The Halfway House (1944)   Starring: Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Sally Anne Howes, Richard Bird, Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay Optimum Classics RRP: £15.99 OPTD2094 Certificate: PG Available 20 June 2011

When a collection of strangers all find themselves arriving at the Halfway House hotel, they discover that they have one thing in common, they are all having a troubled year, full of personal problems. There's the mother who cannot come to terms with her son going off to war, a couple on the verge of divorcing and the war profiteer. The group are greeted by the strangely enigmatic inn keeper (Mervyn Johns) and his daughter (Glynis Johns), the surroundings appear convivial, but the guests are drawn to the fact that all the newspapers are a year old and the inn keeper’s daughter casts no shadow...

The Halfway House (1944 - B&W) has been beautifully restored. It is a lesser known and rarely show film from the Ealing Studio’s, which were at their creative height. Directed by Basil Dearden (The League of Gentlemen (1960), Khartoum (1966) and based on a play by Denis Ogden, the story is a quintessential British ghost story.

Initially, it seems that we, the audience, are in familiar territory and the presumption, erroneously, forms that the main characters are all dead and this represents some form of purgatory where their souls and past deeds will be judged. This is not quite the case and the oddness of Rhys and Gwyneth only adds to the disquiet of both the audience and characters. Soon the penny drops that something more intriguing is going on in the film as Rhys and his daughter appear to be helping the characters come to some perspective on the choices they have made over the previous year. I’ll not spoil the twist in the end of this rather excellent ghost story.

Although the film is presented in the original black and white, the restoration of the picture is quite breath-taking. On the level of presentation the disc can hold its head proudly against its more modern cousins.

Apart from the presentation, and the well scripted story, I liked that this represents a slice of history, of England at a time when the BBC accent still held sway and the English still believed that somehow their values, which they held above others, would naturally prevail. Even though the characters are of their time, accents and opinions included, the script takes time to create believable and well-rounded characters which the audience will empathise with.

What appears to start as a slightly off the wall light comedy soon turns into something deeper, with hints of tragedy. The fantasy/ghost elements of the film are handled with a subtle hand to create a well-crafted movie. The direction only rarely betrays its theatrical roots.

It’s a shame that the disc has no extras; even so it will be of interest to lovers of either Ealing films or those that like a good ghost story.

7

Charles Packer