Turn of the Tide | |
---|---|
Directed by | Norman Walker |
Written by | |
Produced by | John Corfield |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Franz Planer |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Arthur Benjamin |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Gaumont British Distributors |
Release date | 1935 |
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
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. [1] Lacking a distributor for his film, Rank set up his own distribution and production company which subsequently grew into his later empire. [2]
The film contains many Whitby registered boats (WY) and contains much documentary-style footage of making and repairing lobster creels.
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. [3]
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". [4]
Although the film was originally considered a box-office disappointment it was eventually voted the sixth best British movie of 1936. [5]
Britmovie called it a "refreshingly compassionate drama that benefits from being filmed on location at Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby". [2]
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk. It has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. The fishing port emerged during the Middle Ages, supporting important herring and whaling fleets, and was where Captain Cook learned seamanship and, coincidentally, where his first vessel to explore the southern ocean, HMS Endeavour was built. Jet and alum were mined locally, and Whitby jet, which was mined by the Romans and Victorians, became fashionable during the 19th century.
The British National Films Company was formed in England in 1934 by J. Arthur Rank, Lady Annie Henrietta Yule of Bricket Wood, and producer John Corfield.
Robin Hood's Bay is a village in North Yorkshire, England. It is 6 miles (10 km) south of Whitby and 15 miles (24 km) north of Scarborough on the Yorkshire Coast.
Leo Walmsley was an English writer. Walmsley was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire, but brought up in Robin Hood's Bay in the North Riding. Noted for his fictional Bramblewick series, based on Robin Hood's Bay, he fought in the Royal Flying Corps, later the Royal Air Force, in the First World War, being awarded the Military Cross.
Staithes is a seaside village in North Yorkshire, England. Easington and Roxby Becks, two brooks that run into Staithes Beck, form the border between the unitary authorities of North Yorkshire and Redcar and Cleveland. The area located on the Redcar and Cleveland side is called Cowbar. Formerly one of the many fishing centres in England, Staithes is now largely a tourist destination within the North York Moors National Park.
Wilfrid Lawson was an English character actor of screen and stage.
Joan Maude was an English actress, active from the 1920s to the 1950s. She is probably best known for playing the Chief Recorder in the 1946 Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death.
High Tide at Noon is a 1957 British drama film directed by Philip Leacock. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. High Tide at Noon was based on the first of a series of novels by Elisabeth Ogilvie, set in Maine. Location work was done in Devon.
Midshipman Easy is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Carol Reed and starring Hughie Green, Margaret Lockwood and Harry Tate. The screenplay concerns a young man who runs away from home, joins the navy and goes to sea in the 1790s. He rescues a captive woman from a Spanish ship and battles pirates and smugglers. The film was based on the novel Mr Midshipman Easy (1836) by Frederick Marryat.
The Phantom Light is a 1935 British crime film, a low-budget "quota quickie" directed by Michael Powell and starring Binnie Hale, Gordon Harker, Donald Calthrop, Milton Rosmer and Ian Hunter. The screenplay concerns criminals who try to scare a new chief lighthouse keeper on the Welsh coast, in an attempt to distract him from their scheme.
Peg of Old Drury is a 1935 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke and Margaretta Scott. The film is a biopic of 18th century Irish actress Peg Woffington. It was based on the play Masks and Faces by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor. It contains passages of 18th century Shakespearian performance, from The Merchant of Venice, Richard III and As You Like It.
Joan of Arc is a 1935 German historical drama film directed by Gustav Ucicky and starring Angela Salloker, Gustaf Gründgens and Heinrich George. It depicts the life of Joan of Arc, and is the first female embodiment of the Nazi Führer figure in film. The press in Germany and abroad detected direct parallels between the presentation of France in 1429 and the situation in Germany in 1935.
The Robin Hood's Bay Marine Laboratory was a marine scientific research and education unit in North Yorkshire, England, from 1912 to 1982. Purchased in 1998 by the National Trust, the previous structure was demolished, and the present building constructed to the style of the old coastguard station and opened as a visitor and interpretation centre.
The Lad is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Gordon Harker, Betty Stockfeld and Jane Carr. It was made at Twickenham Studios. The film is based on a novel by Edgar Wallace.
Daisy Fisher, born Daisy Gertrude Fisher; was an English novelist and playwright. She was the writer of several romantic novels, a lyricist, scriptwriter, actress and singer. In the 1920s she wrote the lyrics for some of Eric Coates' compositions. In 1926 she published her first book Lavender Ladies A Comedy in Three Acts followed by more in the 1930s. Fisher authored some plays with the song writer Harold Simpson, Ronald Jeans and Clifford Seyler. She was the wife of Herbert Mason the film director and producer who previously acted on stage. After the Second World War they worked together on some plays.
The Yorkshire Coast runs from the Tees estuary to the Humber estuary, on the east coast of England. The cliffs at Boulby are the highest on the east coast of England, rising to 660 feet (200 m) above the sea level.
Whitby Lifeboat Station is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat station located in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of nine situated along the Yorkshire coast. Whitby has had a lifeboat station since 1802, with the RNLI responsible since 1861. In its 200 plus year history, Whitby has had five different lifeboat stations. A sixth lifeboat and station was located at Upgang, just up the coast from Whitby, and whilst it was considered separate from Whitby, it was crewed by men from the Whitby lifeboat.
The Yorkshire coast fishery has long been part of the Yorkshire economy for centuries. The 114-mile (183 km) Yorkshire Coast, from the River Tees to the Humber estuary, has many ports both small and large where the fishing trade thrives. The historic ports at Hull and Whitby are important locations for the landing and processing of fish and shellfish. Scarborough and Bridlington are also sites of commercial fishing.
Ship and boat building in Whitby was a staple part of the industry of Whitby, North Yorkshire, England between the 17th and 19th centuries. In 1792 and 1793, Whitby was the second largest ship-building port in England and Wales. Building continued throughout the 20th century but on a smaller scale both in terms of output and overall size of the vessels being built.
Ramsdale Beck is a small river that feeds directly into the North Sea between Robin Hood's Bay and Ravenscar on the North Yorkshire coast in England. The stream, which rises on Fylingdales Moor, has two waterfalls, and historically was used to power two corn mills. The beck flows through a small ravine known as Ramsdale Valley. There is another Ramsdale Beck in Scarborough which connects Scarborough Mere and Falsgrave to the sea.