This Happy Breed (1944) 75/100 - One of David Lean's early efforts as a director. The story spans about twenty years, and chronicles the day to day life of a middle class British family between the two World Wars. A bit of tragedy, smidgens of comedy and a lot of family squabbles that don't make for a riveting drama, but more of a curiosity in regards to Lean's early work. Celia Johnson, as usual, is fantastic as the matriarch of the family. Every emotion her character is feeling is effortlessly shown across what appears to be a weathered face. I mention her appearance because throughout the film, she looks rather haggard. Which is surprising when one looks at her in Lean's next film, Brief Encounter, playing a woman who is exuberant in an extramarital dalliance, and she just radiates. I don't know if it was good make up work or the fact that Johnson was one of the all time great actresses. One last thing, towards the end of the film, Robert Newton's character makes a statement about what happens to a house, when a family who has lived there for many years, moves out. How it retains the memories of that family forever. And it got me wondering about the home I now live in. My wife and I built this home 13 years ago, so we are the first to inhabit it. When we're both dead and gone, what will the family that purchases my home, be like? Will they be a happy family or will domestic strife be commonplace in their lives? Very rarely does a line of dialog make me ponder my own life, or what will be after I'm gone, but that bit of dialog did.
Brief Encounter
Hobson's Choice
Lawrence of Arabia
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
In Which We Serve
Dr. Zhivago
This Happy Breed
The Sound Barrier