Those People Next Door

1953 British film by John Harlow

Those People Next Door
Australian daybill poster
Directed by	John Harlow
Based on	the play Wearing the Pants by Zelda Davees
Produced by	Tom Blakeley
Starring	Jack Warner Charles Victor Marjorie Rhodes
Cinematography	Roy Fogwell
Edited by	Dorothy Stimson
Music by	Billy Butler (musical director)
Production company	Mancunian Film Corporation
Distributed by	Eros Films (UK)
Release date	February 1953 (UK)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Those People Next Door is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Harlow and starring Jack Warner, Charles Victor and Marjorie Rhodes.^[1] It was based on the play Wearing the Pants by Zelda Davees.^[2]

Plot

In Second World War era Britain, working-class Sam Twigg and his wife Mary are raising their family in the shadow of the Blitz. Their next door neighbours Joe and Emma practically live in the Twiggs’ house, borrowing cups of sugar or using their Anderson shelter. Controversy arises when Sam's pretty daughter Anne becomes romantically involved with RAF officer Victor Stevens. There is disapproval from Victor's wealthy parents, Sir Andrew and Lady Stevens, who object to the match on grounds of class. Lady Stevens even offers money to the Twigg family to call off the relationship, which enrages father Sam. However, when RAF man Victor is reportedly shot down in action, parental attitudes soften.

Cast

Jack Warner as Sam Twigg
Charles Victor as Joe Higgins
Marjorie Rhodes as Mary Twigg
Gladys Henson as Emma Higgins
Garry Marsh as Sir Andrew Stevens
Jimmy James as drunk
Patricia Cutts as Anne Twigg
Peter Forbes-Robertson as Victor Stevens
Anthony Newley as Bob Twigg
Grace Arnold as Lady Stevens
Norah Gorsen as Margaret Twigg
Geoffrey Sumner as Flight Lieutenant Claude Kimberley

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Interspersed with ancient music hall jokes, this film is also often in bad taste. Extremely poor."^[3]

Kine Weekly said "Down-to-earth, disarmingly ingenuous British low-life comedy drama ... The picture is a trifle class-conscious during its penultimate ‘"posh" sequences, but its domestic touches and recreation of conditions during the worst of the bombing periods are very true to life and produce both laughs and tears. Jack Warner typifies all that is best in the British breadwinner as Sam, and Charles Victor is effective."^[4]

According to Sky Movies, which gives the film three out of five stars, "The Rank Organisation had unexpectedly boosted its bank balance with comedies about the cockney Hugget family (starring Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison) in post-war years, but decided to end the series after four films. Unconvinced that this vein of comedy had been mined out, producer Tom Blakeley's Manchester-based film unit, which had made Frank Randle comedies in the war years, took an old play set in 1941, hired Jack Warner and a good cast, and let rip. Unfortunately, the characters were too unsympathetic and the piece still ran like a play, but the same distributors had better luck a couple of years later when they reunited Warner with Kathleen Harrison in Home and Away [1956]."^[5]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", writing: "The Huggett comedy vein mined out; poor and stagey, with dislikeable characters."^[6]

References

^ "Those People Next Door". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
^ Murphy, Robert (15 August 2005). British Cinema and the Second World War. A&C Black. ISBN 9780826478979 – via Google Books.
^ "Those People Next Door". Monthly Film Bulletin. 20 (228): 12. 1953 – via ProQuest.
^ "Those People Next Door". Kine Weekly. 429 (2372): 20. 11 December 1952 – via ProQuest.
^ "Those People Next Door". Sky Movies.
^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 386. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.