White Corridors

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White Corridors
"White Corridors".jpg
Directed by Pat Jackson
Based onnovel Yeoman's Hospital by Helen Ashton
Produced by Joseph Janni
John Croydon
Starring Googie Withers
Cinematography C. M. Pennington-Richards
Edited by Sidney Hayers
Production
company
Vic Films Productions
Distributed by General Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • 12 June 1951 (1951-06-12)(London)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

White Corridors is a 1951 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Googie Withers, Godfrey Tearle, James Donald and Petula Clark. [1] It is based on the 1944 novel Yeoman's Hospital by Helen Ashton.

Contents

The film is set in a hospital shortly after the establishment of the National Health Service. [2]

Plot

The day-to-day life of the staff and patients at a city hospital. [3] The central story is that of doctors Sophie Dean and Neil Marriner, who are in love, and their fight to save the life of Tommy Briggs, a little boy with blood poisoning.

Cast

Production

The film marked Googie Withers's return to acting after 13 months off following the birth of her child. [4] John Mills at one stage was announced to play the male lead. [5]

Bombardier Billy Wells, the man who bangs the gong on the Rank trademark, had a small role. [6]

Pat Jackson claims making the film was "a joy" and says it was shot in five weeks. [7]

Reception

Box office

White Corridors was the 8th most popular film at the British box office in 1951. [8] [9]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The material of White Corridors is not distinguished, and its episodic structure emphasises that the characterisation is mainly one-dimensional; the interweaving of a series of glimpsed characters needed a firmer conception if real depth were to be given to them and thus to the whole background of the hospital which the film sets out to explore. But on a surface level the film is remarkably successful, due to the persuasive talents of its director, Pat Jackson." [10]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "While it may sound like a hokey soap opera, it is actually a well-made British A-feature, realistically played by a large and excellent cast that includes a number of well-known faces." [11]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Competent multi-drama which found a big audience." [12]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "very good", writing: "Intelligently handled, episodic medical drama always carries energy at its core." [13]

Accolades

At the 1951 BAFTAS it was nominated for Best Film and Best British Film. [14] Petula Clark was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

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References

  1. ↑ "White Corridors". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. ↑ "White Corridors". IMDb . October 1951.
  3. ↑ "WHITE CORRIDORS". The Australian Women's Weekly . National Library of Australia. 15 October 1952. p. 52. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "EMPHASIS ON GLAMOR AT ROYAL FILM SHOW". The Mirror . Perth: National Library of Australia. 18 November 1950. p. 15. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Gossip From The Studios". The Sydney Morning Herald . National Library of Australia. 23 November 1950. p. 17. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  6. ↑ "NOTES ON FILMS". The Sunday Herald . Sydney: National Library of Australia. 28 January 1951. p. 4 Supplement: Features. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Pat Jackson interview" (PDF). British Entertainment History Project. 22 March 1991.
  8. ↑ "Vivien Leigh Actress of the Year". Townsville Daily Bulletin . Qld.: National Library of Australia. 29 December 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
  10. ↑ "White Corridors". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 18 (204): 294. 1 January 1951 – via ProQuest.
  11. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 1020. ISBN   9780992936440.
  12. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1110. ISBN   0586088946.
  13. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 399. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  14. ↑ BFI.org


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