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	* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1028-hobson-s-choice-custom-made ''Hobson’s Choice: Custom-Made''] an essay by [[w:Armond White\|Armond White]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]		* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1028-hobson-s-choice-custom-made ''Hobson’s Choice: Custom-Made''] an essay by [[w:Armond White\|Armond White]] at the [[The Criterion Collection]]

	[[Category:British films based on plays]]		[[Category:British films based on plays]]

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 [[Category:British films based on plays]]

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	* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1028-hobson-s-choice-custom-made ''Hobson’s Choice: Custom-Made''] an essay by [[Armond White]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]		* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1028-hobson-s-choice-custom-made ''Hobson’s Choice: Custom-Made''] an essay by [[w:Armond White\|Armond White]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

	~~{{David Lean}}~~
	~~{{Alexander Korda}}~~
	{{Navboxes		{{Navboxes
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	[[Category:Films set in Manchester]]		[[Category:Films set in Manchester]]
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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Hobson's Choice		\| name = Hobson's Choice
	\| image = ~~Hobsonschoice~~.jpg		\| image = Hobson's Choice (1954 film).jpg
	\| caption = Theatrical release poster		\| caption = Theatrical release poster
	\| director = [[David Lean]]		\| director = [[David Lean]]

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1950s British films

2022-09-03T17:59:26Z

External links: add Category:1950s British films

New page

{{short description|1954 film by David Lean}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Hobson's Choice
| image = Hobsonschoice.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[David Lean]]
| writer = [[Harold Brighouse]] (play) [[Wynyard Browne]] David Lean [[Norman Spencer (producer)|Norman Spencer]]
| producer = David Lean [[Alexander Korda]]
| starring = [[Charles Laughton]] [[Brenda de Banzie]] [[John Mills]] [[Daphne Anderson]] [[Prunella Scales]]
| cinematography = [[Jack Hildyard]]
| editing = [[Peter Taylor (film editor)|Peter Taylor]]
| music = [[Malcolm Arnold]]
| studio = [[London Films]]
| distributor = [[British Lion Films]] [[United Artists]]
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1954|4|19}}
| runtime = 107 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| gross = £206,579<ref>Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p503</ref>
}}

'''''Hobson's Choice''''' is a 1954 [[British films|British]] [[romantic comedy]] film directed by [[David Lean]].<ref>''[[Variety Film Reviews|Variety]]'' film review; 3 March 1954, page 6.</ref><ref>''[[Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews|Harrison's Reports]]'' film review; 12 June 1954, page 94.</ref> It is based on the 1916 [[Hobson's Choice (play)|play of the same name]] by [[Harold Brighouse]]. It stars [[Charles Laughton]] in the role of Victorian bootmaker Henry Hobson, [[Brenda de Banzie]] as his eldest daughter and [[John Mills]] as a timid employee. The film also features [[Prunella Scales]] in one of her first cinema roles as Vicky.

''Hobson's Choice'' won the [[British Academy Film Award]] for [[8th British Academy Film Awards|Best British Film 1954]].

==Plot==
Henry Horatio Hobson is the autocratic proprietor of a moderately upmarket boot shop (boots, shoes and clogs) in 1880 [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]]. A widower, Hobson is a notorious miser with three grown daughters: Maggie and her younger and less-dedicated sisters, Alice and Vicky. All three have kept house and worked in their father's shop for years without wages, and Alice and Vicky are eager to marry, and their intentions infect Maggie. Alice has been seeing Albert Prosser, a young up-and-coming solicitor, while Vicky prefers Freddy Beenstock, the son of a corn merchant. Hobson has no objection to losing Alice and Vicky, but Maggie is another matter. He tells her she is too old for such things, "...thirty and shelved." While mocking her to his drinking cronies at The Moonrakers pub, he freely admits that she is too useful to lose.

Insulted, Maggie decides to marry Willie Mossop, the shop's gifted but under-appreciated bootmaker, despite the timid man having no such aspirations. When Willie informs her he has already been bullied into an engagement to his landlady's daughter, Maggie promptly puts an end to that – to his great relief. Maggie tells her father of her intentions and delivers her terms. Hobson attempts to intimidate Willie instead, by threatening to "beat the love out" of him with his belt. Willie declares he has no love for Maggie, but if Hobson strikes him, he will stick to her like glue. Hobson strikes him twice, and the couple walk out.

Maggie seeks a loan of £100 from Mrs. Hepworth, a very satisfied customer. When Mrs. Hepworth asks about security, Maggie says that Willie is the security: he is the finest bootmaker in Lancashire. With cash in hand, Maggie finds a basement that will serve as both shop and living quarters, furnishes it, has Willy buy tools and supplies, and arranges for the [[Banns of marriage|banns]] to be read.

Hobson feels Maggie's absence. Alice and Vicky are unwilling or unable to pick up the slack, in the house or the shop. The night before the wedding, Hobson storms off to The Moonrakers and gets drunk. Stumbling home, he falls through a trapdoor into the basement of Beenstock & Co., where he is found next day sleeping it off. Freddy Beanstock rushes to tell Maggie ... who gets an idea. When he awakes, Hobson is served with a notice that he is being sued for trespass and damage.

Maggie's sisters reluctantly attend Willie and Maggie's wedding at the insistence of their fiancés. The wedding dinner is held in the basement shop/home. Hobson arrives after dark to seek Maggie's advice regarding his legal woes. She manoeuvres him into negotiating with Albert Prosser, representing Freddy Beenstock. Hobson reluctantly agrees to pay £500 to settle the matter out of court. Only then does he realise he has been "diddled": the money will replace the [[Marriage settlement (England)|marriage settlements]] Hobson refused to provide for Alice and Vicky.

Willie dreads his wedding night, but all turns out well, and he emerges a new man. The next morning, they make their first sale: a pair of bootlaces for one penny. Between Maggie's business sense and Willie's shoemaking genius, their business thrives. Within a year, they have not only paid off Mrs. Hepworth's loan and 20% interest, they have also wooed away nearly all of Hobson's upscale clientele. Under Maggie's tutelage, the meek and illiterate Willie is transforming into a confident man of business.

On New Year's Day, Hobson suffers hallucinations. Dr. MacFarlane diagnoses "chronic alcoholism." Maggie summons Willie, Vicky and Alice to decide who will return home to look after their father. Both Vicky and Alice adamantly refuse to do so. With no alternative, Hobson tries to get Maggie and Willie back on the old terms, but Willie will not settle for anything less than a 50-50 partnership, his name first on the sign, and Hobson relegated to [[Partnership#Silent partners|silent partner]]. Hobson grudgingly accepts.

Willie wants to change Maggie's brass wedding ring for a gold one, but she insists on keeping it – to remind them of their humble beginnings.

==Cast==
* [[Charles Laughton]] as Henry Horatio Hobson
* [[John Mills]] as Will Mossop
* [[Brenda de Banzie]] as Maggie Hobson
* [[Daphne Anderson]] as Alice Hobson
* [[Prunella Scales]] as Vicky Hobson
* [[Richard Wattis]] as Albert Prosser
* [[Derek Blomfield]] as Freddy Beenstock
* [[Helen Haye]] as Mrs. Hepworth, the financial backer
* [[Joseph Tomelty]] as Jim Heeler
* [[Julien Mitchell]] as Sam Minns, the publican
* [[Gibb McLaughlin]] as Tudsbury
* [[Philip Stainton]] as Denton
* [[Dorothy Gordon (British actress)|Dorothy Gordon]] as Ada Figgins
* [[Madge Brindley]] as Mrs Figgins
* [[John Laurie]] as Dr. MacFarlane
* [[Raymond Huntley]] as Nathaniel Beenstock
* [[Jack Howarth (actor)|Jack Howarth]] as Tubby Wadlow, another Hobson employee
* Herbert C. Walton as Printer
* [[Edie Martin]] as Old Lady Buying Shoelaces

==Production==
[[Robert Donat]] was originally cast in the role of Will Mossop but had to pull out due to his asthma.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18517961 |title=illness May Silence Donat's Golden Voice. |newspaper=[[The Sunday Herald (Sydney)|The Sunday Herald]] |location=Sydney |date=2 August 1953 |access-date=7 July 2012 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> The outdoor location scenes were filmed around the Salford area with [[Peel Park, Salford|Peel Park]] serving as the courting place for Maggie Hobson and William Mossop.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://usir.salford.ac.uk/10597/|title=Filming of Hobson's Choice in Peel Park |last=Anon|work=Salford Archive|publisher=University of Salford|access-date=1 May 2015}}</ref> Interiors were shot at [[Shepperton Studios]] near [[London]] with sets designed by the [[art director]] [[Wilfred Shingleton]].

==Soundtrack==
[[Malcolm Arnold]] took the comical main theme for the film from his opera ''The Dancing Master''. Throughout the film, it is linked to Hobson so often that he even whistles it at one point. Arnold wrote the score for a small [[pit orchestra]] of 22 players, and he enlisted the help of a Belgian cafe owner to play the [[musical saw]] for one pivotal scene. After a night of drinking at [[Moonrakers|The Moonraker]], Hobson is seeing double, and he fixates on the reflection of the moon in the puddles outside the pub. Arnold deploys the musical saw to represent the willowy allure of the moon, as the clumsy Hobson stamps from puddle to puddle, chasing its reflection.<ref>Jackson, Paul R.W. [https://books.google.com/books?id=a4tF-QPBrP4C&lpg=PA1&pg=PA45#v=onepage&q=hobson's%20choice ''The life and music of Sir Malcolm Arnold: the brilliant and the dark], pp. 45–46.</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film was one of the most popular at the British box office in 1954.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=259|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}</ref>

===Critical===
In his ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' review, [[Bosley Crowther]] called ''Hobson's Choice'' "a delightful and rewarding British film", and praised the performances of the three leads and its producer/director.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D01E3D6153AE53BBC4D52DFB066838F649EDE |title=Hobson's Choice (1953) |author=Bosley Crowther |work=The New York Times |date=15 June 1954 |access-date=23 December 2009}}</ref> ''[[TV Guide]]'' gave the film four stars, characterising it as "a fully developed comedy of human foibles and follies with Laughton rendering a masterful, sly performance, beautifully supported by de Banzie and Mills."<ref name=TVGuide>{{cite magazine |url=http://movies.tvguide.com/hobsons-choice/review/101042 |title=Hobson's Choice |magazine=TV Guide |access-date=23 December 2009}}</ref> In the opinion of Daniel Etherington of [[Channel 4]], the "character interactions between the couple and the old bugger of a dad are fascinating, funny and moving."<ref name=C4>{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=104260&section=review&page=all#reviewnav |title=Hobson's Choice Review |author=Daniel Etherington |publisher=Channel4 |access-date=23 December 2009}}</ref> His verdict is, "Displays the Lean mark of quality and sterling work from its leads. A gem."<ref name=C4/>

===Awards===
The film won the [[Golden Bear]] at the [[4th Berlin International Film Festival]] in 1954<ref name="Berlinale 1954">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1954/03_preistr_ger_1954/03_Preistraeger_1954.html |title=4th Berlin International Film Festival: Prize Winners |access-date=23 December 2009 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> and British Film Academy Award Best British Film 1954.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130125103744/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/David_Lean/196424 David Lean at Hollywood.com]</ref>

==Home media==
''Hobson's Choice'' is available on VHS ([[Warner Home Video]] in the UK), DVD (as part of [[The Criterion Collection]]), Blu-ray, and LaserDisc.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
*''The Great British Films'', pp 162–164, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, {{ISBN|0-8065-0661-X}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0047094}}
* {{Allmovie title|22682}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=78157}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1028-hobson-s-choice-custom-made ''Hobson’s Choice: Custom-Made''] an essay by [[Armond White]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{David Lean}}
{{Alexander Korda}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Awards for ''Hobson's Choice''
|list=
{{BAFTA Best British Film}}
{{Golden Bear 1951-1959}}
}}

[[Category:British films based on plays]]
[[Category:1954 films]]
[[Category:1954 comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:British historical films]]
[[Category:1950s historical films]]
[[Category:British Lion Films films]]
[[Category:London Films films]]
[[Category:British comedy-drama films]]
[[Category:Films set in Manchester]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1880s]]
[[Category:Golden Bear winners]]
[[Category:Films directed by David Lean]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Best British Film BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Films scored by Malcolm Arnold]]
[[Category:Films shot in Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Films shot at Shepperton Studios]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]

Hobson's Choice (1954 film) - Revision history

Kurt: /* External links */

Kurt at 23:18, 11 February 2023

Kurt: /* External links */

Kurt at 20:35, 20 October 2022

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1950s British films