South Riding – 1938 | 85 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Melodrama set in a hot-bed of passion and political corruption in Yorkshire’s fictitious South Riding. Director Victor Saville carries off Winifred Holtby’s witty exposé of corruption in Yorkshire local politics with breathtaking style. The ease with which rivalries are resolved, and the philanthropic concept of converting stately homes into schools and building council houses in the grounds is unfortunately implausible and sentimentality creeps into the story as it closes. Richardson, Best and Johns are all excellent in their respective roles, but sadly little depth is given to John Clements character.

The impoverished local squire of Maythorpe Hall, Robert Carne (Ralph Richardson), is going broke keeping his wife, Madge (Ann Todd), in an expensive mental hospital. His spoiled daughter, Midge (Glynis Johns), is neurotic and deeply unhappy at home. Carne is unable to afford the fees to send his daughter to a private boarding school so swallows his pride and sends her the local Kiplington high school. The school headmistress, Sarah Burton (Edna Best), whose appointment Carne had been hostile to, initially finds herself ideologically opposed to him but gradually they fall in love.

Meanwhile, idealistic socialist town councillor, Joe Astell (John Clements), wants to clear away the shacks in the town and build decent housing for the lower classes. He is supported in his desire by a few fellow council members, many of whom have a vested interest in real estate or building contracts. The idea is to get the town council to buy a worthless plot of land named ‘the Wastes’, and conniving haulage contractor Huggins (Edmund Gwenn) and land owner Snaith (Milton Rosmer)scheme to make a killing from the development. Carne uncovers the real-estate scam,and offers his own resolution to realise Astell’s housing scheme.