Lone Scherfig’s “Their Finest” isn’t a biopic, but that doesn’t mean the World War II-set romantic drama isn’t true.
Adapted by Gabby Chiappe from Lissa Evans’ novel, “Their Finest Hour and a Half,” Scherfig’s latest period piece traces a fictionalized heroine as she changes the face of England’s propaganda-film machine in the waning days of World War II. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) isn’t a big dreamer — in war-torn London, no one is — but when she’s drafted into writing feel-good scripts for the Ministry of Information, she unexpectedly finds her calling.
“There were female scriptwriters at the time, but they weren’t credited,” Scherfig said. “They did write a lot, and the character is very loosely based on one of those.”
Scherfig, known for her early Dogme features and her breakout “An Education,” saw herself in both Catrin and in the character’s new and weird professional world.
Adapted by Gabby Chiappe from Lissa Evans’ novel, “Their Finest Hour and a Half,” Scherfig’s latest period piece traces a fictionalized heroine as she changes the face of England’s propaganda-film machine in the waning days of World War II. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) isn’t a big dreamer — in war-torn London, no one is — but when she’s drafted into writing feel-good scripts for the Ministry of Information, she unexpectedly finds her calling.
“There were female scriptwriters at the time, but they weren’t credited,” Scherfig said. “They did write a lot, and the character is very loosely based on one of those.”
Scherfig, known for her early Dogme features and her breakout “An Education,” saw herself in both Catrin and in the character’s new and weird professional world.
- 4/7/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
There have been many, many movies about World War II, and of course most of them are like Saving Private Ryan, or last year’s Hacksaw Ridge as they focus on the brave heroes who went off to war and found a way not only to survive, but also come home as heroes.
Their Finest, based on Lissa Evans’ 2009 book Their Finest Hour and a Half, instead focuses on the brave women back home who did their part to try to keep spirits up and continue to support the British troops overseas.
In the movie, Gemma Arterton plays Catrin Cole, an ad writer hired to write the female dialogue (or “slop”) for the British Ministry of Information’s propaganda films they release to inspire the people back in England. Working with screenwriter Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin), Catrin finds the story of two twin sisters who borrow their father’s boat...
Their Finest, based on Lissa Evans’ 2009 book Their Finest Hour and a Half, instead focuses on the brave women back home who did their part to try to keep spirits up and continue to support the British troops overseas.
In the movie, Gemma Arterton plays Catrin Cole, an ad writer hired to write the female dialogue (or “slop”) for the British Ministry of Information’s propaganda films they release to inspire the people back in England. Working with screenwriter Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin), Catrin finds the story of two twin sisters who borrow their father’s boat...
- 4/3/2017
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
(Charles Crichton, 1950; StudioCanal, PG)
Made during Ealing Studios's peak period from the early 40s to the mid-1950s, Dance Hall is virtually the only movie produced by that male-dominated studio that might be considered a feminist work. Co-scripted by Diana Morgan, the sole woman admitted by Ealing boss Michael Balcon to his elite creative team, it looks at the world from the point of view of four young working-class women (Natasha Parry, Petula Clark, Jane Hylton and Diana Dors). They live in council flats, work in the same west London factory, and find romance and an escape from their drab lives at the local dance hall. Except for the middle-class accents, the film presents an honest, down-to-earth portrait of Britain in the postwar age of austerity. Typically for its time, Parry (future wife of the director Peter Brook) is torn between glamorous sports car-driving spiv Bonar Colleano and dull,...
Made during Ealing Studios's peak period from the early 40s to the mid-1950s, Dance Hall is virtually the only movie produced by that male-dominated studio that might be considered a feminist work. Co-scripted by Diana Morgan, the sole woman admitted by Ealing boss Michael Balcon to his elite creative team, it looks at the world from the point of view of four young working-class women (Natasha Parry, Petula Clark, Jane Hylton and Diana Dors). They live in council flats, work in the same west London factory, and find romance and an escape from their drab lives at the local dance hall. Except for the middle-class accents, the film presents an honest, down-to-earth portrait of Britain in the postwar age of austerity. Typically for its time, Parry (future wife of the director Peter Brook) is torn between glamorous sports car-driving spiv Bonar Colleano and dull,...
- 4/22/2013
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Went the Day Well? (1942)
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
Based on Graham Greene’s short story The Lieutenant Died Last
Screenplay by John Dighton
UK , 1942
How many films and TV shows have left you quaking at the thought of your quiet home town being overrun by flesh-eating zombies or sex-crazed vampires? When Ealing Studios released Went the Day Well? in 1942, anxieties were focused on equally fiendish invaders from across the English Channel. You never know, that polite British officer sipping tea in your drawing room, might turn out to be part of the advance party from the Third Reich.
Based on a short story by Graham Greene, Alberto Cavalcanti’s film is set in the idyllic English village of Bramley End (in reality, Turville in Buckinghamshire). A framing device introduces us first to the church warder (played by Mervyn Johns), who sets the scene for the extraordinary events of Whitsun weekend 1942. The...
Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
Based on Graham Greene’s short story The Lieutenant Died Last
Screenplay by John Dighton
UK , 1942
How many films and TV shows have left you quaking at the thought of your quiet home town being overrun by flesh-eating zombies or sex-crazed vampires? When Ealing Studios released Went the Day Well? in 1942, anxieties were focused on equally fiendish invaders from across the English Channel. You never know, that polite British officer sipping tea in your drawing room, might turn out to be part of the advance party from the Third Reich.
Based on a short story by Graham Greene, Alberto Cavalcanti’s film is set in the idyllic English village of Bramley End (in reality, Turville in Buckinghamshire). A framing device introduces us first to the church warder (played by Mervyn Johns), who sets the scene for the extraordinary events of Whitsun weekend 1942. The...
- 7/13/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
To celebrate the DVD release of The Halfway House available on DVD now, Optimum Home Entertainment have given us three copies of the movie to give away on DVD. The movie was directed by Basil Dearden and stars Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns and Sally Ann Howes.
2011 sees the centenary of the birth of Ealing stalwart Basil Dearden, who directed more Ealing films than any of his peers – 18 – including The Blue Lamp, Saraband for Dead Lovers and The Halfway House. He was also the director of the ground-breaking Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde.
The Halfway House is an enjoyable mystery tale of a group of strangers driven to take shelter at a remote Welsh Inn during a storm. Each has a personal problem to hide, but they are soon brought together by unsettling events perhaps precipitated by their hosts, the enigmatic innkeepers. Starring Mervyn Johns and real-life daughter Glynis, The Halfway House...
2011 sees the centenary of the birth of Ealing stalwart Basil Dearden, who directed more Ealing films than any of his peers – 18 – including The Blue Lamp, Saraband for Dead Lovers and The Halfway House. He was also the director of the ground-breaking Victim, starring Dirk Bogarde.
The Halfway House is an enjoyable mystery tale of a group of strangers driven to take shelter at a remote Welsh Inn during a storm. Each has a personal problem to hide, but they are soon brought together by unsettling events perhaps precipitated by their hosts, the enigmatic innkeepers. Starring Mervyn Johns and real-life daughter Glynis, The Halfway House...
- 6/24/2011
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Halfway House (1943)
Director: Basil Dearden
A young girl tries to bring her estranged parents back together by contriving a mini-break at a charming Welsh inn. It might sound a bit like The Parent Trap, but The Halfway House is an intriguing but uneven wartime fantasy drama from Ealing Studios. Director Basil Dearden’s film was co-written by Angus MacPhail and Diana Morgan (Went The Day Well?) and also features one of the most grating Welsh accents I’ve ever heard – courtesy of Glynis Johns.
The Halfway House begins with a series of brief vignettes introducing the main characters. There’s young Joanna (Sally Anne Howes), whose bickering parents Richard and Jill (Richard Bird and Valerie White) are on the brink of divorce. A disgraced army officer Fortescue (Guy Middleton) is released from prison, after serving time for pilfering the regimental funds. At a Welsh port, ex-navy captain Harry Meadows...
Director: Basil Dearden
A young girl tries to bring her estranged parents back together by contriving a mini-break at a charming Welsh inn. It might sound a bit like The Parent Trap, but The Halfway House is an intriguing but uneven wartime fantasy drama from Ealing Studios. Director Basil Dearden’s film was co-written by Angus MacPhail and Diana Morgan (Went The Day Well?) and also features one of the most grating Welsh accents I’ve ever heard – courtesy of Glynis Johns.
The Halfway House begins with a series of brief vignettes introducing the main characters. There’s young Joanna (Sally Anne Howes), whose bickering parents Richard and Jill (Richard Bird and Valerie White) are on the brink of divorce. A disgraced army officer Fortescue (Guy Middleton) is released from prison, after serving time for pilfering the regimental funds. At a Welsh port, ex-navy captain Harry Meadows...
- 6/14/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
TV swimmer Caroline Flack and James O'Shea won the final of BBC Three reality show Dancing On Wheels last night. Judges Ola and James Jordan and Ade Adepitan chose the pair over Olympic swimmer Mark Foster and Diana Morgan-Hill. Flack and O'Shea will now represent the UK at the wheelchair dancing European Championships in Tel Aviv, Israel. "You've reached an excellent level of dancing in a short space of time and we think both couples would do a great job of representing us at the European Championships," said Strictly Come Dancing star James before the result (more)...
- 3/12/2010
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
Michelle Gayle and Harry Maule were knocked out of the Dancing On Wheels semi-final last night. James O'Shea and TV presenter Caroline Flack and Diana Morgan-Hill and Olympic swimmer Mark Foster will compete in next week's final for the prize of representing the UK at the wheelchair dance European Championships in Tel Aviv. Judges James and Ola Jordan and Ade Adepitan voted Gayle and Maule off the programme, but Ola claimed that the pair should be proud of their achievements. "Emotionally we have all become attached with you two for whatever reason. We're all really, really sorry to see you go," said James. Adepitan thanked the pair for the "joy" (more)...
- 3/5/2010
- by By Alex Fletcher
- Digital Spy
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