The Magnet (1950 film)
| The Magnet | |
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Original UK quad format film poster
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| Directed by | Charles Frend |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | T. E. B. Clarke |
| Starring |
Stephen Murray Kay Walsh James Fox |
| Music by | William Alwyn |
| Cinematography | Lionel Banes |
| Edited by | Bernard Gribble |
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Production
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| Distributed by |
GFD (UK) Universal Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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79 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Magnet is a 1950 Ealing Studios comedy film featuring Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and in his first starring role James Fox (then billed as William Fox). The story involves a young Wallasey boy, Johnny Brent (Fox), who obtains the eponymous magnet by deception, leading to much confusion. When he is acclaimed as a hero, he is shamed by his own sense of guilt.
Johnny Brent (Fox), home from school during a scarlet fever outbreak, manages to con a younger boy out of a magnet by trading it for an "invisible watch". The other boy's nanny accuses Johnny of stealing, which makes Johnny feel guilty. He runs away from home. After an older boy uses the magnet to cheat at pinball and Johnny is implicated, Johnny tries to get rid of the magnet. He meets an eccentric iron lung maker who is raising funds for the local hospital, and gives him the magnet to be auctioned for charity. The iron lung maker tells the story of the magnet at various fund-raising events, exaggerating wildly and portraying Johnny as everything from a spoiled brat to a Dickensian ragamuffin.
After he returns to school, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend about her budgerigar, which she says has died of a broken heart. Johnny mistakenly thinks she is talking about the little boy himself, and becomes convinced that he is guilty of murder. He hides in the back of a van which takes him to Liverpool, where he comes into conflict with the local boys. He wins them over by convincing them he is a fugitive from the police. He saves the life of one boy who had fallen through a disused pier. The injured boy ends up in an iron lung made by the man to whom Johnny gave the magnet. When Johnny visits the boy, he sees the magnet mounted on the iron lung and is reunited with the inventor, who is delighted to have found Johnny again. Johnny is awarded the Civic Gold Medal, which he gives to the magnet's original owner, clearing his conscience.
The Magnet was filmed on location in and around New Brighton, Wirral, Cheshire and Liverpool, and at Ealing Studios, London, in black and white. Given its setting, however, authentic local accents are absent until almost the end of the film, in a scene filmed in the shadow of the Liverpool Cathedral. A Chinese boy appears in this scene, which was unusual for the time in film, although there had been a significant Chinese community in Liverpool since the 1860s, but when he is called home by his mother in Chinese, explains this to his friends in fluent scouse.
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