Very well done British drama that I was able to view online recently. Ursula Jeans is a opportunistic woman with two daughters, that to survive manipulates various society matrons and men to get money and status to make her way through society. The girls are given a distorted view of what 'real life' is and are taught play acting and lying are the way to survive. When the mother marries a man, she lets him believe that she has only one daughter and the older daughter (Jean Simmons) is sent away. However, with her upbringing, she doesn't know right from wrong and gets into trouble with the law, incidentally though without malice. The mother must then decide if she should change her ways and be honest about her life and what she has taught her children. Interesting mother love/abandonment film that was quite a bit ahead of its time with the themes of taking responsibility for one's actions as well as becoming a product of your own environment.
9 Reviews
We Hope To Be Generous, But Fear To Be Suckers
boblipton29 February 2020
Ursula Jeans has two daughters and a yen for a better life style than she can afford. So she goes among the wealthy, tells each of them a sob story, and gets some cash. One day one of the daughters, Jean Simmons, runs away and gets a job, and proceeds to give gifts to everyone.
There are a couple of loose ends in this movie, like Joan Miller's character, who seems to be a maid-of-all-work for Miss Jeans, I suppose the details of what she is doing there got lost in the transfer of G.B. Stern's novel to the screen. What we are left with are two very good performances. Miss Simmons, still early in her career, and gives a very waiflike and woebegone performance. Miss Jeans, gives a perfectly modulated performance that speaks volumes and says nothing. She wheedles and threatens her daughters - the other one is played by Jill Freud - and submits to threats in a manner that leaves one wondering if she actually cares about anything other than the pleasure of her successful confidence games. Her biggest one is landing Cecil Parker playing a surprisingly tender version of his comic fuddy-duddy.
It's a beautifully executed movie, but I'm left with a sense of dissatisfaction. What's the point of it all? Is it supposed to be a story of redemption? If so, in the end, it is trite. Is it a matter of a bravura performance? That's not really enough. Any movie that exists in its own little universe and has no meaning greater than itself is a pointless game. Even the most puzzle-like murder mystery is about the wrecking of the moral universe, and it's restoration by bringing the murderer to light.
Perhaps people take some interest in violence for its own sake, but even in the most chaotic of spaghetti westerns, there is is a conclusion and a warning. Perhaps that is the point of this movie: that a workable world has a balance between pure self-interest and generosity.
There are a couple of loose ends in this movie, like Joan Miller's character, who seems to be a maid-of-all-work for Miss Jeans, I suppose the details of what she is doing there got lost in the transfer of G.B. Stern's novel to the screen. What we are left with are two very good performances. Miss Simmons, still early in her career, and gives a very waiflike and woebegone performance. Miss Jeans, gives a perfectly modulated performance that speaks volumes and says nothing. She wheedles and threatens her daughters - the other one is played by Jill Freud - and submits to threats in a manner that leaves one wondering if she actually cares about anything other than the pleasure of her successful confidence games. Her biggest one is landing Cecil Parker playing a surprisingly tender version of his comic fuddy-duddy.
It's a beautifully executed movie, but I'm left with a sense of dissatisfaction. What's the point of it all? Is it supposed to be a story of redemption? If so, in the end, it is trite. Is it a matter of a bravura performance? That's not really enough. Any movie that exists in its own little universe and has no meaning greater than itself is a pointless game. Even the most puzzle-like murder mystery is about the wrecking of the moral universe, and it's restoration by bringing the murderer to light.
Perhaps people take some interest in violence for its own sake, but even in the most chaotic of spaghetti westerns, there is is a conclusion and a warning. Perhaps that is the point of this movie: that a workable world has a balance between pure self-interest and generosity.
Rambling along!
JohnHowardReid19 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
"The Woman in the Hall" is one those weepies that promise much more in their advertising than what is actually delivered on the screen. The rather rambling plot is held together mainly by the skill of Ursula Jeans, although most of the other players also assist to some degree -- with the notable exception of Cecil Parker who has obviously not read the full script and is under the impression that the movie is supposedly a comedy. One would have thought that the director would have put Parker wise to his error. But the director turns out to be Jack Lee and Jack always treated his players with the greatest respect and never put them wise to anything. He always assumed they knew better about acting and how to play their characters than he did. Another difficulty that Lee would regard as being well outside his sphere of influence is that while the story pivots on "Lorna Blake", the character played by Ursula Jeans, she is far too unsympathetic a person to generate much in the way of audience rapport or enthusiasm.
The Woman in the Hall
CinemaSerf8 January 2023
It is quite unusual to find Ursula Jeans in a leading role, and she does it rather well in this rather twisted story of a women who makes her way in life by lying and deceit. She must raise her two daughters, and does so by various means of extortion and malversation. As her daughters grow up, they cannot distinguish between right or wrong, nor truth and lie - so when Jeans finally dupes poor old Cecil Parker into marriage, the years of dishonesty and duplicitousness finally begin to catch up with them all. Jean Simmons and Jill Freud are both competent as the daughters - Simmons (only 18 here) has yet to quite work out how to own the camera in the way she later became natural at - and the eagle eyed might spot a very early outing from Susan Hampshire. The story has it's moments, but it does drag rather - and the lack of any characters with whom we might empathise (save for Jeans' constant flow of gullibles) brings a certain "who cares" to the story... It is a well made piece of cinema, though - just nothing particularly noteworthy.
unusual story with nonsensical courtroom ending
malcolmgsw28 August 2017
This has an intriguing story line which is not matched in the execution.The characters come across as rather unlikely combinations.None particularly sympathetic.A very young Jean Simmons comes over as being rather simple.In any event it takes atotally nonsensical courtroom scene to resolve matters.If she was as young as she looks she would have been sent to a juvenile court.
Very exciting!
HotToastyRag25 July 2017
I loved the opening shot of the film. The camera is placed on the second floor of a grand house, overlooking the staircase and foyer. The opening credits roll, and as they taper off, there's a knock at the door. The butler answers, then retreats through the foyer to the door of the drawing room and announces the visitor to the lady of the house. The scene is perfectly framed; the audience is eavesdropping, desperately wants to know more about "the woman in the hall", and there's an overall sense of dread in the air.
Ursula Jeans is dressed in rags, as is her daughter. She tells the wealthy woman in the house a sob story about how her husband abandoned her and her children, and her youngest daughter is ill, and she doesn't have enough money. . . The wealthy woman believes her, writes her a check, and sends her on her way. The woman and the daughter go home, and the woman announces to her friend how successful her workday was. It's all a scam, and her sole source of income.
The story continues, with many twists and turns, and it's fascinating. Ursula Jeans gives an excellent performance in a perfect Joan Crawford role. She's icy, deceitful, but something burns beneath it all. . . Jean Simmons is gorgeous and troubled, a characterization she perfected in the previous year's Great Expectations. And it was thrilling to see Cecil Parker in a rare romantic role! This is a great movie with an interesting story that shows the hurts children carry with them as they grow up. The Woman in the Hall is very exciting and I highly recommend you watch it with a bunch of your friends on the next stormy weekend!
Ursula Jeans is dressed in rags, as is her daughter. She tells the wealthy woman in the house a sob story about how her husband abandoned her and her children, and her youngest daughter is ill, and she doesn't have enough money. . . The wealthy woman believes her, writes her a check, and sends her on her way. The woman and the daughter go home, and the woman announces to her friend how successful her workday was. It's all a scam, and her sole source of income.
The story continues, with many twists and turns, and it's fascinating. Ursula Jeans gives an excellent performance in a perfect Joan Crawford role. She's icy, deceitful, but something burns beneath it all. . . Jean Simmons is gorgeous and troubled, a characterization she perfected in the previous year's Great Expectations. And it was thrilling to see Cecil Parker in a rare romantic role! This is a great movie with an interesting story that shows the hurts children carry with them as they grow up. The Woman in the Hall is very exciting and I highly recommend you watch it with a bunch of your friends on the next stormy weekend!
As Ye Sow.....
kidboots24 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Jean Simmons was just so good in everything she did and more than fulfilled her early promise - maybe that is why she hasn't achieved cult status. She first came to attention as a child performer, critics predicted great things for her and she didn't disappoint. "The Woman in the Hall" came straight after the dazzling "Uncle Silas" and gave Jean another challenging part. Director Jack Lee didn't like the film that much as it bought back painful childhood memories of being forced to beg in the streets.
Just a fascinating film, never seen one with a plot quite like this before. Lorna Blake (Ursula Jeans) is a professional beggar who uses oldest daughter Molly as a sympathetic decoy. From a troubled adolescence Lorna has concocted a fairy tale where she is the only victim and the world owes her - big time!! Molly realises the wrongness of things but young Jay (Simmons), a sickly child, is fed on her mother's day dreams and resentful stories but once she goes to school she is then shielded from the world.
Suddenly the blackguard from Lorna's mixed up stories turns up - Neil Inglefield, he has managed to track the family down through a woman approached by a begging Lorna. He wants to take Lorna to court for defaming his family but once he meets Molly he realises that the publicity would hurt her. Lorna has now managed to meet a genuinely nice man who is in turn appalled that she neglected to tell him about her wayward daughter Jay. It seems that Jay has been stealing all her life, having been bought up on her mother's stories of thieving being the right path - she has no moral compass!! To give her her due she is like a Robin Hood - stealing from the rich to give the poor happiness. Lorna has no intention of supporting her daughter so Sir Halmar Barnard (Cecil Parker) steps in - giving Jay a proper home, some sound advice and court room support. Right to the end delusional Lorna believes blame lies squarely at the feet of her old guardians!!
Such an interesting movie about a subject "professional beggars" I hadn't really thought about. Susan Hampshire, female star of several Cliff Richard films, plays Jay as a child.
Recommended.
Just a fascinating film, never seen one with a plot quite like this before. Lorna Blake (Ursula Jeans) is a professional beggar who uses oldest daughter Molly as a sympathetic decoy. From a troubled adolescence Lorna has concocted a fairy tale where she is the only victim and the world owes her - big time!! Molly realises the wrongness of things but young Jay (Simmons), a sickly child, is fed on her mother's day dreams and resentful stories but once she goes to school she is then shielded from the world.
Suddenly the blackguard from Lorna's mixed up stories turns up - Neil Inglefield, he has managed to track the family down through a woman approached by a begging Lorna. He wants to take Lorna to court for defaming his family but once he meets Molly he realises that the publicity would hurt her. Lorna has now managed to meet a genuinely nice man who is in turn appalled that she neglected to tell him about her wayward daughter Jay. It seems that Jay has been stealing all her life, having been bought up on her mother's stories of thieving being the right path - she has no moral compass!! To give her her due she is like a Robin Hood - stealing from the rich to give the poor happiness. Lorna has no intention of supporting her daughter so Sir Halmar Barnard (Cecil Parker) steps in - giving Jay a proper home, some sound advice and court room support. Right to the end delusional Lorna believes blame lies squarely at the feet of her old guardians!!
Such an interesting movie about a subject "professional beggars" I hadn't really thought about. Susan Hampshire, female star of several Cliff Richard films, plays Jay as a child.
Recommended.
A Forgotten Gem
richardchatten21 September 2017
The title led me to anticipate a candlelit Victorian drama, but it's actually very contemporary. That wartime and postwar austerity Britain were both rife with low-level criminality was regularly reflected in the feature films of the era, as when Will Hay found himself in the dock for writing begging letters in 'My Learned Friend' (1943).
This adroit melodrama adapted by Gladys Bronwyn Stern from her pre-war novel anticipates Basil Dearden's equally neglected 'Only When I Larf' (1968), which set its trio of confidence tricksters against a backdrop of swinging 60's affluence. One watches with appalled admiration the perennially quick-thinking amorality of Ursula Jeans in the title role as a seasoned confidence trickster who rather resembles Mary Astor (with her perpetual look of feigned wide-eyed innocence in 'The Maltese Falcon'), although she stops short of murder. Her career of lies and deception spans ten years and an hour and a half which has lovingly prepared you for a knockout closing line and close up.
As the more innocent of her two daughters a button-eyed ten year-old Susan Hampshire in her film debut ages satisfyingly into a radiant Jean Simmons. The rest of the cast are up to the usual high standard one expects of British films of this period, enhanced by skillful production design by Peter Proud.
Recommended.
This adroit melodrama adapted by Gladys Bronwyn Stern from her pre-war novel anticipates Basil Dearden's equally neglected 'Only When I Larf' (1968), which set its trio of confidence tricksters against a backdrop of swinging 60's affluence. One watches with appalled admiration the perennially quick-thinking amorality of Ursula Jeans in the title role as a seasoned confidence trickster who rather resembles Mary Astor (with her perpetual look of feigned wide-eyed innocence in 'The Maltese Falcon'), although she stops short of murder. Her career of lies and deception spans ten years and an hour and a half which has lovingly prepared you for a knockout closing line and close up.
As the more innocent of her two daughters a button-eyed ten year-old Susan Hampshire in her film debut ages satisfyingly into a radiant Jean Simmons. The rest of the cast are up to the usual high standard one expects of British films of this period, enhanced by skillful production design by Peter Proud.
Recommended.
Beggar women getting mixed up with reality with some human fireworks of clashes of destiny for an interesting result
clanciai4 April 2017
Splendid concoction of the complications women sometimes end up with in their difficult dealings with reality as a tricky means of survival if once the men are out of their lives. It so happens that two men oblige these three drifting women with actually offering them their support and even marriage, which certainly no wise man would do in this case. The mother is a professional cheat, and her daughters are ruined in the trade, one of them (Jean Simmons) actually stealing from her employer and benefactor not realizing it is wrong, since she uses the money only for the good of others. Cecil Parker marrying the cheat is as awkward as ever, he never seemed to get any character right, but here at least he succeeds in turning a bleak story to almost a comedy. I love the scene in the restaurant, when suddenly the cheat of a mother together with her newly wedded husband (Cecil Parker) is confronted with the vengeful brother of the man who once deserted her and now intends to marry her daughter, who is also present, with her godmother, one of the benefactresses the mother has cheated. All these victims of her artfulness never seem to mind her tricks much but are pleased to recognize her swindle for what it is and make the best of it, to ultimately direct her out of her trade. The final court drama is a wonderful climax to this spicy confusion of intrigues and people involved in them, and the judge seems to enjoy it. Fascinating film, resembling no other, and it's an especially interesting study of women.
Ursula Jeans is marvellous in the straightness of her unhesitating continuous deceit. Note the very young Susan Hampshire as Jay in the beginning as a small girl.
Ursula Jeans is marvellous in the straightness of her unhesitating continuous deceit. Note the very young Susan Hampshire as Jay in the beginning as a small girl.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
