A WWII drama produced by the legendary British studios Ealing. 1945’s Pink String and Sealing Wax would have to faceplant hard to get a harsh critique from me.
And it’s not going to get one. This drama concerns two groups of characters on a collision course: the family of a stern pharmacist, and a contentious husband and wife who run a lower-class pub.
The family patriarch (Mervyn Johns) is quite the well-intentioned monster. His character is firmly established in the first couple of minutes. We see a woman being sentenced to hang, as result of his testimony. At first, I thought his family was going to be monstrous, as well, since the first time we see the eldest daughter, she is exclaiming to her mother, “Oh, I do hope they’ll hang Mrs. Jackson!” Upon further explanation, it turns out she was only hoping for that because, otherwise, her father would be in a hideous mood.
And the following are the things he does while in a good mood. Out of concern for his son’s future, he blocks a blossoming romance with a girl. For fear his daughter will not marry well, he opposes her acceptance of a scholarship she was won to study music abroad. In the interest of science, he is going to starve his daughter’s guinea pigs and perform vivisection on them. OK—I’ll admit I can’t think of any way mankind will benefit from what he is going to do to those poor creatures.
But the real star here is Googie Withers as the lusty and conniving wife of a barman. This is the perfect kind of role for her, and I have seen her similarly cast before. I always wonder how she got that name. And when somebody was trying to find her on the set, did they call out, “Wither Googie?” I hope so.
The chemist’s son, his eldest offspring, drowns his sorrows at the pub owned by Goggie’s husband and he falls head-over-heels in wuv with her. Sidenote: I always wondered about that phrase because, if it means you’re out of control, wouldn’t a better choice of words be “heels-over-head”?
When tending to a cut on her hand, conversation naturally turns to poisons (and here I thought that only happens to me). He casually lets slips how similar the results of strychnine poisoning and tetanus are. Why, most doctors can’t tell the difference.
She asks for something to drink. All he has is milk, but she still accepts. While he’s out of the room, she pockets some of the poison. When he returns, she downs the milk, though obviously against her will. Her expression of disgust as she finishes it is priceless.
Other acts of rebellion are initiated by his sisters as he conducts secret liaisons with a married woman. My favorite of these is the youngest, who is determined to save the guinea pigs. At a greengrocer, she asks how many cabbages it takes to feed six black and white guinea pigs. Are the black and white ones more or less hungry than the other kinds? Also, I love the declaration the son makes to his father in defense of the eldest sister: “I’m her brother as much as she’s your daughter.”
Pink String and Sealing Wax is a solid film with intriguing characters. It isn’t a classic, but fans of this kind of picture will find much to enjoy. As for that peculiar title, that is how chemists used to package their wares.
Dir: Robert Hamer
Starring Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Gordon Jackson
Watched on Studiocanal UK blu-ray (region B)