Ealing Studio's The Halfway House is a heartwarming supernatural wartime parable intended to raise morale in its blitzed British audience with the message that, despite such troubled times, the United Kingdom shall prevail, whilst at the same time lifting the spirits of the bereaved by suggesting that death isn't the end. There's also time to bash those who remain neutral during wartime or who try to profit from the conflict.
These messages are hammered home rather heavily, but do not stop the movie from being an enjoyable time; if anything, the film's status as wartime propaganda only makes it more interesting. Of course, a cracking cast doesn't hurt, and this one's got great performances to spare: Mervyn Johns plays Rhys, the ghostly landlord of the titular inn, and his real-life daughter Glynis plays his on-screen daughter Gwyneth (whose husky Welsh lilt is particularly appealing). Support is given by a range of reliable character actors, including Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay as a couple who are struggling with the loss of their son, Esmond Knight as terminally ill conductor David Davies, Guy Middleton and Alfred Drayton as a couple of racketeers, and Valerie White and Richard Bird as an estranged couple whose daughter (played by a young and very plummy Sally Ann Howes ) tries to get her parents back together.
Before the halfway mark of The Halfway House, I had guessed that the visitors to the inn were dead (victims of an air raid), but I was wrong, and glad to be so. Instead of taking this trite route, the film treads another path, with a Twilight Zone-style time twister plot and an ending that sees each person finding redemption and leaving with hope in their hearts. It's the kind of feel-good finalé that makes the film ideal for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for lovely Glynis.
These messages are hammered home rather heavily, but do not stop the movie from being an enjoyable time; if anything, the film's status as wartime propaganda only makes it more interesting. Of course, a cracking cast doesn't hurt, and this one's got great performances to spare: Mervyn Johns plays Rhys, the ghostly landlord of the titular inn, and his real-life daughter Glynis plays his on-screen daughter Gwyneth (whose husky Welsh lilt is particularly appealing). Support is given by a range of reliable character actors, including Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay as a couple who are struggling with the loss of their son, Esmond Knight as terminally ill conductor David Davies, Guy Middleton and Alfred Drayton as a couple of racketeers, and Valerie White and Richard Bird as an estranged couple whose daughter (played by a young and very plummy Sally Ann Howes ) tries to get her parents back together.
Before the halfway mark of The Halfway House, I had guessed that the visitors to the inn were dead (victims of an air raid), but I was wrong, and glad to be so. Instead of taking this trite route, the film treads another path, with a Twilight Zone-style time twister plot and an ending that sees each person finding redemption and leaving with hope in their hearts. It's the kind of feel-good finalé that makes the film ideal for a rainy Sunday afternoon.
6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for lovely Glynis.