The Weaker Sex * (1948, Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker, Joan Hopkins, Derek Bond, Lana Morris, Thora Hird) – Classic Movie Review 13,207

‘The Story of Martha Dacre, Her Daughters and the Men in Their Lives’. The 1948 British wartime drama film The Weaker Sex stars Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker and Joan Hopkins, with Derek Bond, Lana Morris and, best of all, Thora Hird.

‘The Story of Martha Dacre, Her Daughters and the Men in Their Lives’

Director Roy Ward Baker’s 1948 British wartime drama film The Weaker Sex stars Ursula Jeans, Cecil Parker and Joan Hopkins, with Derek Bond, Lana Morris and Thora Hird.

Ursula Jeans belies the film’s title as widowed middle-class British housewife Martha Dacre, valiantly coping with her two daughters and the two servicemen – Royal Navy commander Geoffrey Radcliffe (Cecil Parker) and sailor Roddy (John Stone) – billeted on her, in this tale of a war widow fighting the restrictions of wartime England in World War Two.

Esther McCracken’s reasonably well-written 1944 hit play No Medals was a long-running theatrical success in Britain, but it makes relatively little impact here on the screen, despite its good intentions, the stalwart work of stars Ursula Jeans and Cecil Parker (as Geoffrey Radcliffe), and an entertaining cast. Some of the performers are highly entertaining: Joan Hopkins, Lana Morris, Digby Wolfe, Derek Bond and John Stone. But it is Thora Hird, who steals the show as the housekeeper Mrs Gaye. Now she seems the film’s main attraction.

It was filmed at Denham Studios, with location shooting in Margate, Portchester Castle, and Denham in Buckinghamshire.

On a budget of £175,200, at the box office it took £105,800. So the film was not popular enough in the UK.

Fay Compton, Pauline Tennant and Valerie White in the original London stage production of No Medals.

No Medals ran at London’s Vaudeville Theatre for 740 performances from 4 October 1944 to 19 July 1946. Thora Hird appeared as comic relief as the housekeeper Mrs Gaye in her first London performance. She alone reprises her stage role from the original production.

The cast are:

• Ursula Jeans as Martha Dacre
• Cecil Parker as Geoffrey Radcliffe
• Joan Hopkins as Helen
• Derek Bond as Nigel
• Lana Morris as Lolly
• John Stone as Roddy
• Digby Wolfe as Benjie
• Thora Hird as Mrs. Gaye
• Bill Owen as Soldier
• Marian Spencer as Harriet Lessing
• Kynaston Reeves as Captain Dishart
• Eleanor Summerfield as Clippie
• Dorothy Bramhall as Mrs. Maling
• Gladys Henson as Woman in Fish Queue
• Merle Tottenham as Woman in Fish Queue
• Vi Kaley as Old Woman On Sea Front
• Marjorie Gresley as Shop Supervisor.
• © Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,207Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com