As soon as there’s an “us”, there’s a “them”.
The 1947 UK film Frieda is ostensibly about a German girl who weds an Englishman and faces the scorn of a great many common folk, each of whom probably believes they don’t have any biases. Even those who acknowledge this bias within them seem to believe they are taking the moral high road because, to quote one character regarding Germans, “they are just plain evil, every one of them”.
I think this is an intriguing theme and, while the movie does veer into melodrama, the overall approach to the material is commendable. There are numerous flaws in the movie I was willing to overlook; however, the whole thing feels like an uneven affair. Even more unfortunately, there is a development towards the end that is so spectacularly improbable that it nearly derails the whole thing.
First, the pros. This is an Ealing Studios production from the 40’s, with everything that entails. The cast is composed largely of faces you may recognize from other Ealing films of the period, and nearly everybody turns in a top-notch performance. Also, I really liked the use of miniatures for some exteriors.
Of the cast, Glynis Johns is particularly noteworthy, and I am fast finding myself a fan of hers. As in the few other pictures I have seen her in, she does wonders with the slightest change in facial expression. There is always an intelligence in her characterizations beyond the mere words the script has her say.
Curiously, Johns is not the star of the film. Instead, the titular character is played by Swede Mai Zetterling in her film debut. I do not believe I have seen Zetterling in anything before, but there is much positive to say about her performance here. There is a scene where we watch her watching a newsreel about the liberation of the concentration camps, and I wish the camera had simply stayed on her without any cutaways to the real news footage. Her shock registers as real and is heart-wrenching.
The Englishman she marries is played by David Farrar, who doesn’t have much screen presence. I wasn’t sure if his wooden performance was meant to be a caricature of the “stiff upper lip” stereotype. Especially odd is his complete lack of response to the news his brother is likely dead. No, really: he consoles his sister-in-law but never says squat about the fact his brother may be dead.
In general, it seems the male actors do not fare as well in this as the female ones. For Farrar, he may have been directed to act as emotionlessly as an automaton. But I doubt Albert Lieven, playing Frieda’s brother who unexpectedly appears, was told to overact as he does. Also, his German accent kept slipping (though, to be fair, Zetterling’s accent often does as well).
The dialogue is largely good, though often a bit ham-fisted. But some of the dialogue is shockingly frank and pointed, even for today.
The cinematography is top-notch, as expected from an Ealing film. Basil Dearden directed, and I was happy to see his name in the credits as I am a fan of his from such movies as The League of Gentlemen. That said, I’m not sure what he was trying to convey by showing Zetterling and Farrar working in the fields in a scene that reminded me of nothing so much as Soviet propaganda films.
As for the large con I alluded to earlier, there will be an insultingly unbelievable contrivance towards the end involving Frieda’s brother. The luck (not sure if I would call it good or bad) of a certain minor character is so preposterous that they should immediately spend their life savings on lottery tickets, though they will probably get struck by lightning and attacked by sharks every minute of the way to the store to do so. This movie takes place in a village deep in-land and yet this development is so daft that this character would still be attacked by sharks, no matter how impossible.
All things considered, Frieda is flawed but interesting and it has very noble intentions. Perhaps the worst thing I can say about it isn’t the movie’s fault at all and that is, unfortunately, the same bias the central character faces is a struggle happening somewhere in the world at any point in time, even as you’re reading this.
Dir: Basil Dearden
Starring Mai Zetterling, Glynis Johns, David Farrar
Watched on Studiocanal UK blu-ray (Region B)