Turn of the Tide (film)

Last updated

Turn of the Tide
"Turn of the Tide" (1935).jpg
British trade ad
Directed by Norman Walker
Written by L. du Garde Peach
J.O.C. Orton
Based onnovel Three Fevers by Leo Walmsley
Produced by John Corfield
Starring
Cinematography Franz Planer
Edited by
Music by Arthur Benjamin
Production
company
Distributed by Gaumont British Distributors
Release date
  • 21 October 1935 (1935-10-21)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£30,000 [1]
Box office£18,000 [2]

Turn of the Tide is a 1935 British drama film directed by Norman Walker and starring John Garrick, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Wilfrid Lawson. It was the first feature film made by J. Arthur Rank. [3] Lacking a distributor for his film, Rank set up his own distribution and production company which subsequently grew into his later empire. [4]

Contents

The film contains many Whitby registered boats (WY) and contains much documentary-style footage of making and repairing lobster creels.

Plot

The film is set in the fictional Yorkshire fishing village of Bramblewick and relates the rivalry between two fishing families. It is filmed mainly around Robin Hood's Bay (evidenced in the WY identity codes on the fishing boats).

The characters speak in the local Yorkshire accent and dialect. Rivalry between the lobster fishermen begins when one boat is fitted with a new diesel engine. Ropes are cut so the lobsters cannot be retrieved. The feuding comes to an end when a man from one family says he wants to marry a girl from the other family.

The work is based on the 1932 novel Three Fevers by Leo Walmsley. [5]

Cast

Production

The film was based on a 1922 novel Three Fevers.

J. Arthur Rank was a flour baron who had invested in some religious films. He read an article in the Evening News challenging criticism of the film industry by editor R.G. Burnett complainging about the moral standing of movies, and challenging them to produce a family appropriate movie, even suggesting a book: Leo Walmsley’s Three Fevers. Rank decided to do this. [6]

He formed an assocaion with Annie Henrietta Yule, widow of an Anglo-Indian jute baron, who was, like Rank, a wealthy Methodist. They formed British National Films Company in 1934 and Turn of the Tide would be the first commercial movie from the company. John Corfeld, who introduced Yule to Rank, produced the movie. [2]

The film was shot near Whitby, Yorkshire with interiors shot at British & Dominions studio, Elstree. [7]

David Lean worked on the film uncredited as an editor. So too did Ian Dalyrymple. [8] [9]

Reception

Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene remarked that the film was "unpretentious and truthful", and "one of the best English films [he] ha[d] yet seen". Rejecting contemporary critical comparison of the film to Man of Aran , Greene suggested that where Man of Aran had featured sentimentality, Turn of the Tide's director "Norman Walker is concerned with truth, [...] and the beauty his picture catches is that of exact statement". [10]

Although the film was originally considered a box-office disappointment it was eventually voted the sixth best British movie of 1936. [11]

Variety called it "slow moving". [12] Britmovie called it a "refreshingly compassionate drama that benefits from being filmed on location at Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby". [4]

J. Arthur Rank

J. Arthur Rank was unhappy with the efforts of the distributor, Gaumont British. This prompted him to buy into distribution, production and exhibition interests, such as General Film Distributors and Pinewood Studios, launching his film empire. [2] [13]

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Falk, Quentin (1987). The golden gong : fifty years of the Rank Organisation, its films and its stars. Columbus Books. p. 14.
  2. 1 2 3 Wakelin, Michael (1996). J. Arthur Rank : the man behind the gong. Albatross Books. p. 66-67.
  3. ↑ "Turn of the Tide (1935)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012.
    - "BFI Screenonline: Fitzgerald, Geraldine (1914-2005) Biography". Screen Online.
  4. 1 2 "Turn of the Tide". Britmovie.
  5. ↑ Logan, Philip C. (28 July 2013). Humphrey Jennings and British Documentary Film: A Re-assessment. ISBN   9781409482284 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Wood pp72-76
  7. ↑ Wood p 77
  8. ↑ Brownlow, Kevin (1997). David Lean. A Wyatt Book for St. Martin's Press. p. 90.
  9. ↑ Wood p 161
  10. ↑ Greene, Graham (25 October 1935). "Joan of Arc/Turn of the Tide/Top Hat/She". The Spectator . (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome . pp.  29–30. ISBN   0192812866.)
  11. ↑ "BEST FILM PERFORMANCE LAST YEAR". The Examiner (LATE NEWS EDITION and DAILY ed.). Launceston, Tasmania. 9 July 1937. p. 8. Retrieved 4 March 2013– via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "Turn of the Tide". Variety. 30 October 1935. p. 14.
  13. ↑ Wood p 79-80
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.