They Came to a City (1944)
Genre: Drama / Fantasy
Duration: 78 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom
Directed by: Basil Dearden
Stars: John Clements, Googie Withers and Raymond Huntley
IMDb score:
6,3 (473)
Releasedate: 21 August 1944
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
They Came to a City plot
Nine different Britons are transported to a mysterious city. This would be an ideal place to stay and live up to their class and character. It turns out to be an earthly paradise of peace and equality for some, but a hell devoured by ambition and wealth for others.
Actors and actresses
Joe Dinmore
Alice
Malcolm Stritton
Mrs. Stritton
Sir George Gedney
Lady Loxfield
Mrs Barley
Mr Cudworth
Philippa Loxfield
Storyteller
Reviews & comments
Roger Thornhill
-
- 6156 messages
- 2521 votes
In the introduction to this filmed play, the author J.B. Priestley himself appears to set up a thought experiment: if a new society based on non-capitalist (socialist) principles were to arise after the war, who would want to participate and who would not? The young nobleman with a passion for fox hunting and golf, the wealthy industrialist, and the bourgeois woman who is afraid of everything certainly wouldn't; the weary cleaning lady with a heart of gold and the obedient daughter under the thumb of her bossy mother certainly would, and the rebellious lovers would like to, but decide to go and proclaim the joyful message of this "city of friends" on the streets of their own England once the war is over.
We are subjected to the reflections and arguments of all nine characters ad nauseam, but the city they see—which inspires or, conversely, disgusts them—remains hidden from the viewer's gaze, leaving us to guess what that English version of Shangri-La looks like. It is commendable that the Ealing studio dared to bring this dialogue-driven play to the big screen, but it remains highly theatrical. While it is always a pleasure to watch John Clements ("a revolutionary who can't believe in the revolution") and Googie Withers, here they serve more as mouthpieces for Priestley's convictions than as lifelike characters, just as all the characters together are supposed to represent a kind of cross-section of English society. I am personally always receptive to this type of "novel of ideas," but the contrived form and naive utopian thrust fail to convince me. An interesting but failed curiosity.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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