Kurt at 14:08, 7 February 2023

2023-02-07T14:08:34Z

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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	~~\| name = The Magnet~~
	\| image = The Magnet (1950) film poster.jpg		\| image = The Magnet (1950) film poster.jpg
	\| image_size =		\| image_size =
	\| caption = ~~Original UK quad format film poster~~		\| caption =
	\| director = [[Charles Frend]]		\| director = [[Charles Frend]]
	\| producer = [[Michael Balcon]]		\| producer = [[Michael Balcon]]

Kurt at 04:21, 7 February 2023

2023-02-07T04:21:14Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:21, 6 February 2023
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	~~{{short description\|1950 film by Charles Frend}}~~
	~~{{EngvarB\|date=September 2013}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=September 2013}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Magnet		\| name = The Magnet
	\| image = ~~The_Magnet_~~(1950)~~_film_poster~~.jpg		\| image = The Magnet (1950) film poster.jpg
	\| image_size =		\| image_size =
	\| caption = Original UK quad format film poster		\| caption = Original UK quad format film poster
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	==External links==		==External links==
	* {{IMDb title\|0043772\|The Magnet}}		* {{IMDb title\|0043772\|The Magnet}}

	~~{{Charles Frend}}~~
	~~{{Michael Balcon}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnet, The (film)}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnet, The (film)}}

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2023-02-07T04:16:28Z

1 revision imported

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en>Andrzejbanas: Restored revision 1122484795 by Mandarax (talk): Per infobox standards, only the original country of release and distributors in the infobox

2022-12-26T21:08:07Z

Restored revision 1122484795 by Mandarax (talk): Per infobox standards, only the original country of release and distributors in the infobox

New page

{{short description|1950 film by Charles Frend}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Magnet
| image = The_Magnet_(1950)_film_poster.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Original UK quad format film poster
| director = [[Charles Frend]]
| producer = [[Michael Balcon]]
| writer = [[T. E. B. Clarke]]
| narrator =
| starring = [[Stephen Murray (actor)|Stephen Murray]]<br />[[Kay Walsh]]<br />[[James Fox]]
| music = [[William Alwyn]]
| cinematography = [[Lionel Banes]]
| editing = [[Bernard Gribble]]
| studio = [[Ealing Studios]]
| distributor = [[General Film Distributors|GFD]]
| released = {{film date|df=y|1950|10|19|UK<ref>The Times, 19 October 1950, page 2: First advertisement for ''The Magnet'' at Odeon Leicester Square, London</ref>|}}
| runtime = 78 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
|gross=£75,000<ref name="sue">{{cite book|title=British Cinema of The 1950s The Decline of Deference|first1=Sue|last1= Harper|first2=Vincent|last2= Porter|publisher=Oxford University Press USA|year=2003|page=285}}</ref>
| language = English
}}

'''''The Magnet''''' is a 1950 British [[Ealing Comedies|comedy film]] featuring [[Stephen Murray (actor)|Stephen Murray]], [[Kay Walsh]] and in his first starring role [[James Fox]] (then billed as William Fox). The story involves a young [[Wallasey]] boy, Johnny Brent (Fox), who obtains the eponymous magnet by deception, leading to much confusion. When he is acclaimed as a hero, he is shamed by his own sense of guilt.

==Plot==
11 year old Johnny Brent (Fox) is home from school during a [[scarlet fever]] outbreak, but not making much attempt to stay isolated. He lives in New Brighton on the North West coast. After watching his father board the ferry to his work as a psychologist in Liverpool, he spends the rest of the morning playing on the beach.

He manages to [[confidence trick|con]] a younger boy out of a large [[horseshoe magnet]] by trading it for an "invisible watch". The other boy's nanny is not happy with the swap. Johnny is almost run over and sees it as karma and decides to get rid of the magnet. After an older boy uses the magnet to cheat at pinball and Johnny is implicated, Johnny continues to try to get rid of the magnet. He meets an eccentric [[Negative pressure ventilator|iron lung]] maker who is raising funds for the local hospital, and gives him the magnet to be auctioned for charity. The iron lung maker, rather bizarrely demonstrating his equipment in the middle of a seaside beauty contest, tells the story of the magnet at various fund-raising events, exaggerating wildly and portraying Johnny as everything from a spoiled brat to a [[Dickensian]] ragamuffin. He auctions the magnet to the crowd and sells it for £40. No one wants it though and it keeps coming back allowing it to be repeatedly auctioned,

On a train returning to school, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend about her [[budgerigar]], which she says has died of a broken heart. Johnny mistakenly thinks she is talking about the little boy himself, and becomes convinced that he has caused the death of the boy. Various other things he overhears confirms his theory. His mum realises something is wrong and tries to make him feel useful. She sends him to the local [[Maypole Dairy Company|Maypole Dairy]] on an errand. He is again startled by a policeman and hides in the back of a [[Jacob's]] [[cream cracker]]s van, which takes him to the [[Liverpool]] slums, where he comes into conflict with the local boys. He wins them over by convincing them he is a fugitive from the police. They hide him in a building on the disused pier. They leave him a tin of soup and some dry macaroni.

He saves the life of one boy who had fallen through a disused pier. The injured boy ends up in an iron lung made by the man to whom Johnny gave the magnet. When Johnny visits the boy, he sees the magnet mounted on the iron lung and is reunited with the inventor, who is delighted to have found Johnny again. Johnny is awarded the Civic Gold Medal. When he later re-encounters the original boy on the beach he swaps the medal for his old "invisible watch" and clears his conscience.<ref name=CH4>{{cite web
|url=http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=133179&section=review |title=The Magnet Movie Review (1950) from Channel 4 Film |publisher=[[Channel 4]] |accessdate=23 April 2009
|last=Fortgang |first=Jon }}</ref><ref name = SOL/>

== Cast ==
{{div col}}
*[[Stephen Murray (actor)|Stephen Murray]] – Dr Brent
*[[Kay Walsh]] – Mrs Brent
*[[James Fox]] (billed as William Fox) – Johnny Brent
*[[Meredith Edwards (actor)|Meredith Edwards]] – Harper
*[[Gladys Henson]] – Nanny
*[[Thora Hird]] – Nanny's friend
*Michael Brooke (as Michael Brooke Jr) – Kit
*[[Wylie Watson]] – Pickering
*[[Julien Mitchell]] – Mayor
*[[Anthony Oliver]] – Policeman
* Thomas Johnston - Perce
* Geoffrey Yin - Choppo
*[[Molly Hamley-Clifford]] – Mrs Dean
*[[Harold Goodwin (English actor)|Harold Goodwin]] – Pin table man
*[[Joan Hickson]] – Mrs Ward
*[[Joss Ambler]] – Businessman
*[[Sam Kydd]] – Postman
*[[Russell Waters]] – Doctor
*[[James Robertson Justice]] (as Seumas Mor na Fesag) – Tramp
{{div col end}}

==Production and casting==
''The Magnet'' was filmed on location in and around [[New Brighton, Merseyside|New Brighton]], Wallasey, [[Wirral Peninsula|the Wirral]], Cheshire, [[Liverpool]], Ealing and at [[Ealing Studios]], London, in [[monochrome|black and white]]. A collection of location stills and corresponding contemporary photographs is hosted at reelstreets.com.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Magnet, The |url=https://www.reelstreets.com/films/magnet-the/ |access-date=5 March 2022 |website=ReelStreets}}</ref>

Given its setting, however, authentic [[scouse|local accents]] are absent until almost the end of the film, in a scene filmed in the shadow of the [[Liverpool Cathedral]].<ref name="SOL">{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/450436/ |title=screenonline: Magnet, The (1950)
|publisher=www.screenonline.org.uk |accessdate=23 April 2009}}</ref> A Chinese boy (played by Geoffrey Yin) appears in this scene, which was unusual for the time in film, although there had been a significant Chinese community in Liverpool since the 1860s, but when he is called home by his mother in Chinese, explains this to his friends in a fluent Liverpool accent.<ref name="SOL" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1369 |title=Port Cities: – Culture and Ethnicity Differences in Liverpool – Chinese Community |publisher=www.mersey-gateway.org |accessdate=24 April 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305061121/http://www.mersey-gateway.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.1369 |archivedate=5 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[James Fox]] (then known as William) had appeared in ''[[The Miniver Story]]'' earlier in the year, and this was his first starring role, at the age of 11;<ref name = CH4/> his performance was largely appreciated, being described by the [[British Film Institute]]'s reviewer as "certainly lively enough as the over-imaginative Johnny".<ref name = SOL/> Stalwarts of Ealing's [[repertory]] ensemble, however, such as [[Stanley Holloway]] and [[Alec Guinness]], were absent, although [[James Robertson Justice]] made a small appearance as a tramp, using a [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] pseudonym;<ref>Alleged to mean "Big James with the beard":{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0433150/ |title=James Robertson Justice |publisher=[[IMDb]] |accessdate=23 April 2009}}</ref> at the time he was a candidate in the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|General Election]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/justice_james.htm |title=James Robertson Justice |publisher=www.electricscotland.com
|accessdate=23 April 2009 |last= Watson|first= Howard}}</ref>

==Reception==
The film has not achieved the general popularity of better-known [[Ealing comedies]] such as ''[[Passport to Pimlico]]'' and ''[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]'', although it is described as "a mild-mannered affair and the comedy gives way to a decidedly poignant conclusion".<ref name = CH4/> [[Leslie Halliwell]] similarly described it as a "very mild Ealing comedy, not really up to snuff".<ref>{{cite book | last = Halliwell | first = Leslie | title = Halliwell's Film and Video Guide | year = 1997 | publisher = [[HarperCollins]] | pages = 466 | isbn = 0-00-638779-9 | editor = John Walker}}</ref> The [[British Film Institute]]'s reviewer criticised it as "somewhat burdened by cumbersome moralising and too many credibility-stretching coincidences and misunderstandings" and described it as "an attempt to revisit the success of Clarke's earlier ''[[Hue and Cry (film)|Hue and Cry]]''".<ref name = SOL/>

The film was a [[box office bomb|box office disappointment]].<ref>[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=xtGIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=hungry+hill+film+box+office&source=bl&ots=MTsQXadYDw&sig=2h-5aG3Vy4tT_h1mlC4mfRi18JQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiZ8b6P1YHMAhVEFqYKHcy9BF8Q6AEIMzAF#v=onepage&q=hungry%20hill%20film%20box%20office&f=false Robert Murphy, ''Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48'' 2003 p212]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0043772|The Magnet}}

{{Charles Frend}}
{{Michael Balcon}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnet, The (film)}}
[[Category:1950 films]]
[[Category:1950 comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Charles Frend]]
[[Category:Ealing Studios films]]
[[Category:Films set in Liverpool]]
[[Category:Films produced by Michael Balcon]]
[[Category:Films scored by William Alwyn]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]

The Magnet (film) - Revision history

Kurt at 14:08, 7 February 2023

Kurt at 04:21, 7 February 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Andrzejbanas: Restored revision 1122484795 by Mandarax (talk): Per infobox standards, only the original country of release and distributors in the infobox