The Gentle Sex (1943)

This film tells the stories of seven 'gentle' British girls who decide to "do their bit" and help out during World War II.

Directors:

Leslie Howard, Maurice Elvey (uncredited)

Writers:

Moie Charles (original story and screenplay), Aimée Stuart (additional dialogue) (as Aimee Stuart)

Stars:

Joan Gates, Jean Gillie, Joan Greenwood

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Gates	...	Gwen Hayden
Jean Gillie	...	Dot Hopkins
Joan Greenwood	...	Betty Miller
Joyce Howard	...	Anne Lawrence
Rosamund John	...	Maggie Fraser
Lilli Palmer	...	Erna Debruski
Barbara Waring	...	Joan Simpson
John Justin	...	Flying Officer David Sheridan
Elliott Mason	...	Mrs. Fraser (as Elliot Mason)
Tony Bazell	...	Ted (as Anthony Bazell)
Frederick Leister	...	Colonel Lawrence
Everley Gregg	...	Miss Simpson
John Laurie	...	Scots Corporal
Mary Jerrold	...	Mrs. Sheridan
Meriel Forbes	...	Junior Commander Davis

Storyline

During the War seven women from very different backgrounds find themselves together in the Auxiliary Territorial Services. They are soon drilling, driving lorries, and manning ack-ack batteries.

---

Plot Keywords:

propaganda | world war two | 

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | War

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 1943 (UK)

Also Known As:

7 flickor

Filming Locations:

Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Two Cities Films, Concanen Productions, Derrick De Marney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first lines of the film, after the opening credits, are from a poem by the English poet John Keats (1895-1821).

---

Goofs

The locomotive pulling the carriages from the Southern Railway London terminus where the women board, is a different class locomotive seen later in the film prior to their arrival at the Army base. Locomotive #771 is shown leaving the station, and #2848 is shown en route.

---

Quotes

[last lines]
Narrator: Let's give in at last and admit that we're really proud of you, you strange, wonderful, incalculable creatures. The world you're helping to shape is going to be a better world because you're helping to shape it. Pray silence gentlemen. I give you a toast - the gentle sex.

---

Crazy Credits

Prologue following opening credits: "Woman, when I behold thee, flippant, vain, inconstant, childish, proud and full of fancies" (spoken by Leslie Howard)

---

Connections

Featured in Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016)

---

Soundtracks

Nellie Dean
(uncredited)
Written by Harry Armstrong

User Reviews

"....now we have hatred, to fill the empty spaces in our hearts......"

A mixed lot of young ladies put their differences aside and do their bit for the war effort.

This film is more than competently made mid- WWII, both produced and narrated by Leslie Howard. Obviously the film has a strong element of propaganda to it, but this isn't laid on with a trowel and doesn't dominate proceedings.

Some reviewers complain that there is a lack of plot. Well, this is meant to be a slice of life for average folk in wartime; there isn't meant to be 'a plot' for most protagonists, because mostly they are just following orders and not asking questions. You could argue 'nothing happens' because at the start of the film the war is on and at the end of the film the war is still on.

However to argue 'nothing happens' is to lose sight of the changes in the circumstances and internal make-up of each of the seven ladies; they all change and develop in their own way, and each is a little more revealed as a person by the end of the film; by the end we see that they are perhaps more disparate than we thought at the start, but for different reasons.

Given the film only runs for 90 minutes and there are seven ladies, the character development is arguably somewhat subtly done. A good number of their trials and tribulations were ones which, at the time, a good fraction of the audience would have been able to relate to. Particularly revealing is the reaction of the ladies to successful ack-ack gunnery late on in the film.

It would have been very easy to dwell exclusively on the matter in hand but this film also discusses the future, eg how society might change in future years. All this at a time when it was by no means clear what the outcome of the war might be.

If you watch this film you might conclude that you would be able to see where you were going by the light of blackout-specification headlamps. Well this is a piece of cinematic licence; the amount of light projected through the usual two tiny slits was barely enough to be seen by let alone see by. Accident rates on wartime roads in the UK skyrocketed; some believe that the loss of life so incurred was greater than if the headlights had been left unmodified (and visible to enemy aircraft).

This film is particularly bittersweet because it was Leslie Howard's last film. Just weeks after it was released, he was lost; the Luftwaffe shot down a scheduled BOAC flight over the bay of Biscay which had only civilians on board. A great loss to cinema; we only have films like this to stand tribute to him, and the recently made (and rather good) 'The Man Who Gave a Damn' documentary.

Given the sort of film this is and when it was made, I'm giving it eight out of ten.