Information about Hobson's Choice (1954 Film)
| Hobson's Choice | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Lean |
| Produced by | David Lean |
| Written by | Harold Brighouse Wynyard Browne David Lean Norman Spencer |
| Starring | Charles Laughton Brenda De Banzie John Mills |
| Music by | Malcolm Arnold |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films London Films United Artists Warner Home Video (UK VHS) |
| Release date(s) | 19 April, 1954 14 June, 1954 (NYC only) |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country | ){kind=small} United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Hobson's Choice is a 1954 film directed by David Lean, based on the play of the same name by Harold Brighouse. It stars Charles Laughton in the title role of Victorian bootmaker Henry Hobson, Brenda De Banzie as his eldest daughter Maggie and John Mills as a timid employee. The film also features a young Prunella Scales, in one of her first roles, as daughter Vicky Hobson.
The film's title is an allusion to the aphorism 'Hobson's choice' - that is, no choice at all.
Plot
Willie Mossop (John Mills) is a gifted, but unappreciated shoemaker employed by the tyrannical Henry Horatio Hobson (Charles Laughton) in his moderately upscale shop in 1880s Salford. Widower Hobson has three daughters. Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) and her younger sisters Alice (Daphne Anderson) and Vicky (Prunella Scales) have worked in their father's establishment without wages and are eager to be married and free of the shop. Alice has been seeing Albert Prosser (Richard Wattis), a young up-and-coming solicitor, while Vicky prefers Freddy Beenstock (Derek Blomfield), the son of a respectable corn merchant. Hobson doesn't object to losing Alice and Vickey, but Maggie is far too useful to part with. To his friends, he mocks her as a spinster "a bit on the ripe side" at 30 years of age.Her pride injured, she bullies the contented, unambitious Will Mossop into an engagement. When Hobson objects to her choice of husband and refuses to start paying her, Maggie decides that she and Willie will set up in a shop of their own. For capital, they turn to a very satisfied customer for a loan. With money in hand, they get married and, between her business sense and his shoemaking genius, the enterprise is very successful. Within a year, he has taken away nearly all of Hobson's clientele. Finally, at Maggie's urging, Mossop goes into partnership with Hobson, now an almost-bankrupt alcoholic, on condition that Hobson take no further part in the business.
Cast
- Charles Laughton as Henry Horatio Hobson
- Brenda De Banzie as Maggie Hobson
- John Mills as Will Mossop
- Daphne Anderson as Alice Hobson
- Prunella Scales as Vicky Hobson
- Richard Wattis as Albert Prosser
- Derek Blomfield as Freddy Beenstock
- Helen Haye as Mrs. Hepworth, the satisfied customer and financial backer
- Jack Howarth as Tubby Wadlow, another Hobson employee.
| David Lean | |
|---|---|
| 1940s | In Which We Serve (with Noel Coward) | This Happy Breed| Blithe Spirit| Brief Encounter| Great Expectations| Oliver Twist| The Passionate Friends |
| 1950s | Madeleine | The Sound Barrier| Hobson's Choice| Summertime| The Bridge on the River Kwai |
| 1960s | Lawrence of Arabia | Doctor Zhivago |
| 1970s | Ryan's Daughter |
| 1980s | A Passage to India |
| Television | (1979) |
| Preceded by The Wages of Fear | Golden Bear winner 1954 | Succeeded by Die Ratten |
| Preceded by Genevieve | BAFTA Award for Best British Film 1955 | Succeeded by Richard III |
David Lean
Born March 25 1908
Croydon, Greater London, UK
Died March 16 1991 (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse(s) Isabel Lean (1930-1936)
..... Click the link for more information.
Born March 25 1908
Croydon, Greater London, UK
Died March 16 1991 (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse(s) Isabel Lean (1930-1936)
..... Click the link for more information.
Charles Laughton
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Brenda De Banzie (28 July 1915, Manchester, England - 5 March 1981, Sussex, England) was a British actress of stage and screen.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, CBE (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. He was made a CBE in 1970 and knighted in 1993.
Malcolm Arnold began his career as a professional trumpeter, but by the time he was thirty he was composing full-time and was
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Malcolm Arnold began his career as a professional trumpeter, but by the time he was thirty he was composing full-time and was
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Jack Hildyard (March 17, 1908, London—September 1990, London) was a British cinematographer who worked on more than 80 films during his career. He made several films with David Lean including The Sound Barrier (1952) and Hobson's Choice
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British Lion Films Corporation is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Until 1976 they were also film distributors as British Lion Films Ltd, with a distributor filmography of 232 films.
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London Films is a British film production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and based at London Film Studios in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. The company's productions included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Things to Come (1936),
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Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video (for Warner Communications, Inc.). It was re-named Warner Home Video in 1980.
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1775: American Revolution begins]]
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-1954- 1955 1956 1957 1958 . 1959 . 1960 . 1961 . 1962 . 1963 . 1964
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June 14 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.
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1951 1952 1953 - 1954 - 1955 1956 1957
Year 1954 (MCMLIV
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1920s 1930s 1940s - 1950s - 1960s 1970s 1980s
1951 1952 1953 - 1954 - 1955 1956 1957
Year 1954 (MCMLIV
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Motto
"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
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"Dieu et mon droit" [2] (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
"God Save the Queen" [3]
..... Click the link for more information.
English}}}
Writing system: Latin (English variant)
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng
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Writing system: Latin (English variant)
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng
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-1954- 1955 1956 1957 1958 . 1959 . 1960 . 1961 . 1962 . 1963 . 1964
..... Click the link for more information.
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David Lean
Born March 25 1908
Croydon, Greater London, UK
Died March 16 1991 (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse(s) Isabel Lean (1930-1936)
..... Click the link for more information.
Born March 25 1908
Croydon, Greater London, UK
Died March 16 1991 (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse(s) Isabel Lean (1930-1936)
..... Click the link for more information.
Hobson's Choice is a play by Harold Brighouse, the title coming from the popular expression, Hobson's choice — meaning no choice at all.
The play was first produced in America, the first English production being on June 22 1916 in London.
..... Click the link for more information.
The play was first produced in America, the first English production being on June 22 1916 in London.
..... Click the link for more information.
Charles Laughton
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Brenda De Banzie (28 July 1915, Manchester, England - 5 March 1981, Sussex, England) was a British actress of stage and screen.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Prunella Scales CBE (born 22 June 1932) is an English actress best known for her role as the fearsome Sybil Fawlty in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth
..... Click the link for more information.
Born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth
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An aphorism (literally distinction or definition, from Greek αφοριζειν "to define") expresses a general truth in a pithy sentence.
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Hobson's Choice is a play by Harold Brighouse, the title coming from the popular expression, Hobson's choice — meaning no choice at all.
The play was first produced in America, the first English production being on June 22 1916 in London.
..... Click the link for more information.
The play was first produced in America, the first English production being on June 22 1916 in London.
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
John Mills in Quatermass (1979)
Birth name Lewis Ernest Watts Mills
Born 22 January 1908
North Elmham, Norfolk, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Charles Laughton
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1940.
Birth name Charles Laughton
Born July 1 1899
Scarborough, Yorkshire, England
Died
..... Click the link for more information.
Brenda De Banzie (28 July 1915, Manchester, England - 5 March 1981, Sussex, England) was a British actress of stage and screen.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
Her most notable film role was as Phoebe Rice, the hapless wife of comedian Archie Rice (played by Laurence Olivier), in the 1960 film
..... Click the link for more information.
Dapne Anderson (born Dapne Scrutton 27 April, 1922, in London, United Kingdom) is a British film actor who has been associated with theatre productions.
..... Click the link for more information.
Partial filmography
- Trottie True (1949)
- The Beggar's Opera (1952)
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