The Weaker Sex (1948)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writers:

Esther McCracken (play)
Esther McCracken (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 July 1949 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Life on the home front during World War 2. Martha Dacre tries to keep her home running as normal, during the run up to the D Day landings...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Cast

Ursula Jeans	...	Martha Dacre
Cecil Parker	...	Geoffrey Radcliffe
Joan Hopkins	...	Helen Dacre Winan
Derek Bond	...	Lt. Comdr. Nigel Winan
Thora Hird	...	Mrs. Gaye
Bill Owen	...	Soldier with Chicken
John Stone	...	Sgt. Roddy McIntyre
Lana Morris	...	Lolly Dacre
Marian Spencer	...	Harriet Lessing
Digby Wolfe	...	Benjie Dacre
Kynaston Reeves	...	Captain Dishart

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Paul Soskin Productions

Of historical interest only.

"The Weaker Sex" is two things. Firstly it is a tribute to the British housewife ("To those who also served, though they were too busy to stand and wait"). Secondly it is a look at contemporary (1948) history through the eyes of a middle-aged housewife.

Though both these goals are admirable, the way they were carried out made a lopsided and rambling film. The first half of the picture, which takes place from D-Day to VE Night, shows a family under the stress of war. The incidents which fill this part of "The Weaker Sex" - air raids, lost and wounded brothers and sons, D-Day landings - are exciting enough to mask the fact that there isn't really any overarching plot, and the characters are going nowhere.

However the second half of the movie, which takes place in the postwar "Age of Austerity" doesn't have this built-in excitement factor. While watching a family coping with peace and the aftermath of war should have been interesting, if only for the novelty value, this half of the picture felt like an epilogue to the real movie. It is possible, even probable, that real life felt like this after the war, but sometimes reality doesn't

Perhaps there was a third purpose behind this movie. On the whole all the characters in "The Weaker Sex" are nice people: decent, doing their duty, law abiding, and not inclined to grumble. Given the era it was made in, it was perhaps intended to boost morale by reminding people how lucky they really were - that though times were hard they had peace, freedom and hope for the future.