Tuesday, May 21, 2019

The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947)

The Loves of Joanna Godden (Dir: Charles Frend, 1947).


Originally posted on Instagram 30/01/19:

I will admit to knowing little about movie number 12 before watching. Yet The Loves of Joanna Godden (Charles Frend, 1947) is an Ealing Studios production of some pedigree, with a screenplay by H E Bates and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. 

Somewhat atypical of Ealing, The Loves of Joanna Godden is a romantic period piece starring Googie Withers as a young woman who inherits a sheep farm and is determined to make it a success without the aid of a husband. 


This proto-feminist plot is unusual in post-war British cinema and especially so from Ealing whose protagonists are almost always men. This is certainly to be commended. As is the beautiful Romney Marsh locales and the realistic depiction of the devastation caused by an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. It is perhaps here where The Loves of Joanna Godden most belies its Ealing roots as the studio was paramount in the British documentary and social-realist movement. 


Watching Miss Withers juggle the duel concerns of lambing and of finding or fending off potential suitors is not exactly thrilling; yet the film is enjoyable and worth a watch as an unusual release from the years when Ealing was at the peak of its powers. 

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Hey there! My name is Mike and I LOVE movies! All movies. Old movies, new movies, good movies bad movies. I also love talking and writing about movies. 

My aim is to review every movie I watch this year. I began on 1st January on Instagram and have been slowly rolling it out across other platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Thanks to some positive feedback on social media, I have decided to launch Jingle Bones Movie Time as a fully fledged blog! 

I would love people to engage in discussion so you are welcome to interact. Please keep it nice as I would like this to be a friendly space. I have never blogged before and am not especially tech savvy so this whole proccess may be slow going! 

Apologies to my followers on social media as, for the time being at least, these posts will be familiar to you. I also intended to continue posting to the sites I already post on, so look me up on those too if you care to! I am known as jingle_bones_movie_time on Instagram and Jingle Bones Movie Time elsewhere. 

Also, these early posts are kinda brief but please stick with them. They do improve! 

Anyhow, if you enjoy movies, please join me on my viewing adventures. Thanks folks!

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