The Good Companions (1933) User Reviews

A wistful and wonderful window on a dead world

[Spondonman · 8/10 · 29 July 2007]

I always preferred this film to the book – although Priestley was an accessible and clever writer his sub-Dickens style and standard left wing leanings (ie support of state capitalism and not socialism) put me off a little. And of course on a much more important if shallower level to me the 25 year old Jessie Matthews was the main thing in here!

Four separate people in provincial Britain are on the tramp to somewhere after leaving their homes, jobs etc to search for life and adventure. They all converge at Rawsley in the Midlands on a jolly pierrot troupe on its last legs called the Dinky Doos, join them and eventually turn their fortunes around as The Good Companions … after it starts raining. There's an endless great British cast, most notably simple Jess Oakroyd from Bruddersford (surely Bradford/Huddersfield?) who was played by avuncular Edmund Gwenn with an OTT Yorkshire accent and talented Inigo Jollifant by angular John Geilgud with an OTT Cambridge accent. The rising star of the troupe Susie Dean was played by lovely Jessie Matthews who had two spellbinding songs, Three Wishes sung with Geilgud and a magically tear-struck Let Me Give My Happiness To You – the money shots are her close ups during this! There was a fine orchestral accompaniment throughout and with only occasionally hokey lapses the production was superb. The solitary message is plain: working together to overcome adversity for a common purpose - even though the ending is altered from the book the various outcomes are the same.

Altogether a memorable film for the non-serious looking for innocuous entertainment from another world, the serious should stick to the book as Priestley's works are Art. Absolutely!

A real curio with a delightful cast including some surprises.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 5 December 2013]

They call em' the Dinky Doo's, and not as in Jimmy Durante's Inka Dinka Doo. They're a British vaudeville team traveling through the boon-docks and befriend a group of lonely people, including shy Mary Glynne, suave John Gielgud and aging Cecil Kellaway. While the first part of the story focuses mainly on Ms. Glynne (whose car has been mistaken for another one), the second half turns attention to the singing and dancing Jessie Matthews, England's answer to Eleanor Powell and equally adept in comedy and romance. Fans of the older Gielgud will marvel at seeing him much younger (and with hair!) and he is more than adequate in a romantic role, not at all pompous or uppity. It is thanks to Ms. Glynne that the troop's name changes to "The Good Companions" and focuses on the desire to get Ms. Matthews discovered by a major producer in London.

While it is ironic that the song Ms. Matthews sings for the producer sounds very much like "If I Could Be With You", a standard heard in several Warner Brothers films of the same year, it is even more of a coincidence that the producer has an ear for "new" songs which he's heard before. There's a funny montage of "The Good Companions" touring and performing the same act to dwindling audiences because of the summer heat. While some Americans might be reluctant to watch because of a false sense that they'll understand the British humor, it is actually quite subtle and gives us Yanks an understanding of the British culture of the 1930's beyond what little material has been available to us.

Perfumed Hoke

[writers_reign · 6/10 · 28 January 2017]

It would be easy to take the first episode here in which Edmund Gwen walks out on a shrewish wife after years of nagging as a steal from Noel Coward's one-acter Fumed Oak but it would also be wrong. Coward wrote - and starred in - the nine (originally ten but one was dropped after one performance) that together comprised Tonight At 8.30 in 1936, close to a decade after Priestly wrote The Good Companions as a novel and some three years after the first film version was released. If we allow for the limitations that obtained in 1933 this is a charming and simplistic valentine to the Lost Empires that Priestly would write about decades later. Today the supporting players draw the eye, none more so than Mary Gwynne, now totally forgotten, whilst Jesse Matthews around whom the film is clearly built, appears mannered and OTT. It remains a charming curio.

magical film

[bensonj · 10/10 · 3 March 2001]

Jessie Matthews made a number of very charming British musicals during the thirties. (One of the better ones, FIRST A GIRL, an early version of VICTOR/VICTORIA, has just been released on video.) But THE GOOD COMPANIONS is not a musical, although it has musical sequences, nor is it really a Matthews vehicle, though she's prominently featured and outstanding.

It's a marvellous adaptation of J. B. Priestly's story of three individuals who are prodded by events into taking to the open road and who subsequently meet up with each other and a small troupe of entertainers called the Dinky Doos. The introductory sequence for each of the characters is delightful and meticulously detailed. Perhaps the best is Edmund Gwenn's; after a lifetime with the company he is sacked and decides to leave his shrewish wife. Gwenn has a wonderful great thick Midlands accent here; when checking a car that won't start, he finds the problem to be "mooky ploogs" (mucky spark plugs). This short sequence is so detailed, with characters so fully drawn (including a young Jack Hawkins) it could have made up a whole film. John Gielgud (in his first film) is a master at a threadbare school run by a tight-lipped puritanical battle-ax, who catches him mimicking her husband. Mary Glynne has spent her life nursing her invalid father; when he dies she decides to spend her small inheritance on the road before accepting a life of drudgery. Each of the three have amusing adventures on the road (some delightful plot construction here) before all winding up in the same tea room with the stranded Dinky Doos. They all decide, over a shared evening meal, to join together and form a new group called "The Good Companions." As they travel around England, Jessie Matthews (one of the Doos) gets larger and larger billing. (At first, one thinks she'll be a minor player in this early film, since she's not "featured" in the early group scenes, but it seems to have been a creative decision to have the most important character gradually insinuate herself into the film.) Finally, Gielgud gets music publisher-impresario Finlay Currie ("Me, in person, not a moving picture") to see the show, and, after further complications, Matthews and Gielgud are headed for the big time.

In so many of her films, Matthews plays an ingenue waiting to be discovered, and never for a moment does one feel that this is a writer's convention as is so often the case (think Joan Crawford's "dancing" being discovered in DANCING LADY). Jessie Matthews' ability and magnetism are so evident there's just no question that when the right person finally sees her perform her star quality will be instantly recognized. This was never more true than in THE GOOD COMPANIONS, where Matthews' vitality, youth, sex appeal and talent absolutely light up the film! Like every aspect of this film, the romance between Gielgud and Matthews is remarkable to behold.

She's so strong willed, so incandescent, Gielgud seems almost afraid to burn his fingers, yet dares to hold his own.

As with only the finest fairy tale fantasies, this is absolutely grounded in the real world, filled with sharp, rich characterizations and the details of its time and place. The episodic plot is sentimental yet honest, romantic yet realistic. The performances, from major to minor players, are uniformly excellent. But it's Priestly's story and Victor Saville's superb direction that make this a special experience. The film has a miraculous quality about it, a mysterious perfection that's like no other film I can think of. Of the thousands of films I've seen in the last fifty years this one of my very favorites. I've seen it twice theatrically and am eagerly looking forward to the video release so I can watch it again and again.

Jessie Matthews, John Gielgud, Edmund Gwenn, Mary Glynne

[drednm · 18 October 2013]

Story of disparate characters who "run away" from their unhappy lives and who by chance all meet up with a broke and stranded troupe of musical entertainers. They band together, the show goes on, and they all find what they were looking for.

At 112 minutes, it seems longer than most British "musicals" of the time but the story stretches out at a leisurely pace to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.

Chief among the delights here are Jessie Matthews, John Gielgud, Edmund Gwenn, and Mary Glynne. Matthews plays Susie Dean (star of tomorrow ... or the day after) and although she is not the solo star, this ranks among her best performances. Gielgud and Gwenn are terrific (and never looked younger) as the music teacher and laid-off worker, and Glynne shines as the wallflower who blossoms in the group of good companions.

Also in cast Finlay Currie, A.K. Baskcomb, and a very young Jack Hawkins as Albert. Directed by Victor Saville.

The climactic benefit show that features Matthews amid the turmoil is a terrific sequence, and its conclusion and follow-up scene are just plain wonderful.

The Good Companions

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 14 March 2024]

There's actually something really quite plausible about this film. It all centres around people who are restless. Unsettled. They need a change in their lives, so leave homes and families and set off on a pilgrimage. For what? Well they don't really know - it's going to be what ever fate throws at them. As we encounter the characters, there's a sense that this might be quite a lively adventure. Edmund Gwenn ("Jess") is from Yorkshire whom you might not expect to gel well with the prim and proper "Jollifant" (John Gielgud). You might expect neither to get on with the lively, but green, "Susie" (Jessie Matthews) but thrive they do. Based on JB Priestley's 1929 novel, this film has a certain feel good factor to it. That not long after the national recovery from the atrocities of the Great War this was probably a tonic that was much needed. It also demonstrates nicely the variety of talents at the the disposal of the likes of Gwenn and Gielgud whom, along with Matthews, can hold a tune well enough as their "Dinky Doos" prove that teamwork and pulling together are usually the most effective way to success - or, at least, to survival! There's plenty of situation humour here and the characters have a little bit of everyone in them - some of that good, some not so. At times it's a bit random, but that does it no harm - it keeps it from becoming a predictable drama, and that's what makes it that bit more entertaining.

Innocence,joie de vivre and excitement - a joyful experience.

[ianlouisiana · 10/10 · 3 September 2006]

JB Priestley was arguably the finest popular novelist of the first half of the 20th century.Deeply affected by his experiences in the trenches during the 1914 - 18 war,he wrote with compassion about recognisable human beings in situations that struck a chord with the British reading public right up to his last great work "Lost Empires". After the war he went up to Trinity Hall,Cambridge,in whose library there is First Edition of "The Good Companions" accompanied by a letter in which he expresses bewilderment at the success of a work he felt was no better nor worse than his earlier output. Whatever the author felt,it was plain that commercially the book was hugely popular,going into dozens of editions and still in print 75 years later. With the passing of time the appeal of the lost world of concert parties ,runabouts ,charabancs cloche hats,Corner Houses and nicely mannered young men who could play the banjo but didn't has increased. The romance of the road has long gone,replaced by Motorway Madness,but the flickering black and white images of artillery - wheeled lorries grinding along the Great North Road evoke some sort of race - memory even amongst today's motorists. Watching the 1933 version of "The Good Companions" is a joyful experience.The innocence of it all,the joie de vivre,the excitement is a salutary lesson to the present cold - hearted calculating and faux wordly - wise generation of entertainers. What a great star Jessie Matthews was!It's pointless bemoaning the lack of her like today;simply put she was a product of her time the way Martine McCutcheon, say,is of hers. Edmund Gwenn and,perhaps surprisingly,John Geilgud,grab your attention from the start and hold onto it throughout the film. But principally this is an ensemble piece with every one of the Dinky Doos making a telling contribution. "The Good Companions" sends us a message from the depression - hit Britain of the early 1930s ,one that at least one mega - Corporation have taken on board....."!Just Do it".

All roads lead to the Dinky Doos!!!

[kidboots · 10/10 · 7 November 2009]

This is just the most splendid movie. It is about a group of strangers coming together to help out a stranded troupe of players, calling themselves "The Dinky Doos". All of the cast were wonderful but Jessie Matthews was a revelation as Susie Dean and seemed to grow in confidence as the movie progressed. Amazingly, she had not been keen to star in the film. She had appeared in a couple of films with unsympathetic directors and had lost confidence about the way she photographed and her ability in front of a camera. But Victor Saville was a different type of director - more sensitive and helpful and he personally conducted Jessie Matthews screen test for the role. In addition, she was also surrounded by old friends - Edmund Gwen, who had known her from her "Andre Charlot's Revue' days and Richard Dolman, who had starred with Jessie at the Pavilion. She, in turn, was able to help John Gielgud - it was only his second talkie.

Three strangers find themselves in Rawnsley - following their dreams. Jess Oakroyd (Edmund Gwen) has fled a nagging, shrewish wife (Jack Hawkins has a small part as a lazy lodger). Miss Trant (Mary Glynne) has looked after her parents all her life - even forfeiting her one chance of romance. Now she is on her own and wants a bit of freedom. Indigo Jolivant (John Gielgud) is a young teacher who takes the first chance to break free of the constricting school life. After some adventures, the three of them find themselves in a cafe with the Dinky Doos - a traveling troupe who are stranded after their manager takes off with all their money.

Immediately Miss Trant takes charge and with her inheritance money, stakes them for 10 weeks to make good ....or bust!! She becomes their manager, Indigo writes their songs and Jess becomes the handy man. In the first of their many tiffs, Susie takes offence when Indigo turns up his nose at her songs and says he could write better ones. When she stomps off he gives her song "Lucky for Me" to Jerry (Richard Dolman) who thinks it's the best song he has ever heard.

Things are not going great for the Good Companions (as they have re-christened themselves). Miss Trant has booked halls around the seaside areas - thinking of the rainy English weather, but that year there is a heatwave and instead of packed halls they are playing to empty ones because everyone is down at the beach. Just as they are down to their last shilling and are ready to give up, the rain is heard pattering on the roof. That turns into applause as Susie goes into her dazzling dance to "Three Wishes". It is a wonderful bit of cinema.

After that the world is their oyster and Susie dreams of conquering the West End. Indigo works behind the scenes to give her her chance, by trying to sell his songs to a West End producer - Susie, of course, doesn't realise it until the end. She is also doing a bit of string pulling, trying to get Miss Trant and her long lost sweetheart together, even if she has to fake a heart attack to do it!!! I cannot watch the end without crying my eyes out, as the Dinky Doos benefit performance is marred by hecklers and a fire. Susie is inconsolable, thinking she has lost her chance of success (the producer, Finlay Currie) is in the audience. But he is not put off and to the chant of "We Want Susie", she comes back on stage, to sing with a tear stained faced "Let Me Give My Happiness to You". As the song plays on, the film comes to a close - Susie becomes a West End star, dancing in a beautiful glittery vagabond inspired costume, Indigo leading the orchestra, Miss Trant and her sweetheart renew their love and Jess sets sail for Canada to visit his beloved daughter.

I think everyone in the world should see this film. Set in a time when strangers helped strangers, everyone pitched in to do their best and the Dinky Doos motto was "Just Do It"!!!

Highly, Highly Recommended.

All's well that ends well.

[1930s_Time_Machine · 5/10 · 16 January 2023]

This is a modern or modernish true to life fairy story where everyone lives happily ever after. No magic is needed, there's no fairy godmothers or witches with special potions, all that's needed is optimism, the optimism of ordinary people.

This tale of unbridled optimism was just what the doctor ordered when JB Priestley wrote it in 1929 and when it was subsequently filmed during the depths of the Great Depression. People knew that things were probably going to get worse before they got better and that nobody was coming along with a bag of magic beans for them. This film was the equivalent to a self-help book with the slightly radical message: follow your dreams and hope for the best! A far cry from the more established: 'know your place, keep your head down, listen to your betters and do what you've always been doing' kind of advice; so much so that in later years JBP got on MI5's 'persons of interest' list.

The other strong message in this film is to have faith in each other. The vast, vast majority of people in the world are nice and that's reflected in this where indeed everyone in it is nice. Put your cynicism to one side and accept that there are no nasty, vindictive or selfish people - even the lorry thieves are fairly pleasant! The other big message is that everyone, irrespective of which class they're from, are all equal and can all get on together as good companions. It's a lovely idea and although a little naïve, as you see the troop bonding together, you do begin to feel their sense of joy and optimism, you will find yourself smiling.

But we're not living through the economic Depression now (!?) and all social classes are treated and respected equally now (!?) so why bother watching this?

OK, it's not one of the greats and it's not what you could call thrilling, exciting or even emotionally gripping but it is quite fun. It's a charming, entertaining and heart-warming story with characters you will care about.

It's also fascinating to see how the country looked ninety years ago. There's so much to see on the streets - even the old adverts - who knew for example that OXO used to make chocolate!!!

It's also fascinating to see or rather to hear how we spoke ninety years ago - Jessie Matthews is not meant to be particularly posh but she does seem to have the same accent as the late Queen! Despite having what sounds to us now a comically bizarre and affected accent (which at the time must have been considered normal) it's not just because she is so incredibly pretty, she has a genuine likeability which instantly captivates you. Like Joan Blondell on the other side of the water, she has that rarest of natural gifts, one which she doesn't seem to have to work at: star quality. Although she is only one of this film's several lead-parts, she is one of the chief reasons to watch it, simply because she is just so adorable.

This film was made by Victor Saville so you can be assured that it's a well-made motion picture with realistic acting and his trademark attention to detail. It's not fast moving but that gentle pace is deliberate to allow you to get to know this charming bunch of run-aways and dreamers. It's hard to categorize this one: it's not a straight drama - maybe a whimsical drama? It's not a musical but there are a few songs in it (none of which you will want to remember though). It's not a comedy but there's some great banter and some quite subtle examples of English humour hidden in the script. "I've always dreamed of going down south, somewhere like...Bedfordshire!" that made me laugh. There are just a couple of things which could have been improved: one is that the inexplicably famous (not funny, just irritating) comedian Max Miller makes a small cameo - fortunately only for a couple of minutes. The other negative, which might sound sacrilegious is that Jessie Matthews does sing a little (her acting is brilliant, her dancing is beyond sensual but her singing, the thing which actually made her famous, is what some people might call in 'a style that's no longer in fashion' or what I'd call painful to listen to). If you watch this however the sheer delightful magic of this film and the fizzy and fuzzy warmth of Jessie Matthews will make you so enamoured with her that you honestly wouldn't mind if she asked if she could scream a high pitched note at 130dB direct into your ear.

Early stars in the making and look at British "vaudeville"

[SimonJack · 8/10 · 24 February 2023]

Gaumont's up and coming star, Jessie Matthews, got top billing in this very good comedy musical. "The Good Companions" has something of historical value as well, in its portrayal of what might be called the vaudeville of England. That was the era when variety shows were a very popular form of entertainment in Britain - similar to the American vaudeville of the 1890s to 1940. The plot is just about that - a group of performers who tour the music halls and outdoor theaters of England putting on their shows to entertain audiences,.

Most vaudeville shows were individual scenes or skits, unrelated, that provided a variety of amusement. They would include songs, dances, comedy, acrobatics, trained animals, magicians, and acts of unusual skills - all done by individuals and couples or teams that traveled the circuit. It was the way that many talented (and undoubtedly some not-so-talented) performers had of doing what they liked and trying to make a living out of it. Only here, unlike vaudeville, several entertainers form a group to put on a whole show. They were not of the caliber of the West End theater actors and musicians. But, no doubt some of them aspired to the big stage, as did some of that time aspire for Broadway in the United States.

Well, the story here has some of that, as well as a different twist in bringing others who were not performers into the picture. So, a recently endowed spinster who had cared for her elderly father for several years, becomes a producer. And, a disenchanted factory worker who was dismissed and is disdained in his own home, hits the road and becomes a stage assistant and jack-of-all-trades. And, an itinerant poet and bard and a discharged college student meet up and soon find themselves in a theater troupe. The main body is a traveling entertainment group who had gone by the name, the Dinky Doos. But, when they find themselves in trouble and it looks like they will come to an end, all of the above have come together in a café, and a new group is formed - The Good Companions

This is the third musical that Jessie Matthews was in. She plays Susie Dean and is quite good, though not yet her best. Gaumont surrounded her with more fine talent - some new, and some old. The result is a fun and entertaining film. And a very good look at what that life and time probably was like. A couple of notes that modern audiences may find of interest regard two cast members who went on to star in some memorable films that many will have seen. The first is Edmund Gwenn, the Oscar-winning Santa Claus of "Miracle on 34th Street" of 1947, and star and co-star of more memorable films. He plays Jess Oakroyd, the stage handyman. The second is John Gielgud, the Oscar, Golden Globes and BAFTA winning actor of many films through the rest of the 20th century. I didn't even recognize the young Gielgud in his performance as the discharged student and piano-playing Inigo Jollifant. This was just his second sound film .

All of the cast are very good in this interesting and amusing film There are scenes before the end that are quite exciting and interesting. The Good Companions have gotten past the heat of summer doldrums and are becoming very popular. But not quite with everyone. The owner of a bawdry music house has lost most of his business because of the high quality family entertainment in the rival community theater. So, he pays a bunch of hooligans to disrupt The Companions on the night of a benefit for their star, Susie Dean. What a picture of mayhem with some very good scenes and conclusion. Long-time film buffs and students of British film may recognize some other old-time actors of the early sound pictures - Percy Parsons, George Zucco, Lawrence Hanray and others.

Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Susie Dean, "Little old Susie. The star of tomorrow, or the day after."

Miss Elizabeth Trant, "You know, I'm going to run this circuit party." Inigo Jollifant, "Don't tell me?" Miss Trant, "That woman (the proprietor of the café) decided me. Do you think I'm crazy?" Jollifant, "Mad as a hatter, heh, heh. But who cares?"

Jimmy Nunn, "Boys and girls, Miss Trant has agreed to back us for 10 weeks." (Cheering and applause.) "If we can't make it by then, we don't deserve it."

Susie Dean, "One day, when I'm rich, I'm going to buy you a ticket to Canada." Jess Oakroyd, "When you're rich?" Susie, "Mmhmm." Oakroyd, "Aye, I'll wait."