The Weaker Sex

This small scale English movie was beautifully crafted by talented hands behind & before the camera. Notably, cinematographer Erwin Hillier, (whose b & w night scenes were beautifully composed and lit here), and a familiar and likable cast headed by Ursula Jeans and Cecil Parker added to this ironically titled film. Set around the central event of D-Day preparations and the aftermath of all the concentrated activity on the war, it demonstrated the emotional ripples on such events throughout the lives of the characters, centering on the household of Jeans, her children, and the military service personnel who come in and out of their lives as boarders during the war.

While some might dismiss this as a trite movie about inconsequential people in a great turning point in history, the strength of this film is that detailed, largely domestic focus on the wartime anxieties, hard work and, of course, usually stoic British attitudes toward the war. This was heightened by the skilled filmmakers' ability to show the emotional ebbs and tides surging beneath the seemingly placid surface of the characters' lives. One illustration of this was the work of character lead Cecil Parker as a middle aged naval officer and widow Ursula Jeans as they quietly realized that their platonic friendship was deeper than either had fully realized.