The Feminine Touch (1956 film)

The Feminine Touch is a 1956 colour British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence. In 1957 it was released as A Lamp Is Heavy in Canada, and The Gentle Touch in the United States.[1]

The Feminine Touch
UK quad format cinema poster
Directed byPat Jackson
Screenplay byW. P. Lipscomb (uncredited)
Richard Mason (uncredited)
Based onA Lamp Is Heavy
1950 novel
by Sheila Mackay Russell
Produced byMichael Balcon
associate
Jack Rix
StarringGeorge Baker
Belinda Lee
Delphi Lawrence
CinematographyPaul Beeson
Edited byPeter Bezencenet
Music byClifton Parker
Production
company
Distributed byJ. Arthur Rank Film Distributors
Release date
  • 27 March 1956 (1956-03-27) (UK)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The film follows five very different student nurses during their first year of training at a fictional NHS hospital in London called St. Augustine's Hospital, where they live in a dormitory. However, of the five, the main focus is Susan.

Susan is reliable and sensible; Pat is flighty and open; Maureen is Irish and loud; Ann is a former public school girl; and Liz comes from a working class background. As they get to know each other, they bond in spite of their differences.

Susan falls in love with Dr Jim Alcott. She is tempted to leave nursing to go with Jim to Canada but decides not to go after helping a patient who tried to commit suicide. However, after a talk with the matron, she decides to join Jim in Canada.

When it is revealed that one of the group stayed out all night to be with one of the doctors, she faces instant dismissal until it is revealed that she has been married for a month. Although also against the rules, the nurses convince the matron that that is morally better than unmarried nurses sneaking out and having affairs, which is tolerated.

Main cast
Canadian poster, with the title A Lamp is Heavy.

Production

The film was based on a 1950 book, The Lamp is Heavy by Canadian Sheila Russell, who worked as a nurse in Edmonton, Alberta[2] and married a doctor in 1947. The novel was published in the Commonwealth in 1954[3] and sold 75,000 copies over five years.[4] "I'm not surprised that there is a change in title", said Russell. "After all, in England the 'lamp' is still pretty heavy for nurses."[5]

Michael Balcon of Ealing Studios wanted to make a hospital film but Sir John Davis of Rank was reluctant; eventually Balcon managed to get approval for this movie.[6]

It was the first Ealing movie directed by Pat Jackson, who had made an earlier film about nursing, White Corridors (1951). It was one of the last pair of films made at Ealing Studios, which had been sold to the BBC, and one of the last Ealing movies under the nine-year relationship between Rank and Ealing. (Ealing would move to MGM studios, make several more movies, then be wound up.)[7][8][9]

It was an early star role for Belinda Lee,[10] one of several "sensible girl" parts she played for Rank.[11]

Film rights were bought by Rank in early 1955. Filming began in late June 1955 at Pinewood Studios[12] and on location at Guy's Hospital.

Reception

Variety called the film "worthwhile, and as a piece of romantic entertainment, it is more than adequate. Pic has valuable exploitation angles which should help returns in the domestic market [...] yarn has few comedy touches as well as strong dramatic angles [...] Cast is competent .without being standout. Miss Lee, a handsome blonde, is rapidly improving as an actress."[13]

The Monthly Film Bulletin said "this latest example of nurse recruitment by film adds little to what has been said by previous productions of this kind."[14]

The Observer said it was "not very good drama, I'm afraid."[15]

Leslie Halliwell reviewed the film as: "Portmanteau soap opera of no absorbing interest".[16]

David Quinlan wrote "Episodic tribute to nursing profession has too much soft soap, not enough meat. Very good colour camerawork though."[17]

References
  1. IMDb: The Feminine Touch – release info Linked 2015-05-15
  2. Sanderson, Kay (1999). 200 Remarkable Alberta Women. Calgary: Famous Five Foundation. p. 99.
  3. "Girls in blue". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XIX, no. 203. New South Wales, Australia. 13 November 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 4 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "Six Titles of Interest in the Field of Current Fiction: Nightingales Hen Medic Rural Alcoholic Troubled Village Death-Wish C.O., Muddled". New York Times. 2 July 1950. p. BR7.
  5. "Title Changed for Film of City Author's Book". Edmonton Journal. 27 July 1955. p. 27.
  6. Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press USA. pp. 66–68.
  7. Barr, Charles (1977). Ealing studios. Cameron & Tayleur. p. 178.
  8. "Ealing Ends 9 Year Pact with Rank". Variety. 15 February 1956. p. 12.
  9. "Keep British Flavour". Variety. 29 February 1956. p. 18.
  10. "Film Fan— Fare". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 24, no. 24. 14 November 1956. p. 35. Retrieved 4 August 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  12. Aitken, Margaret (28 June 1955). "Between You and Me". Vancouver News Herald. p. 4.
  13. "The Feminine Touch". Variety. 4 April 1956. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  14. "FEMININE TOUCH, The". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 23, no. 264. London. 1 January 1956. p. 56.
  15. Lejeune, C A. (1 April 1956). "Suspense Story". The Observer. London (UK). p. 10.
  16. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 341. ISBN 0-586-08894-6.
  17. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 308. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
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