A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle (1942)
"Hatter's Castle" (original title)

The film is based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin. The year is 1880. On the outskirts of the fictional small Scottish town of Levenford there stands a strange building... See full synopsis »

Director:

Lance Comfort

Writers:

A.J. Cronin (novel), Paul Merzbach (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Newton	...	James Brodie
Deborah Kerr	...	Mary Brodie
James Mason	...	Dr. Renwick
Emlyn Williams	...	Dennis
Henry Oscar	...	Grierson
Enid Stamp-Taylor	...	Nancy
Beatrice Varley	...	Mrs. Brodie
Tony Bateman	...	Angus Brodie (as Anthony Bateman)
June Holden	...	Janet
George Merritt	...	Gibson
Laurence Hanray	...	Dr. Lawrie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Claude Bailey	...	Paxton
Ian Fleming	...	Sir John Latta
Mary Hinton	...	Lady Winton
Roddy Hughes	...	Gordon

Storyline

The film is based on the novel of the same name by A. J. Cronin. The year is 1880. On the outskirts of the fictional small Scottish town of Levenford there stands a strange building... See full synopsis »

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Plot Keywords:

british noir | railway | train | based on novel

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Taglines:

Her shame was something no one could forgive - except the man who loved her!

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 April 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

A.J. Cronin's Hatter's Castle

Filming Locations:

D&P Studios, Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount British Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

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Goofs

When the real Tay Bridge collapsed, it was the center section, which was made of high girder through trusses. However, the film shows the low deck trusses collapsing.

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Soundtracks

"Clementine"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Horace Shepherd
Sylvester Music Ltd

User Reviews

One Man's Hubris

James Brodie is a very successful hatter in 19th Century Scotland. He is also tyrannical to his family and employees, distant from most people, and totally unsympathetic. The film (based on an A.J.Cronin novel) details how he builds himself a stone castle, and how he is destroyed in everything by his selfishness and harsh characteristics. His wife dies when he rejects her for a mistress, who in turn leaves him when he tries to turn her into the doormat - drudge that his wife was. His business is destroyed by a competitor who formerly worked for him, and who purposely builds his business across the street from him. He is also ruined by the mistress's brother (Emlyn William as a slimy, subsidiary villain) who works in his store and robs him. His son, a promising student, is caught cheating on a major exam - he was under great pressure to pass it by his father - and commits suicide rather than face his expulsion from school or his father. In the end, alone and broke in his castle, Brodie kills himself.

It is a harsh film, and not a popular one. I watched it once on television in the 1970s. It rarely is revived. As Brodie, Robert Newton is savagely restrained (his best scene is when he goes beserk as he watches his best, "quality" client go over to the opposite side of the street store, and he starts throwing his stock of hats into the street into a crowd of bewildered onlookers.

I do note one more thing. The death of Williams is of cinematic notice. The film is set in the 1870s, and the dastardly thief Williams goes onto a train traveling in a storm. We see him playing cards, and he loses. "That finishes me!", he says as he watches his last coin taken. The train is passing over the Tay Bridge at that moment, and it collapses. I believe it is the only time that the Tay Bridge disaster ever appeared in a movie.