navy colleague of Duncan, and Helen (Dianne Foster), an artist's model and former girlfriend of Duncan who has come in response to his request for a model to pose for his latest painting. Helen attempts to rekindle her romance with Duncan, but he is not interested in her and is pursuing Jane. Bromley is supposedly on holiday, but in reality is a customs inspector tasked with secretly investigating Duncan's smuggling activities.

Jane's husband, Jim Cranshaw (Harry Towb), from whom she is separated, suddenly appears at the pub, having escaped from prison several days earlier, and demands that Jane hide him and arrange with Duncan to transport him across the Channel to France. He threatens Jane that unless she helps him, he will tell authorities that she has been hiding him ever since he escaped, making her look complicit. Under pressure, Jane agrees to hide Jim, but refuses to tell Duncan or involve him in the matter. Meanwhile, a newspaper runs a story on the escape revealing Jane's past involvement with Jim. Helen jealously reveals the story to Duncan and Jane in an attempt to break up their relationship, and makes it clear that she suspects Jane of being involved in Jim's most recent escape. Fed up with Helen's interference, Duncan fires her from the modelling job and tells her to leave town. Duncan then learns via Lefty and Elsie that Jane is hiding Jim in the pub's attic. In order to protect Jane, Duncan and Lefty secretly move Jim from the attic without Jane's knowledge, and spirit him away aboard Duncan's boat for transport to France. As a result, when the local police come to the pub searching for Jim, he is gone, but Helen, who has not left town as directed, tells them that she saw Jim going into Duncan's house, and that Lefty was there too. Bromley asks Jane if she persuaded Duncan to smuggle Jim out of the country, and when she says she didn't, tells her to telephone Duncan's house to warn him, and goes down to the quay himself to try to stop him if he has already left the house. Meanwhile Elsie, furious at Helen's malicious behaviour, follows her upstairs, and, from below, slapping noises followed by shrieks from Helen are heard, then Elsie walks downstairs, dusting her hands off, and announces that they have a room vacancy.

Bromley finds Lefty on the quay, Duncan having refused to take him on the boat to France in case they get caught. Bromley makes it clear that he knows Jim is on Duncan's yacht, and he and Lefty follow in another boat, soon catching up with them. They see Duncan and Jim on board, and see Jim draw a gun on Duncan, causing the two men to fight and fall overboard. Bromley and Lefty rescue Duncan, but Jim is struck by Duncan's boat and killed. Bromley, who has become aware of Duncan's love for Jane, tells Duncan to be more careful in future about checking for stowaways. An uncomprehending Duncan starts to protest, but Bromley says that this way is better for Jane. Duncan returns to a waiting Jane, who is now free to love him.

Cast

Critical reception

The film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane say Jane Hylton "made something very interesting of the pub-keeper with an escaped-convict husband and a dashing smuggler boyfriend (Derek Bond). She suggests, often with evocative stillness, a woman whose past is unravelling and whose future she is tentatively trying to make something of." They also praise Dora Bryan's strong performance in support. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Jane Eyre</i> 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dora Bryan</span> English actress (1923–2014)

Dora May Broadbent,, known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Tanner</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Rita Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by veteran actress Barbara Knox, the character first appeared on-screen as "Rita Littlewood" for one episode on 2 December 1964, before returning as a full-time cast member on 31 January 1972.

<i>The Jury</i> (TV serial) British TV series or programme

The Jury is a British television serial broadcast in 2002. The series was the first ever to be allowed to film inside the historic Old Bailey courthouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Osborne</span> Fictional character from Hollyoaks

Jack Osborne is a fictional character from the British soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Jimmy McKenna. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 18 November 1996 and is the second longest featured character in the show. He was introduced as part of the Osborne family, which also consisted of Jack's wife Celia and their children Darren and Ruth. His storylines include an affair with Dawn Cunningham, four marriages and faking his own death in an insurance scam. For numerous years, Jack's role in the show is the landlord of the pub, The Dog in the Pond.

<i>The Old Maid</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Edmund Goulding

The Old Maid is a 1939 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by Casey Robinson is based on the 1935 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Zoë Akins, which was adapted from the 1924 Edith Wharton novella The Old Maid: the Fifties.

<i>The Night Watch</i> (Waters novel) 2006 historical fiction novel

The Night Watch is a dark, 2006 historical fiction novel by Sarah Waters. It was shortlisted for both the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the 2006 Orange Prize. The novel, which is told backward through third-person narrative, takes place in 1940s London during and after World War II. The storyline follows the fragmented lives and the strange interconnections between Kay, Helen and Julia, three lesbians; Viv, a straight woman; and Duncan, her brother, whose sexuality is ambiguous. The war, with its never-ending night watches, serves as a horrifying backdrop and metaphor of the morbidity that surrounds life and love.

<i>A Taste of Honey</i> (film) 1961 British film by Tony Richardson

A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British New Wave drama film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens and Murray Melvin. It is an adaptation of the 1958 play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney wrote the screenplay with Richardson, who had directed the original Broadway production of the play in 1960. As with the play, the film is an exemplar of a social realist genre of British media known as kitchen sink realism.

<i>Ladies They Talk About</i> 1933 film by William Keighley, Howard Bretherton

Ladies They Talk About is a 1933 pre-Code American crime drama directed by Howard Bretherton and William Keighley, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, and Lyle Talbot. The film is about an attractive woman who is a member of a bank-robbery gang. It is based on the play Gangstress, or Women in Prison by Dorothy Mackaye and Carlton Miles. In 1928, Dorothy Mackaye, #440960, served less than ten months of a one- to three-year sentence in San Quentin State Prison.

<i>Parachute Jumper</i> 1933 film by Alfred E. Green

Parachute Jumper is a 1933 American pre-Code black-and-white comedy drama film directed by Alfred E. Green. Based on a story by Rian James titled "Some Call It Love", it stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Bette Davis and Frank McHugh.

<i>The Rainbow Trail</i> Western novel by Zane Grey, 1915

The Rainbow Trail, also known as The Desert Crucible, is Western author Zane Grey's sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. Originally published under the title The Rainbow Trail in 1915, it was re-edited and re-released in recent years as The Desert Crucible with the original manuscript that Grey submitted to publishers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Towb</span> Northern Irish actor (1925–2009)

Harry Towb was an actor from Northern Ireland.

<i>The Hour Before the Dawn</i> 1944 film by Frank Tuttle

The Hour Before the Dawn is a 1944 American drama war film directed by Frank Tuttle starring Franchot Tone and Veronica Lake. It was based on the 1942 novel by W. Somerset Maugham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Hylton</span> British actress (1927–1979)

Jane Hylton was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the 1960s and 1970s.

Bowery Champs is a 1944 American film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids.

References

  1. ↑ new_market41 (1 March 1951). "The Quiet Woman (1951)". IMDb.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, p. 134.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.