United Kingdom
1954
108 minutes
Black and White
1.33:1
English
461
An unsung comic triumph from David Lean, Hobson’s Choice stars the legendary Charles Laughton as the harrumphing Henry Hobson, the owner of a boot shop in late Victorian northern England. With his haughty, independent daughter Maggie (Brenda De Banzie) decides to forge her own path, romantically and professionally, with none other than Henry’s prized bootsmith Will (a splendid John Mills), father and daughter find themselves head-to-head in a fiery match of wills. Equally charming and caustic, Hobson’s Choice, adapted from Harold Brighouse’s famous play, is filled to the brim with great performances and elegant, inventive camera work.
| Henry Hobson | Charles Laughton |
| Maggie Hobson | Brenda De Banzie |
| Willam Mossop | John Mills |
| Alice Hobson | Daphne Anderson |
| Vicky Hobson | Prunella Scales |
| Albert Prosser | Richard Wattis |
| Freddy Beenstock | Derek Blomfield |
| Director | David Lean |
| Associate producer | Norman Spencer |
| Screenplay | Norman Spencer, David Lean and Wynyard Browne |
| Music composed by | Malcolm Arnold |
| Performed by | The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
| Music director | Muir Mathieson |
| Cinematography | Jack Hildyard |
| Art director | Wilfred Shingleton |
| Editing | Peter Taylor |
The words “David Lean” and “laughter” aren’t often used in the same sentence, but our recent reminder of the British drama and epic maker’s good humor, in the form of the DVD release of Hobson’s Choice, may help change that. In the http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/movies . . .
“Let me have men about me that are fat.”—Julius Caesar, act 1, scene 2Just as Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe admired small, brave men who stick to their principles, I like—in the movies at least—heavyset, flamboyant types who walk and talk as if life were a poem . . .
David Lean may not be known primarily for his comedies, but the two he made—1945’s Blithe Spirit, based on the Noël Coward play, and then Hobson’s Choice in . . .
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