The Magnet (1950)

A boy steals a powerful magnet from a younger boy and gets him into all sorts of trouble.

Director:

Charles Frend

Writer:

T.E.B. Clarke

Stars:

Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh, James Fox

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stephen Murray	...	Dr Brent
Kay Walsh	...	Mrs Brent
James Fox	...	Johnny Brent (as William Fox)
Meredith Edwards	...	Harper
Gladys Henson	...	Nanny
Thora Hird	...	Nanny's friend
Michael Brooke	...	Kit (as Michael Brooke Jr.)
Wylie Watson	...	Pickering
Julien Mitchell	...	Mayor
Anthony Oliver	...	Policeman
Molly Hamley-Clifford	...	Mrs. Dean
Harold Goodwin	...	Pin table man
Edward Davies	...	Delinquent youth
Keith Robinson	...	Spike
Thomas Johnston	...	Perce

Storyline

A mixture of a psychological study of a ten-year-old boy, an English domestic comedy and a satire on psychologists finds young Johnny Brent, the only child of a pair of psychologists, trading an "invisible watch" to a much-younger child for a large magnet. His nurse/nanny accuses him of stealing and scolds him and he runs away. He soon convinces himself that the police are after him and following several unsuccessful attempts to get rid of the magnet, he presents it to an organizer of a fund-raising campaign for acquiring an iron-lung for the local hospital. The magnet is one of the auction items and finally is mounted on the iron-lung as a tribute to the unknown donor. Meanwhile, the father makes a completely inaccurate diagnosis for the mother of the boy's worries. In the end the boy meets the child he thought had died as a result of losing the magnet, and trades the boy back for the return of his "invisible watch" the gold medal the town mayor had given him for his part in the ...

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Plot Keywords:

magnet | psychologist | hospital | iron lung | campaign | 

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Taglines:

It turned the whole town TOPSY-TURVY!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 February 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alba generosa

Filming Locations:

Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ealing Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the time of the film's release, James Robertson Justice was standing for Parliament as a Labour candidate in Angus and Kincardine. This is probably the reason for his choice of a pseudonym when appearing in this film.

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Goofs

Near the start of the film, Johnny chalks a diamond shape on a gatepost. When a tramp appears moments later, the diamond is lower down and the corners are much sharper.

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Soundtracks

"Samba Sud"
(uncredited)
Music by Sidney Torch
Chappell Recorded Music Library

User Reviews

Magnetic Narrative

English films from right after the war — particularly those from Ealing or Archers — are a pretty interesting pocket to mine. Its a strange mix of experiments of all types. There's no predictability, no massive copying. Its as if everything is reset in a cultural medium and tastes need to be rediscovered or even reinvented.

This story as two elements. One is a story about a boy in a boy's clever world of invention and exploration. That's the bits you are meant to see. The other is overtly symbolic: his father is a clinical psychologist who has a need to "explain things." The story is about the hunger of certain stories, one would almost say the attraction or magnetism of stories, and that can be the only reason why the possession that triggers the story-story is a magnet.

What happens here is an ordinary episode triggers several fantastic stories, all of them with lives of their own as they adapt to live and propagate. There's extreme attention to symbols as if it were written by the psychologist: iron lungs, remote alarms, "secret" sign language, an invisible watch.

The story itself has minor charms. Its the loading of the overt symbols that is the fun part, especially since the writer seems to be poking fun at the notion of symbols the whole time.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.