The Demi-Paradise – 1943 | 114 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Ivan Kouznetsoff, an enthusiastic young Soviet marine engineer, invents a new type of propeller and is sent to have it manufactured in England, traditionally the home of the finest craftsmen. He arrives in England in early 1939 and is invited by Ann, granddaughter of an eccentric and intelligent ship owner, Mr Runalow, to her country home for the weekend. Ivan is at first bewildered and at times repelled by the smugness, strange sense of humour, obsession with tradition and other complexities of the English people with whom he comes into contact. He returns to Russia without seeing his propeller as a workable proposition.

In 1941 he returns and again stays at the Runalows’ house. This time he sees a different England, a country at war. The class tensions, the laziness and indifference are gone. Ivan is delighted and his English friends, too find a new interest in someone they had decided was a dour and humourless communist. Eventually his propeller is manufactured and tried out successfully. Ivan returns to the Soviet Union, promising to come back to England (and to Ann) when the war is over.

Excerpt© ‘Puffin Asquith’ by R.J. Minney.