The Gentle Sex (1943)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Leslie Howard

Writers:

Moie Charles (original story and screenplay)
Doris Langley Moore (narration "Observations of a Mere Man")

Release Date:

23 May 1943 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | War

Plot:

This film tells the stories of seven 'gentle' British girls who decide to "do their bit" and help out during World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Propaganda | WWII | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Joan Gates	...	Gwen Hayden
Jean Gillie	...	Dot Hopkins
Joan Greenwood	...	Betty Miller
Joyce Howard	...	Anne Lawrence
Rosamund John	...	Maggie Fraser
Lilli Palmer	...	Erna Debruski
Barbara Waring	...	Joan Simpson
John Justin	...	Flying Officer David Sheridan
Mary Jerrold	...	Mrs. Sheridan
John Laurie	...	Scots Corporal
Elliott Mason	...	Mrs. Fraser (as Elliot Mason)
Harry Welchman	...	Captain Ferrier
Miles Malleson	...	Guard
Jimmy Hanley	...	1st Soldier
Meriel Forbes	...	Junior Commander Davis

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Carlisle, Cumbria, England, UK

Company:

Derrick De Marney Productions

Trivia:

Leslie Howard's last role.

Movie Connections:

Featured in War Stories (2006) (TV)

Boring wartime propaganda without any particular pace or verve

My view is that this film has nothing to compare it with wartime productions like "Millions like us", let alone the Powell and Pressburger masterpiece, "A Canterbury Tale". While the production and acting standards are quite good, the whole thing simply lacks pace and sufficient development of either plot or characters to keep the viewer's interest. Rather than attempting to follow the fortunes of seven new recruits to the women's forces in the second world war, (and then dissipating the time covered by the film trying to keep up with all of them), Howard would have done better to focus, (as in the two afore-mentioned films), on a small number of characters and investigate the way in which the relationships between them develop and intensify and, in THESE ways, allow the message of "why we are fighting" to come through much more clearly than in the stiff upper lip, (except, of course, for Lilli Palmer playing "the excitable foreigner"!), rendering of patriotic platitudes which the film produces. A disappointment and, in my view, now mainly of interest only for what it conveys of "established" views of women's war time endeavours in 1943 rather than as visual entertainment which, while being revelatory of its own period, ALSO far transcends this and provides entertainment and reflection of a much deeper nature as well. Right, let's roll "A Canterbury Tale" again and see how it SHOULD have been done!