Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Nora's Nite

Writer-Director Robert Hamer (1911 - 1963)

Whenever anyone who knew Robert Hamer writes about him, they paint a portrait of a doomed figure whose early promise was cut short. He shares this quality with many of the characters in his work. Yet, with less than a dozen films to his credit, he still managed to achieve more than most of his contemporaries.

He was born in Kidderminster. His schooldays were successful and he gained a scholarship to Cambridge. He seemed set for great things but he was suspended for homosexual activities and his academic career never recovered. After graduation he started in the film industry as a clapper-boy at Gaumont.

He worked his way up through the ranks and by 1940 he was an editor at Ealing and also making script contributions. He was also married to aspiring actress Joan Holt. His big break as a director came with the Haunted Mirror section of Dead of Night. His next two films also starred Googie Withers but it was his fourth for which he will best be remembered: Kind Hearts and Coronets.

Despite his success, his gloomy world view was at odds with that of boss Michael Balcon and he found it difficult to come up with acceptable projects at Ealing. Outside Ealing things were worse as the 50s industry stopped taking risks and turned bland. Hamer's drinking, always a problem, got worse and his marriage disintegrated. His alcoholism finished him off in 1963 shortly after he got the push from writing additional dialogue for 55 Days at Peking.

With his first five films, Hamer created a stylish reflection of post-war disillusionment. The films he made after, though lesser works, usually have moments which make them worth watching.

Britmovie.com on Hamer:

Hamer was the son of British character actor Gerald Hamer and educated at Cambridge University. He worked as an editor at London Films during the 1930's on films including Hitchcock’s Jamaica Inn (1939). He joined Ealing Studios in 1940, first as an editor, then producer, writer, and from 1945, director. Hamer made an uncredited co-directorial debut on San Demetrio, London (1943) and Fiddlers Three (1944), before shooting the "Haunted Mirror" sequence in the portmanteau chiller Dead of Night (1945). His first feature-length assignment was the Googie Withers femme-fatale drama Pink String and Sealing Wax (1946).

For several years, Hamer's career soared, thanks largely to his quartet of films with Alec Guinness; superior black-comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Father Brown (1954), the weak comedy To Paris with Love (1955) and impenetrable Daphne Du Maurier adaptation The Scapegoat (1959). After Ealing, and affected by alcoholism, Hamer directed two films of note, the John Mills film-noir The Long Memory (1952) and comedy classic School for Scoundrels (1960).

Britishpictures.com: Joan Greenwood (1921 - 1987)

It was the voice that set her apart. Husky, plummy, sexy. It cut through her essential gentility and made her seem like a woman of the world even when she was playing it innocent. In one of the most memorable cinema quotes, Karel Reisz described her speaking her lines "as if she dimly suspected some hidden menace in them which she can't quite identify".

She was born in London and went to RADA and then did some theatre. In her first films she usually played children and it wasn't until Latin Quarter that she got her first star role. Shortly after, she signed a Rank contract. Her parts improved but it was Whisky Galore and Kind Hearts and Coronets for Ealing that really put her on the map. Her sexy ingénue in The Man in the White Suit was equally memorable.

Her Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest is the definitive portrayal. Unlike other actresses of the period who made films but preferred theatre, she never gave the impression that she was slumming. She made a couple of films in Hollywood and then retreated to the stage. Marriage in 1959 (to Andre Morell) and children meant that she worked less though she did manage to appear in The Mysterious Island battling against giant crabs and wasps. She also got another good role in Tom Jones.

Her career petered out in small roles in bad films. She turned up on TV in the sea-going soap Triangle as the passenger who never got off the ferry. Triangle was a low point in many people's careers but she was watchable. She was the mad landlady in the sitcom Girls on Top and looked set for a long career playing old bats, but she died after a fall at home. Before she died she left one great performance as Mrs Clennam in the two-part version of Little Dorrit.

With glowing skin and cheek-bones to die for, she photographed beautifully. Unlike many beautiful actresses, she could deliver wonderful performances. She was mannered, but that never seemed to matter since she chose roles for which her style was appropriate. On the rare occasions she chose a realistic role (The October Man) she showed that she could cope well with its demands.

For more see our July 2004 post on The Man in the White Suit also starring Guiness and Greenwood.