The Good Companions – 1957 | 104 mins | Musical | Colour

Plot Synopsis

The 1957 British film musical version of The Good Companions (Directed by J. Lee Thompson for Associated British) creates a world far removed from the present in which a different, cosier set of values reigns, which is seductively attractive to those of a certain age. In the opening scene of the film the world of the theatre concert party is compared by a heartless theatre manager with the emerging culture of ‘rock n’ roll, striptease and television’. In this old world is philanthropic spinster Miss Trant (Celia Johnson), living comfortably in her middle age. The film follows her encounter with the struggling concert party, the ‘Dinky Doos’, and the world of the touring theatre as depicted by J.B. Priestley.

Although greatly condensed, the film remains faithful to the essential spirit of Priestley’s novel in its celebration of showbusiness and the theatrical life, and in particular, the metaphor of the touring theatre as an escape for the middle aged male from a society that is domesticated, drab and puritanical, epitomised in those apron wearing, dour wives (played by Thora Hird and Beatrice Varley) who appear at the stage door and attempt to drag their ‘erring’ husbands away from the chorus girls, and back to a ‘reality’. Then there is the sense of community amongst the performers, and of communal travel by steam hauled trains through the length of Great Britain from Wales to Yorkshire, to Bournemouth and on to London. This romantic vision is captured in a beautifully realised montage sequence which commences with a distant shot of a train crossing a viaduct, goes to the train (which looks like a toy train, but isn’t) chugging through a verdant green mountain valley, which fades into a travelling shot of the view from a carriage window of a harsh industrial landscape, a steel works, which then cuts directly to the nets of a theatre stage and the performance of a ballad ‘If Only’ by Susie Dean (Janette Scott). The sequence is linked by the title song on the soundtrack, and the whole effect is strangely moving, perhaps something to do with the power of the entertainer to transform our perception of the world around us, and brighten our lives.

Practically all the minor roles in The Good Companions are played by performers who subsequently became much more famous, so the film is full of incidental pleasures. Scenes are charmingly played by the two romantic leads, Janette Scott (Susie Dean) and John Fraser (Inigo Jolliphant), an archetypal 1950′s ‘nice couple’, although Susie’s calculating sense of ambition at moments threatens this spirit of niceness and prevents Susie from being too cloying. I would also single out for praise Eric Portman, who is perfect in the role of Jess Oakroyd, and brings richness and depth to the role. There is a wonderful moment at the end, when after Susie Dean’s triumph, he nods leans forward and glances towards Miss Trant, who is sitting in the same row of the theatre stalls, and almost telepathically communicates with her to share Susie’s moment of triumph with a thumbs up sign followed by the removal of a handkerchief from his top pocket in order to dry his eyes. There are several moments like this (those looks that Jess Oakroyd (in the wings operating some piece of equipment gives to Susie as she is performing, speak volumes). The film is strong in rich character acting in a very English tradition (even a theatre manager has an individuality about him, even though he appears only briefly with one line of dialogue).

As the setting of the story is updated from 1929 (when touring shows were highly popular) to the 1950′s, when they were in decline, the musical style is also updated, and the songs are all catchy in the style of ballads/revue/variety c1956/7. This perhaps explains why the film was not a big commercial hit in 1957, in spite of an Easter release date- it had the misfortune to open just as rock and roll was taking off as the music for the young.

The 1957 Elstree version of The Good Companions had been out of circulation for many years – it was last shown on British television in the monochrome days of 1964. A restored print was first broadcast on Channel Four (UK) in 1997, in the new print the CinemaScope image is simply wonderful with all colours looking bright and sharp. The seven attractive songs by Rossi, Parsons and Roberts, are all set on stage or in rehearsal and are not integrated to the plot, except in a most tenuous way. It is also to the credit of the direction and the writing, that with such a large cast the characters are so clearly defined and the narrative remains focused. It is these qualities, together with the film’s excellent production values and the charm of the performances make the film such good entertainment.

Review© Roger Mellor.