Wonderful times

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Movie
German title Wonderful times
Original title This Happy Breed
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1944
length 115 minutes
Rod
Director David Lean
script David Lean
Anthony Havelock-Allan
Ronald Neame
production Noël Coward
music Clifton Parker
camera Ronald Neame
cut Jack Harris
occupation

Wonderful times is a filmic family chronicle of David Lean , who made his debut here as sole responsible film director, spanning the entire interwar period (1919 to 1939) . Robert Newton , Celia Johnson , John Mills and Kay Walsh played the leading roles in this high-profile ensemble production . The film is based on the 1939 play " This Happy Breed " by Noël Coward, which premiered in 1943 with great success .

action

The First World War is over and Frank Gibbons, who has just been discharged from the military, moves to a new home in Clapham in 1919 with his wife Ethel, their three children Reg, Vi and Queenie, and his widowed sister Sylvia and Ethel's mother . Frank's new neighbor, Bob, is an old pal, a comrade who served with him in the army. Frank gets a job in a travel agency. As the children grow up and Britain adapts to peacetime, the family attends a number of events such as the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924. Reg befriends Sam Leadbitter, a staunch socialist. Bob's son, the sailor Billy, falls in love with Queenie and wants to marry her, but she hates the narrow and petty bourgeoisie of the suburban world and dreams of a more exciting life somewhere else. During the general strike of 1926, Sam became a bus driver. While out with Sam, Reg is injured in a brawl on Whitechapel Road. Vi, who got together with Sam, is very angry about this, but finally agrees to marry him. For her sake he distances himself from politics and his socialist ideals.

1928, the Charleston hit all of England. Everywhere people just swam after this dance. This is where Queenie is in her element and especially in the local hall. While London was enjoying the jazz age, pictures of the new German Chancellor Adolf Hitler appeared in the newspapers in 1933. Reg intends to marry his girlfriend Phyllis Blake. Billy proposes to Queenie again, but is again turned down by her. She tells him that she is in love with a married man. She still wants more than just standing behind the stove and cooking or wiping the noses of small children. She doesn't want to end up like her mother, a typical product of British petty bourgeoisie.

Vi becomes pregnant. After an argument at Reg's wedding with Phyllis, Queenie leaves the house on the night Frank and Bob return home from a regimental dinner. The mood is depressed, there is talk of a new war that is in the air. Ethel is woken up by the noise they make when they get home. She finds a letter from Queenie declaring that she has gone away with her lover, the married man. Ethel cannot forgive her and never wants to see her daughter again. Aunt Sylvia has discovered spiritualism for herself and is starting to enjoy life. Reg and Phyllis are killed in a car accident. The family is deeply shocked. Politically, a lot is also changing in Great Britain: The supporters of the British fascist Oswald Mosley, the “Black Shirts”, spurred on by the Nazis in Germany, are trying to stir up anti-Semitic feelings in London as well. Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister in 1935, and the old King George V dies at the beginning of the following year. The new monarch is called Edward VIII and will only rule for a very short time. At the end of the same year, he is as history as her mother, who dies in 1936. In 1938 the Munich Agreement was reached , in which the premiere Neville Chamberlain played a decisive role. While half of England breathes deeply or even cheers, Frank is deft to disgust at such political misjudgments.

Drafted Billy comes home on vacation with news from Queenie he saw in France. Now she regrets leaving home, hearth and family behind. She was abandoned by her married lover, then ill, and then tried to make a living by running a tea room. Beaming with joy, Billy reveals that she has finally given in to his courtship and that he and Queenie are married to each other. Ethel, whom she never wanted to see again, forgives her daughter, who was as hungry for life as she was disaffected by her broken dreams. It is the eve of another, a second world war. Queenie had a baby from Billy. Bob decides to leave London and move to the country. Queenie follows her Billy to Singapore, where he is stationed as a marine, and leaves her baby with parents Frank and Ethel. The two Gibbons parents who have grown old are also leaving the house to move into a smaller apartment, now that their offspring have finally grown up. They are very happy that they no longer have any responsibility for their three children. Weren't the times also wonderful? “At the end of the film, the camera pans through the empty house. The wallpaper has never been renewed since 1919. She saw everything. "

Production notes

Wonderful Times was written in the second half of 1943 and, depending on the source, premiered on May 28th or June 1st, 1944 in London. The mass start was on August 7, 1944. The German premiere took place on January 5, 1989 on ARD .

Director Lean and his template writer Coward had known each other for quite some time; both had directed In Which We Serve together for the first time in 1942 .

Chief cinematographer Ronald Neame also (unnamed) took over the production management. CP Norman designed the film structures. George Pollock was assistant director, Guy Green was a simple cameraman. Muir Mathieson was the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra .

useful information

The play and film are typical British products of the World War II and reflect the general attitude of the people on the islands in the face of the constant threat from Hitler's Germany. The message is: “We will not let ourselves get down”. Or to put it another way: “The film celebrates the stoicism, humor and resilience of the common British”., No matter what may come. With this outlook on life, it's no wonder that This Happy Breed was the country's top commercial film in 1944.

Noël Coward's play premiered in April 1943 at London's Haymarket Theater and was an instant hit with audiences. The author himself took on the leading role of Frank Gibbons on stage. Although he actually wanted to play his part in Lean's film, the role was initially offered to Robert Donat . But he declined for artistic reasons. Lean itself seemed to Coward's reputation as a charming and intelligent mocker of the English capital theater not at all appropriate for the intended film version. Therefore, Coward only took on the role of producer here.

The title This Happy Breed , a synonym for the British people, comes from a line of monologues from William Shakespeare's drama Richard II. Laurence Olivier , who celebrated great theatrical successes with this play, also uttered the introductory words in this film.

Celia Johnson received the NBR Award for Best Actress in 1947 .

synchronization

role actor Voice actor
Frank Gibbons Robert Newton Hans Sievers
Ethel Gibbons Celia Johnson Ingrid Andree
Billy Mitchell John Mills Volker Bogdan
Queenie Gibbons Kay Walsh Monika Gabriel
Bob Mitchell Stanley Holloway Wolfgang Völz
Aunt Sylvia Alison Leggatt Ursula victory
Mrs. Flint Amy Veness Marianne Kehlau
Reg Gibbons John Blythe Klaus-Peter Grap
Edie Merle Tottenham Evelyn Hamann

Reviews

Time Out London reads "Although Lean and Coward are less happy here than with the brittle, cultured atmosphere of Brief Encounter, their adventurous excursion to the suburb of Clapham remains infinitely fascinating."

The lexicon of international films judges: "Aptly observed, best British narrative cinema with cultivated presentation, which has, however, taken on a patina in the meantime."

The Movie & Video Guide made the film an “excellent acting skill”.

Halliwell's Film Guide judged significantly more negatively: The story was "not written convincingly and abundantly miscast, but sheer professionalism" would make up for these shortcomings.

In view of the German premiere on television, it was said at the time : “The subject of this English feature film, which David Lean made in 1944 ... is as old as the world: family saga. Today it is particularly popular as a series subject. 'Wonderful Times' said nothing but that old song, and it sounded good. Every now and then one should convince oneself with older masters that even the moldiest materials and rotten stories can be told in such a way that one goes along with them. In the case of 'Wonderful Times' the art was in the sense of the contradiction that goes through the characters and in the grace with which it was dealt with. "

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The time of January 13, 1989.
  2. ↑ Wonderful times on screenonline.org.
  3. ↑ ibid.
  4. ↑ Wonderful times in the German dubbing files .
  5. ↑ criticism on timeout.com.
  6. ↑ Wonderful times. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 1327.
  8. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 1017.
  9. ↑ A dance . Critique in "Die Zeit" from January 13, 1989.

Web links