Nice seems to often to be used as a derogatory term. That’s a shame, because sometimes one wants a movie that is simply “nice”.
1938’s Penny Paradise is such a film, an effortless confection that is very easy to watch and which is quite enjoyable. The plot ties itself into some interesting knots I was curious to see how it would get out of, and was pleasantly surprised at how it does.
Edmund Gwenn stars as a Liverpool tugboat captain. While no spring chicken here, he is still younger in this than I have ever seen the future star of Miracle on 34th Street. This is a man who is relatively at ease, except he badly wants to command the newest tug in the fleet owned by his boss (James Harcourt).
His second-in-command is the affable Jimmy O’Dea, who is sweet on Gwenn’s daughter (Betty Driver), who works at the seemingly only restaurant in the vicinity. Also vying for the attentions of Driver is Jack Livesey, a bookkeeper-type fancy lad working in Harcourt’s office. As for Gwenn, he is sweet on a widow who runs a local fish and chips establishment (Maire O’Neill).
Everything changes when Gwenn’s selections for the football pools comes up. Different people estimate he has won an amount somewhere between twenty and thirty thousand pounds. I can’t begin to fathom how much money that would be today, as the bar tab for a celebratory night of revelry for a huge group of friends and strangers comes to only 15 quid.
So I guess it is reasonable the winnings could buy a rival fleet of tugboats, which is Gwenn’s dream. When he tells Harcourt his intention, his boss wisely offers him the job of captaining the new tug. There’s a nice moment where Gwenn hears the sound of that horn, smiles broadly and readily accepts the job.
But one person isn’t impressed with his sudden windfall, and that’s O’Neill. She even disapproved of his gambling before he won, saying she needs a man who is steady. I liked Gwenn’s retort: “I’m steady enough—I haven’t won yet”. Having accepted the offer of helming the new tug, he goes to her to deliver the good news. Once again, she isn’t impressed, saying he was only offered the job because of his newfound riches.
Gwenn works out a scheme to convince her he would have got the job anyway, telling O’Day to tell everybody he didn’t really win because O’Day forgot to mail the packet. O’Day is very convincing when repeating this line back to Gwenn, as he really did forget to put it in the post.
There are a couple of other characters I want to single out for attention and that is Ethel Coleridge and Syd Crossley as relations who are doggedly determined to get half of the earnings. I guess that wouldn’t be too hard to arrange, as half of nothing is nothing. Gwenn could even be generous and give them the whole nothing. There’s a moment with the uptight, teetotalling Coleridge I like. At Gwenn’s shindig, she suddenly lightens up and says she feels like dancing. Crossley: “You always said that was sinful” Coleridge: “I feel like being sinful”
It is no surprise Penny Paradise is an Ealing comedy, albeit an earlier than any of their fare I had seen up to this point. Perhaps the one element which caught me unawares was the directors. The assistant director was Basil Dearden, who made one of my favorite movies, The League of Gentlemen. And helming the picture overall was Carol Reed, who directed by very most picture of all time, The Third Man.
Dir: Carol Reed
Starring Edmund Gwenn, Betty Driver, Jimmy O’Dea
Watched as part of the Network (UK) DVD box set The Ealing Rarities Collection