This Happy Breed (film)
| This Happy Breed | |
|---|---|
DVD release cover
|
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| Directed by | David Lean |
| Produced by | Noël Coward |
| Written by | David Lean Anthony Havelock-Allan Ronald Neame Based on the play by Noël Coward |
| Starring |
Robert Newton Celia Johnson Stanley Holloway John Mills |
| Narrated by | Laurence Olivier |
| Music by |
Muir Mathieson Clifton Parker |
| Cinematography | Ronald Neame |
| Edited by | Jack Harris |
| Distributed by |
Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited (UK) Universal-International (US) |
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Release date
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1 June 1944 |
|
Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
This Happy Breed is a 1944 British Technicolor drama film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan and Ronald Neame is based on the 1939 play of the same title by Noël Coward. The title, a reference to the English people, is a phrase from John of Gaunt's monologue in Act II, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Richard II.
Opening in 1919, shortly after the end of the First World War, the film focuses on the middle class Gibbons family after they settle in a house in Clapham, South London. The household includes Frank, his wife Ethel, their three children – Reg, Vi and Queenie – his widowed sister Sylvia and Ethel's mother. Frank is delighted to discover that his next-door neighbour is Bob Mitchell, a friend from his days in the army.
Frank finds employment in a travel agency run by another old army chum. As the children grow up and the country adapts to peacetime, the family attend a number of events, such as the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in 1924.
Reg becomes friendly with Sam, a staunch socialist, who is attracted to Vi. Queenie is pursued by Bob's sailor son Billy, but she longs to escape the suburbs and lead a more glamorous life elsewhere.
During the General Strike of 1926, Reg is injured in a brawl in Whitechapel Road. Vi blames Sam, who had brought her brother to the area, but eventually her anger dissipates and she marries him.
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Wikipedia