Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Housemaster

  • 19381938
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
37
YOUR RATING
Diana Churchill and Phillips Holmes in Housemaster (1938)
Comedy
Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
37
YOUR RATING
    • Herbert Brenon
    • Ian Hay(novel "The Housemaster")
    • Dudley Leslie(scenario)
    • Elizabeth Meehan(scenario)
  • Stars
    • Otto Kruger
    • Diana Churchill
    • Phillips Holmes
    • Herbert Brenon
    • Ian Hay(novel "The Housemaster")
    • Dudley Leslie(scenario)
    • Elizabeth Meehan(scenario)
  • Stars
    • Otto Kruger
    • Diana Churchill
    • Phillips Holmes
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos11

    Diana Churchill and Rene Ray in Housemaster (1938)
    Rosamond Barnes and Henry Hepworth in Housemaster (1938)
    Rosamond Barnes in Housemaster (1938)
    Rosamond Barnes and Laurence Kitchin in Housemaster (1938)
    Otto Kruger and Rene Ray in Housemaster (1938)
    Diana Churchill and Rene Ray in Housemaster (1938)
    Joyce Barbour and Otto Kruger in Housemaster (1938)
    Diana Churchill and Phillips Holmes in Housemaster (1938)
    Otto Kruger and Cecil Parker in Housemaster (1938)
    Diana Churchill, Phillips Holmes, and Otto Kruger in Housemaster (1938)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Otto Kruger
    Otto Kruger
    • Charles Donkin
    Diana Churchill
    Diana Churchill
    • Rosemary Faringdon
    Phillips Holmes
    Phillips Holmes
    • Philip de Pourville
    Joyce Barbour
    • Barbara Fane
    Rene Ray
    Rene Ray
    • Chris Faringdon
    • (as René Ray)
    Kynaston Reeves
    • The Rev. Ovington
    Walter Hudd
    Walter Hudd
    • Frank Hastings
    Michael Shepley
    Michael Shepley
    • Victor Beamish
    John Wood
    John Wood
    • Flossie Nightingale
    Cecil Parker
    Cecil Parker
    • Sir Berkeley Nightingale
    Henry Hepworth
    • Bimbo Faringdon
    Rosamond Barnes
    • Button Faringdon
    • (as Rosamund Barnes)
    Laurence Kitchin
    • Crump
    Jimmy Hanley
    Jimmy Hanley
    • Travers
    Michael Anderson
    Michael Anderson
    • Oily Boyd
    • (uncredited)
    John Clements
    John Clements
    • Undetermined Minor Role
    • (uncredited)
    Philip Ridgeway
    • Young lad
    • (uncredited)
      • Herbert Brenon
      • Ian Hay(novel "The Housemaster") (play "Bachelor Born") (uncredited)
      • Dudley Leslie(scenario)
      • Elizabeth Meehan(scenario)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Living Dangerously
    6.1
    Living Dangerously
    False Rapture
    5.7
    False Rapture
    The House of a Thousand Candles
    5.3
    The House of a Thousand Candles
    The Dominant Sex
    6.2
    The Dominant Sex
    Vanessa, Her Love Story
    5.9
    Vanessa, Her Love Story
    Glamorous Night
    5.6
    Glamorous Night
    Lady of Secrets
    6.4
    Lady of Secrets
    The Men in Her Life
    6.1
    The Men in Her Life
    Scott of the Antarctic
    7.0
    Scott of the Antarctic

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Phillips Holmes's last movie.
    • Quotes

      Barbara Fane: Oh, I'd forgotten all about you. This is Button, Charles, a ridiculous name, Bimbo's twin.

      Charles Donkin: Good heavens! I hadn't realized Bimbo cold be duplicated.

    • Connections
      Featured in Elstree Story (1952)
    • Soundtracks
      Sun of My Soul, Thou Saviour Dear
      (uncredited)

      Hymn from Katholisches Gesangbuch, Vienna, 1674

      Music by Herbert Stanley Oakeley

      Words by John Keble

    User reviews4

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Mayhem in the British boys school
    Housemaster" is a very good British comedy that stars American Otto Kruger who had taken a break from Hollywood to make a few movies in England. The film is based on a play of the same title by Ian Hay. A host of mostly British actors of the day fill out this story of a housemaster at an all boys' school. Mayhem sets in for Charles Donkin when the three Farington girls and their aunt and guardian, Barbara Fane, arrive to take up lodging with him. He's sort of an "uncle" to the girls, having been the one-time sweetheart of their mother, who has now been dead for 14 years. Fane was bringing them to England to get them away from Paris, which she says "is demoralizing them." To which Donkin replies, "Nonsense - they're demoralizing Paris."

    While the girls add a good deal of the humor in this film, Charles presides as the senior housemaster at the school which has had a new headmaster, the Rev Edmund Ovington. Prominent English actor Kynaston Reeves plays the somber faced and no-nonsense reformer/organizer who sees any fun on the part of the boys as lack of character -- and demanding of restrictions. Cecil Parker, Diana Churchill, and Phillips Holmes are among the rest of the cast in this very good comedy. Unfortunately, the quality of the film I watched is not very good. At least some of that appears to be in the production. This was not a Gaumont, Gainsborough or Ealing Studios film, but one made by a lesser company at the time - Associated British Pictures Corp.

    While humor is the forte of this film, Donkin gives the boys of his house a farewell talk with sage advice. "Never be false - or, if you prefer it, always be loyal," he tells them. "Even though sometimes it may be against your own conviction. Be infinitely considerate of other people's feelings. That is what is meant by that much maligned phrase about being a gentleman. And, lastly, but very briefly - speak the truth. Believe me, of all the methods that have been tried by great men from Machiavelli down to his present-day imitators, speaking the truth has always served man best... And us, as a nation, best. Now, would you just try to bear these three tips in mind?"

    There are some instances of playful chicanery on the part of the girls and some of the boys, and poignant or funny bits of dialog throughout. But the comedic coup de grace is by Donkin in the end when he tells Rosemary to go ask Barbara how everything has worked out. Rosemary will be surprised to find out that the girls' scheme didn't work, but something much better is in store for all. Only Donkin knows the whole outcome for everyone, as he settles down before the fireplace with his pipe and newspaper word puzzle.

    This is a wonderful comedy, simple on the surface but quite sophisticated as well. Here are some more favorite lines.

    Charles Donkin, "Now, in the future use a little sense. If the headmaster sees fit to put the plantation out of bounds, why go there? And if you must go there, don't try and get caught."

    Charles Donkin, "And may I ask why Barbara communicates with me through you? I've known her as long as you have." Frank Hastings, "Not quite. I introduced you to Barbara and to Angela at a ball." Donkin, "Imagine us at a ball. Well, you anyway."

    Frank Hastings, "Do you mind if I open one of these windows? You can't breathe the same air as you did yesterday, you know?

    Barbara Fane, going to open the French door, "You can't breathe the same air as you did yesterday, you know?" Charles Donkin, "I seem to have heard that somewhere before."

    Barbara Fane, "Just before we left, Aubrey said the most extraordinary thing." Charles Donkin, "What'd he say?" Barbara, "If my darling Angela had had any sense, those children would have been Charles Donkin's, not mine" Charles, "What infernal chic. If Angela had married me, our children wouldn't have been any resemblance to these little horrors." Barbara, "Oh, I think you're the most cruel, heartless man I know." Charles, "I'm not cruel and I'm not heartless." Barbara, "Yes, you are." Charles, "I'm not."

    Frank Hastings, "In some ways, Farington, you're a genius. You can translate English into a Greek not spoken in Greece, and Latin into an English not spoken anywhere.

    Frank Hastings, "Ignorance is bad enough. Cheating is abominable."

    Charles Donkin, "The boys won't like their privileges being tampered with." Rev. Ovington, "That is the perfectly natural reaction of all boys toward anything that is good for them."

    Charles Donkin, "Eh, time for prayers. Put out your cigar, you're coming with me." Sir Berkeley Nightingale, "Why?" Donkin, "Oh, it brightens up the boys to see an odd face occasionally." Sir Nightingale, "What do you mean, odd, hmmm?"

    Rev. Ovington, "A boy is not a reasoning animal."

    Charles Donkin, "You are set in authority over 500 of the oddest, shyest, most observant, most critical and least articulate creatures that God ever made. And you treat them as if they were the occupants of a particularly insensitive oyster bed. You've trampled on their most cherished traditions." Rev. Ovington, "It is sometimes necessary to trample on traditions." Donkin, "But not with hobnailed boots."

    Sir Berkeley Nightingale, "I hope that settles your little housing problem." Charles Donkin, "You wire-pulling old reprobate."

    Rosemary Farington, "Charles, Philip and I want to go to Vienna and be married. Do you mind?" Charles Donkin, "Yes, I do. Get married and then go to Vienna."

    Charles Donkin, holding Rosemary, "My wise Angela." Rosemary, "Rosemary, darling." Charles, shaking his head, "Angela."
    helpful•0
    0
    • SimonJack
    • Mar 1, 2021

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 9, 1939 (United States)
      • United Kingdom
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Production company
      • Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 40 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Diana Churchill and Phillips Holmes in Housemaster (1938)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Housemaster (1938) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.