The Good Companions (1957 film)

The Good Companions
Film poster
Directed byJ. Lee Thompson
Written byJ. L. Hodson
T. J. Morrison
J. B. Priestley
Produced byHamilton G. Inglis
J. Lee Thompson
StarringEric Portman
CinematographyGilbert Taylor
Edited byGordon Pilkington
Music byLaurie Johnson
Release date
  • 9 January 1957 (1957-01-09)
[1]
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Good Companions is a 1957 British musical film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Eric Portman and Celia Johnson.[2][3] It was written by J.L. Hodson, T.J. Morrison and J.B. Priestly based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Priestley and is a remake of the 1933 film version.

Plot

The story of the “Dinky Doos”, a down-at-heel touring concert party, where the arrival of new members helps to improve the company’s luck.

Cast

Production

It was one of the pet projects of Robert Clark, head of ABPC. J Lee Thompson was Clark's favourite director.[4]

Reception

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "J. B. Priestiey's slightly dated original has been superficially modernised with a few "pop" songs (including a painful title number), intermittent attempts at an American musical style, and several references to television. The result is as incongruous as might be expected. Characterisation is consistently two dimensional, and the dialogue is dogged but flat. The director appears to have shot the majority of sequences from a limited number of angles and intercut the result. Though this technique succeeds in preventing visual monotony, it adds little except confusion to the narrative itself. The musical numbers, including the self-consciously lavish finale, are largely pseudo-Hollywood imitations."[5]

Box office

In a House of Lords debate it was revealed the film had lost £118,382.[6]

References

  1. ^ "The Good Companions". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ^ "The Good Companions". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  3. ^ Hall, Mordaunt (2011). "New York Times: The Good Companions". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2008.
  4. ^ Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. p. 84.
  5. ^ "The Good Companions". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 24 (276): 43. 1 January 1957 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Hill, William John (1985). CLASS, SEXUALITY AND THE*BRITISH CINEMA 1956-63 (PDF) (Thesis). University of York. p. 250.


Stub icon

This article related to a British film of the 1950s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Stub icon

This article about a romantic musical film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.