The Gentle Sex

The Gentle Sex is a 1943 British black-and-white romantic comedy-drama war film, directed and narrated by Leslie Howard. It was produced by Concanen Productions, Two Cities Films, and Derrick de Marney.[1] The Gentle Sex was Howard's last film before his death.[2]

The Gentle Sex
Directed byLeslie Howard
Written byMoie Charles[1]
additional dialogue:
Aimée Stuart
Produced byDerrick de Marney
StarringJoan Gates
Jean Gillie
Joan Greenwood
Joyce Howard
Rosamund John
Lilli Palmer
John Justin
Narrated byLeslie Howard
CinematographyRobert Krasker
Edited byCharles Saunders
Music byJohn D. H. Greenwood
Production
companies
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors
Release date
15 April 1943
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Synopsis

The documentary-drama follows seven women from different backgrounds who meet at an Auxiliary Territorial Service training camp. "Gentle" British girls, they are now doing their bit to help out in World War II: driving lorries and manning ack-ack batteries. Leslie Howard provides slightly sarcastic narration throughout the film.[3][4]

The girls are allowed to socialise at organised dances with local male troops. Music is contemporary (big band swing) and dancing includes the jitterbug. Several of the girls find romance. The narrator points out that "war is never kind to lovers".

Cast

Best source is at BFI:

ATS volunteers

Other characters

Box office

Kinematograph Weekly listed a series of films that were "runners up" in its survey of the most popular films in Britain in 1943: The Gentle Sex, The Lamp Still Burns, Dear Octopus and The Adventures of Tartu.[5]

Critical reception

TV Guide noted "some lucid and funny moments in a capable and intelligent production for its time";[6] and Billy Mowbray wrote, for Film 4, "if only social history was this good at school. Funny, fascinating and probably unlike any film you've seen before, The Gentle Sex is a bona fide cultural treasure."[7]

References
  1. "The Gentle Sex". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  2. "BFI Screenonline: Gentle Sex, The (1943)". screenonline.org.uk.
  3. "The Gentle Sex". britmovie.co.uk.
  4. "The Gentle Sex (1943) directed by Leslie Howard • Film + cast • Letterboxd". letterboxd.com.
  5. Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout : reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 231.
  6. "The Gentle Sex". TV Guide.
  7. "The Gentle Sex". film4.com.

Further reading
  • Lejeune, C. A. (1947) Chestnuts in her Lap. London: "Mädchen in Uniform: The Gentle Sex", pp. 95–96
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.