Hobson's Choice (1954)

Touches You

Expected more

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Patriarch and widower Hobson is used to as much hard drinking as he likes and otherwise having his own way, both at home and at the family bootmakers, until his three daughters decide to wed. Led by the eldest, they make lives for themselves, even if it means making a few sacrifices along the way.This is a Victorian play, adapted for the screen in a masterfully directed production with David Lean at the helm, Jack Hildyard behind the camera, and Charles Laughton, John Mills, and Brenda de Banzie putting in first class performances in the lead roles. A very young Prunella Scales, John Laurie, and Richard Wattis (amongst others) fill out the excellent cast.The title deserves explanation; perhaps not everyone will be familiar with the phrase "Hobson's Choice", but it comes from a 16th/17th century Cambridge livery stable owner (the Hertz rental of its day I suppose). This Hobson became (in)famous for giving his customers two choices of horse; the one he selected for them i.e. next in line, or no horse. There are streets and a watercourse named for Hobson in Cambridge to this day; same Hobson.In this story, this Hobson eventually ends up on the receiving end of the same treatment as he dished out for years.I'm not from Lancashire, but I've known, (worked with, and narrowly avoided marrying) folk from those parts and I'd say the accents are not unrealistic. If English-speakers from other parts have a hard time understanding what they are on about, take solace; the accents may be realistic, but they are somewhat toned down by comparison with how they could have been; also, no one says " 'eck as like", "well I'll go to the foot of our stairs", calls one another "barmcakes" or any one of a hundred other possible Lancashire-isms.Grimy Salford (see L.S. Lowry) in the 1950s needed relatively little effort to pass as 'Victorian', yet those murky streets are at times somehow made to look magical in this film. The direction and photography are of exceptional quality, and the Malcom Arnold score underpins the performances nicely. The whole film is excellently crafted, and truly, it is hard to find anyone putting a foot wrong anywhere.You will either find Laughton's drunken antics very funny, or you won't, but the older I get, the funnier I think they are. Modern audiences may find the film's pacing a little slow, a little uneven, but that is perhaps the nature of the story as much as anything else.For me the only thing that spoilt my enjoyment of a recent TV broadcast here in the UK was the sound quality; just a few times an artefact of the analogue to digital to analogue conversion process must go awry, leaving some sustained musical notes with a very distinct 'warble' to them.First class, by Gum!

HOBSON'S CHOICE is a romantic comedy, which is characterized by fairly healthy humor. In the suburbs of Manchester lives a prominent shoe shop owner with his three daughters. A fairytale beginning of the story. Knowing the work of Mr. Lean, I expected something similar. However, the main protagonist is a tyrant, an alcoholic and a big stingy. His eldest daughter takes care of business and family. She is an extremely capable and smart woman. One day, after a domestic dispute, she decides to marry to a gifted boot maker in her father's shop ....The scenery is, as in any other film by Mr. Lean, very impressive. The opening scene is amazing. The director is in this case set up an interesting trap. In fact, already in the first scenes we can make hasty conclusions about the character of some of the protagonists. However, the characterization is being developed throughout the film, mostly in a comedy atmosphere and it includes many of the human virtues and flaws. Particularly fascinating is the relationship between a father, his eldest daughter and a unwanted son in law who takes the main role in the family at the end of the film.Charles Laughton as Henry Horatio Hobson is phenomenal in this role. He is the epitome of the grand egoism, and grumpiness. The protagonist who is evil, humorous and pathetic at the same time. Mr. Laugton is truly a master of the trade. Brenda De Banzie as Maggie Hobson is a fully realized character of a woman and shows a thorough, shrewd awareness of the secrets that every woman knows. However, she is a gentle and devoted wife. John Mills as Will Mossop is a collateral damage, if we ignore the end of the film. Son in law is to often a collateral damage. However, there is some symbolism. A smart and intelligent woman made a real husband and a businessman out of an ordinary, but talented guy.This movie is a little gem of the genre.

Directed by one of the all-time great directors David Lean, "Hobson's Choice" is the kind of movie that doesn't get made any more or probably ever will again, more's the pity. Charles Laughton plays Henry Hobson who owns a boot-shop in 19th century Salford, Manchester. He is a typical hard-drinking domineering Victorian father with three daughters, Maggie, Alice & Vicky. They are played by Brenda De Banzie, Daphne Anderson & a very young Prunella (Sybil Fawlty) Scales respectively. His eldest daughter Maggie has designs on marrying the firms star boot/shoe maker William Mossop (John Mills) but her father is dead set against it. He claims that at thirty years she is too old, "a bit on the ripe side", to get married, but the real reason is purely selfish. She runs his business very well and her father expects his meals ready & waiting on the table for him when he rolls home from the pub. Marriage would change all that & naturally her father wants to keep things exactly as they are. His two younger daughters are also looking to get hitched & their father isn't exactly encouraging both of them either. There is the question of shelling out his money on marriage "settlements" which would cut into savings severely. What follows is a battle of wills between father & daughter. Maggie gets her way in the end & claws herself out of her tyrannical father's shadow. She also sets about changing her new husband who is very much a shy retiring type of man & brings him out of his shell. They very successfully set up their own rival business & with the new-found self-confidence instilled in him by his wife, Will Mossop wants to take over his former employer's business with Hobson a sleeping partner. Hobson's hard drinking has by now taken its toll on his health & at the film's end he reluctantly agrees. Charles Laughton was one of the greatest actors this country ever produced & in this movie he is just fantastic. Brenda De Banzie & John Mills are also great but then so is the acting all around even in minor roles. This is a movie that works on every level, for my money. Shot in black & white the cinematography is great, the story is great & so too the comic situations. Highly Recommended.

The story opens in Victorian times, where Henry Hobson (Charles Laughton) is a wealthy boot shop owner, despite being a selfish blowhard and a drunkard who spends his days and nights at the pub. When he tells his smart, spinster daughter (Brenda de Banzie) that she's too old to marry, she takes matters into her own hands and marries an unlikely candidate (John Mills).This is an absolutely delightful movie with endearing characters, a funny plot, and witty dialogue and it was directed by David Lean. Laughton is very good as the blustering father, but Brenda de Banzie steals the show. She plays a strong-willed, ahead-of-her-time woman who knows what she wants and goes after it, despite the social pressures of the day. John Mills gives a sweet performance as the oafish boot hand who grows into a confident and loving businessman.The recreation of a Victorian town is complete and the costumes are lovely. This is an old-fashioned and thoroughly enjoyable movie that will leave you wondering why they don't make 'em like this anymore. Highly recommended.