writers_reign It would be easy to take the first episode here in which Edmund Gwen walks out on a shrewish wife after years of nagging as a steal from Noel Coward's one-acter Fumed Oak but it would also be wrong. Coward wrote - and starred in - the nine (originally ten but one was dropped after one performance) that together comprised Tonight At 8.30 in 1936, close to a decade after Priestly wrote The Good Companions as a novel and some three years after the first film version was released. If we allow for the limitations that obtained in 1933 this is a charming and simplistic valentine to the Lost Empires that Priestly would write about decades later. Today the supporting players draw the eye, none more so than Mary Gwynne, now totally forgotten, whilst Jesse Matthews around whom the film is clearly built, appears mannered and OTT. It remains a charming curio.

mark.waltz They call em' the Dinky Doo's, and not as in Jimmy Durante's Inka Dinka Doo. They're a British vaudeville team traveling through the boon-docks and befriend a group of lonely people, including shy Mary Glynne, suave John Gielgud and aging Cecil Kellaway. While the first part of the story focuses mainly on Ms. Glynne (whose car has been mistaken for another one), the second half turns attention to the singing and dancing Jessie Matthews, England's answer to Eleanor Powell and equally adept in comedy and romance. Fans of the older Gielgud will marvel at seeing him much younger (and with hair!) and he is more than adequate in a romantic role, not at all pompous or uppity. It is thanks to Ms. Glynne that the troop's name changes to "The Good Companions" and focuses on the desire to get Ms. Matthews discovered by a major producer in London.While it is ironic that the song Ms. Matthews sings for the producer sounds very much like "If I Could Be With You", a standard heard in several Warner Brothers films of the same year, it is even more of a coincidence that the producer has an ear for "new" songs which he's heard before. There's a funny montage of "The Good Companions" touring and performing the same act to dwindling audiences because of the summer heat. While some Americans might be reluctant to watch because of a false sense that they'll understand the British humor, it is actually quite subtle and gives us Yanks an understanding of the British culture of the 1930's beyond what little material has been available to us.

drednm Story of disparate characters who "run away" from their unhappy lives and who by chance all meet up with a broke and stranded troupe of musical entertainers. They band together, the show goes on, and they all find what they were looking for.At 112 minutes, it seems longer than most British "musicals" of the time but the story stretches out at a leisurely pace to a surprising and satisfying conclusion.Chief among the delights here are Jessie Matthews, John Gielgud, Edmund Gwenn, and Mary Glynne. Matthews plays Susie Dean (star of tomorrow ... or the day after) and although she is not the solo star, this ranks among her best performances. Gielgud and Gwenn are terrific (and never looked younger) as the music teacher and laid-off worker, and Glynne shines as the wallflower who blossoms in the group of good companions.Also in cast Finlay Currie, A.K. Baskcomb, and a very young Jack Hawkins as Albert. Directed by Victor Saville.The climactic benefit show that features Matthews amid the turmoil is a terrific sequence, and its conclusion and follow-up scene are just plain wonderful.

bensonj Jessie Matthews made a number of very charming British musicals during the thirties. (One of the better ones, FIRST A GIRL, an early version of VICTOR/VICTORIA, has just been released on video.) But THE GOOD COMPANIONS is not a musical, although it has musical sequences, nor is it really a Matthews vehicle, though she's prominently featured and outstanding.It's a marvellous adaptation of J. B. Priestly's story of three individuals who are prodded by events into taking to the open road and who subsequently meet up with each other and a small troupe of entertainers called the Dinky Doos. The introductory sequence for each of the characters is delightful and meticulously detailed. Perhaps the best is Edmund Gwenn's; after a lifetime with the company he is sacked and decides to leave his shrewish wife. Gwenn has a wonderful great thick Midlands accent here; when checking a car that won't start, he finds the problem to be "mooky ploogs" (mucky spark plugs). This short sequence is so detailed, with characters so fully drawn (including a young Jack Hawkins) it could have made up a whole film. John Gielgud (in his first film) is a master at a threadbare school run by a tight-lipped puritanical battle-ax, who catches him mimicking her husband. Mary Glynne has spent her life nursing her invalid father; when he dies she decides to spend her small inheritance on the road before accepting a life of drudgery. Each of the three have amusing adventures on the road (some delightful plot construction here) before all winding up in the same tea room with the stranded Dinky Doos. They all decide, over a shared evening meal, to join together and form a new group called "The Good Companions." As they travel around England, Jessie Matthews (one of the Doos) gets larger and larger billing. (At first, one thinks she'll be a minor player in this early film, since she's not "featured" in the early group scenes, but it seems to have been a creative decision to have the most important character gradually insinuate herself into the film.) Finally, Gielgud gets music publisher-impresario Finlay Currie ("Me, in person, not a moving picture") to see the show, and, after further complications, Matthews and Gielgud are headed for the big time.In so many of her films, Matthews plays an ingenue waiting to be discovered, and never for a moment does one feel that this is a writer's convention as is so often the case (think Joan Crawford's "dancing" being discovered in DANCING LADY). Jessie Matthews' ability and magnetism are so evident there's just no question that when the right person finally sees her perform her star quality will be instantly recognized. This was never more true than in THE GOOD COMPANIONS, where Matthews' vitality, youth, sex appeal and talent absolutely light up the film! Like every aspect of this film, the romance between Gielgud and Matthews is remarkable to behold.She's so strong willed, so incandescent, Gielgud seems almost afraid to burn his fingers, yet dares to hold his own. As with only the finest fairy tale fantasies, this is absolutely grounded in the real world, filled with sharp, rich characterizations and the details of its time and place. The episodic plot is sentimental yet honest, romantic yet realistic. The performances, from major to minor players, are uniformly excellent. But it's Priestly's story and Victor Saville's superb direction that make this a special experience. The film has a miraculous quality about it, a mysterious perfection that's like no other film I can think of. Of the thousands of films I've seen in the last fifty years this one of my very favorites. I've seen it twice theatrically and am eagerly looking forward to the video release so I can watch it again and again.