Hungry Hill (1947)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Brian Desmond Hurst

Writers:

Francis Crowdy (additional dialogue)
Daphne Du Maurier (novel)

Release Date:

5 October 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Story of a feud that has gone on between two Irish families for more than 50 years. |

Plot Keywords:

Feud | Irish | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Margaret Lockwood	...	Fanny Rose
Dennis Price	...	Greyhound John Brodrick
Cecil Parker	...	Copper John Brodrick
Michael Denison	...	Henry Brodrick
F.J. McCormick	...	Old Tim
Arthur Sinclair	...	Morty Donovan
Jean Simmons	...	Jane Brodrick
Eileen Crowe	...	Bridget
Eileen Herlie	...	Katherine
Barbara Waring	...	Barbara Brodrick
Michael Golden	...	Sam Donovan
Shamus Locke	...	Young Tim
Siobhan McKenna	...	Kate Donovan (as Sioban McKenna)
Dan O'Herlihy	...	Harry Brodrick
Tony Quinn	...	Denny Donovan

Runtime:

92 min | UK:109 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12559)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Two Cities Films

Trivia:

First film of Eileen Herlie.

Bleak social drama with Lockwood and Price

A film adaptation of a (lesser-known) Daphne Du Maurier novel, HUNGRY HILL offers an interesting, yet mostly bleak look at social divide. This costume drama juxtaposes the bourgeois copper mine owners the Brodricks with the working family the Donovans, paralleling their lives and constant feuding over a 50 year-period.

Margaret Lockwood gets first billing as Fanny Rose, who marries into the wealthy Brodrick family. Miss Lockwood gets one of the better parts on offer here, her character arc changing from a wilful coquette to a bright young married, and then finally to an elderly widowed woman looking back on life. Dennis Price plays her husband, who wishes to reconcile with the Donovan clan. Cecil Parker is memorable as the head of the family, whilst a young and lovely Jean Simmons appears briefly as Jane, younger sister of Price.

The bleakness of the source material does not give the film much to work with, and the film is often talky and mundane in many stretches. The production values, while adequate enough, do not really enhance the work. It's just not great drama.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the film is seeing young Michael Dennison do a fairly credible job in the sort of role that either James Mason (bound for America) or Stewart Granger would have performed with aplomb back in the early 40's. He plays spoiled Henry Brodrick, son of Lockwood and Price, who re-ignites the tension between the two families after a brief stalemate. Dennison seems to be channelling the Mason we saw in Gainsborough melodramas such as THE MAN IN GREY and FANNY BY GASLIGHT in his venom-spitting scenes. His character is really quite hateful, yet his indulgence in such vices as drinking, gambling, women and even murder provide a bit of spark to the proceedings.

5/10.