Hindle Wakes (1927)

Director:

Maurice Elvey

Writers:

Stanley Houghton (play) and
Victor Saville (writer)

Release Date:

7 November 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A celebration of working class leisure activities at Hindle, Lancashire, during "Wakes Week", an annual...

Plot Keywords:

Lancashire | Holiday | Working Class | Postcard | Blackpool

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Estelle Brody	...	Fanny Hawthorn
John Stuart	...	Allan Jeffcote
Norman McKinnel	...	Nathaniel Jeffcote
Marie Ault	...	Mrs. Hawthorn
Humberston Wright	...	Chris Hawthorne (as Humberstone Wright)
Gladys Jennings	...	Beatrice Farrar
Irene Rooke	...	Mrs. Jeffcote
Peggy Carlisle	...	Mary Hollins
Arthur Chesney	...	Sir Timothy Farrar
John Rowal	...	George Ramsbottom
Alf Goddard	...	Nobby
Cyril McLaglen	...	Alf (as Cyril Maclaglen)
Graham Soutten	...	Edward Hollins (as B. Graham Soutten)

Also Known As:

Fanny Hawthorne (USA)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (DVD) | Germany:116 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

UK

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

UK:A

Company:

Gaumont British Picture Corporation

Movie Connections:

Featured in Silent Britain (2006) (TV)

Wispy and Romantic

Three things are at work here.

The first is the music. It should be the image or the story or whatever first, but the music sticks out predominantly. It's actually really amazing music and very etherial, ephemeral, all those good dreamy-soft tones and stuff. They at first make the film seem VERY romantic and soft, and it's nice to watch and gets you into the film immediately.

Unfortunately, it sets the tone for a film that doesn't really keep that tone all the way through. The second element of this film is its story, the most simplistic part of the entire movie. High-class guy meets low-class girl, have a scandalous affair, and try to work it out in the end. It's just simplistic enough to surprise modern-day viewers, and yet complicated enough that it's not clichéd and throws a real curve-ball at the end. It's a nice story that, with the music, seems like it should be a kind sort of sad, but which is really less transient than that. This is why this movie is difficult to watch, the music is so gripping in mysticism and the story isn't really mystical at all.

The third element is the imagery. The music is great, but disjunctive. The story is great, but a little odd. The imagery is fantastic. Everything from this long, surreal shot of people dancing that is just amazing to a first-person roller-coaster ride that's more realistic-feeling than the many that have been made in color and with sound ever since.

Thus, it's really a good movie. Acting is pretty good too, forgot to mention that. You can get into it and enjoy it (the music sucks you in like that), so it's a great experience. It's just that after a while the plot will start to feel a bit "off" because of the tone of everything else not necessarily working for the tone of the story proper.

--PolarisDiB