Kipps (1941 film)

1941 film by Carol Reed

Kipps

Directed by| Carol Reed
Written by| H. G. Wells (novel)
Sidney Gilliat
Frank Launder (uncredited)
Produced by| Edward Black
Starring| Michael Redgrave
Diana Wynyard
Phyllis Calvert
Cinematography| Arthur Crabtree
Edited by| R. E. Dearing
Music by| Charles Williams
Distributed by| 20th Century Fox

Release dates

* 28 June 1941 (1941-06-28) (UK)
* 24 May 1942 (1942-05-24) (USA)

Running time

| 111 minutes (UK)
82 minutes (USA)
Country| United Kingdom
Language| English

Kipps (US title The Remarkable Mr. Kipps) is a 1941 British comedy-drama film adaptation of H. G. Wells's 1905 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Carol Reed[1] and stars Michael Redgrave as a draper's assistant who inherits a large fortune.[2][3] The film's costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton.[4]

The film is set on the south coast of England in Edwardian times, around 1902.

## Plot

[edit]

The day before the fourteen-year-old Arthur "Artie" Kipps leaves to begin a seven-year apprenticeship, he asks his friend's sister, Ann Pornick, to be his girl. She gladly agrees. They split a silver sixpence and each keeps half.

Kipps goes to work for Mr. Shalford in a Folkestone drapery store. Years pass and Kipps grows up into an unremarkable young man. One day, he attends a free lecture on self-improvement presented by Chester Coote and decides to take a course. Coote steers the young man away from the literature class he would prefer to a woodworking class taught by Helen Walshingham, a member of the local gentry. Kipps is soon smitten with his lovely teacher, but she is mindful of his social inferiority and keeps her distance.

One night, actor and playwright Chitterlow rides his bicycle into Kipps and tears his trousers. Taking Kipps back to his lodgings to repair his clothes, they get drunk together, while Chitterlow tells Kipps about his latest play. By coincidence, one of Chitterlow's characters is also called Kipps, a name the writer got from a newspaper advertisement.

When Kipps arrives late for work, he is sacked for breaking one of Mr. Shalford's strict rules for live-in employees. Chitterlow arrives while he is working out his notice to tell Kipps that the advertisement was about him. It turns out that Kipps has inherited a large house and a fortune (£26,000) from a grandfather he had never met.

Chitterlow talks Kipps into investing £300 in his new play for a half share. At the bank, they run into Mr. Coote. Coote suggests that Kipps employ new solicitor Ronnie Walshingham to look after his fortune. When Kipps finds out that the man is Helen's brother, he becomes interested.

Soon, Coote and the Walshinghams have manoeuvred the naive Kipps into an engagement with Helen, though he is uncomfortable at her attempts at his self-improvement.

Kipps meets Ann paddling at the seaside, and they clearly still like each other. However he does not realise that she is now a parlour maid. When he re-encounters her at a formal tea party in the house where she serves, he is embarrassed, and his fiancée is also there. Ann puts her half sixpence into his hand. His feelings for her resurface. Kipps finds her in the scullery and kisses her and tells her he loves her. With the servant bells ringing for Ann, they impulsively rush off to get married.

The newlyweds quarrel over Kipps' insistence on maintaining his social position. Then Kipps receives a request to go to Ronnie Walshingham's office. He suspects it is for a breach-of-promise suit. Instead, Kipps is surprised to meet only Helen there. She has come to confess to him that Ronnie has speculated away all of Kipps' and her own family's money and fled. Kipps reassures Helen that he will not set the police on her brother, and she reassures him that she is resourceful enough to get by herself.

As all seems bleakest for Kipps, Chitterlow arrives from the theatre late at night. He informs Kipps that his play is a great success. It will have a long run, and Kipps will profit from his half-share in the show. It is enough for Kipps to open a bookshop and live comfortably with Ann and their baby son.

## Cast

[edit]

* Philip Frost as Arthur Kipps as a boy
* Michael Redgrave as Arthur Kipps as a man
* Diana Wynyard as Helen Walshingham
* Diana Calderwood as Ann Pornick as a girl
* Phyllis Calvert as Ann Pornick as a woman
* Arthur Riscoe as Chitterlow
* Max Adrian as Chester Coote
* Helen Haye as Mrs. Walshingham
* Michael Wilding as Ronnie Walshingham
* Lloyd Pearson as Shalford
* Edward Rigby as Buggins, an older Shalford employee
* Mackenzie Ward as Pearce
* Hermione Baddeley as Miss Mergle
* Betty Ann Davies as Flo Bates
* Arthur Denton as Carshot
* Betty Jardine as Doris
* Frank Pettingell as Old Kipps
* Beatrice Varley as Mrs. Kipps
* George Carney as Old Pornick (scenes deleted)
* Irene Browne as Mrs. Bindon-Botting
* Peter Graves as Sidney Revel
* Viscount Castlerosse as Man in Bath Chair

## Critical reception

[edit]

An article in Variety determines, "Any effort to give impetus or sharpness to this late Victorian yarn isn’t discernible. Sidney Gilliat’s screenplay [from H.G. Wells novel], while in excellent taste and character, remains sprawled writing. Impression sneaks through that Carol Reed wasn’t exactly comfortable in the director chore on this type of limp yarn...Michael Redgrave is believable as the hick; Phyllis Calvert as the peachy domestic; Diana Wynyard as the tony milady for whom the lower-case Kipps almost sells his heart".[5] More recently, Allmovie noted "a delightful little film that doesn't attempt a great deal but succeeds admirably at what attempts it does make," concluding that "Kipps is ultimately too familiar to be a great film, but as "little" films go, it's remarkably satisfying."[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Remarkable Mr. Kipps (1941) – Overview". TCM.com. Turner Classic Movies.
2. ^ "Kipps (1941) – Carol Reed | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
3. ^ Vagg, Stephen (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black". Filmink. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
4. ^ "Kipps (1941)". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 9 February 2018. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
5. ^ "Kipps". Variety. 1 January 1941.
6. ^ Butler, Craig. "Kipps (1941) – Carol Reed – Review". AllMovie. Retrieved 13 May 2021.

## External links

[edit]

* Film portal

* Kipps at the TCM Movie Database
* Kipps at IMDb
* Kipps at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Carol Reed

* Midshipman Easy (1935)
* Laburnum Grove (1936)
* Talk of the Devil (1936)
* Who's Your Lady Friend? (1937)
* Bank Holiday (1938)
* Penny Paradise (1938)
* Climbing High (1938)
* A Girl Must Live (1939)
* The Stars Look Down (1940)
* The Girl in the News (1940)
* Night Train to Munich (1940)
* Kipps (1941)
* A Letter from Home (1941)
* The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
* The New Lot (1943)
* The Way Ahead (1944)
* The True Glory (1945)
* Odd Man Out (1947)
* The Fallen Idol (1948)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Outcast of the Islands (1951)
* The Man Between (1953)
* A Kid for Two Farthings (1955)
* Trapeze (1956)
* The Key (1958)
* Our Man in Havana (1959)
* The Running Man (1963)
* The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965)
* Oliver! (1968)
* Flap (1970)
* Follow Me! (1972)

* v
* t
* e

H. G. Wells's Kipps (1905)

Film adaptations|

* Kipps (1921)
* Kipps (1941)
* Half a Sixpence (1967)

Stage adaptations|

* Half a Sixpence (1963)
* Half a Sixpence (2016)

* v
* t
* e

Films of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat

Gilliat only|

| Writer only|

* Red Pearls (1930)
* You'd Be Surprised! (1930)
* Lord Richard in the Pantry (1930)
* Bed and Breakfast (1930)
* Third Time Lucky (1931)
* The Ringer (1931)
* The Ghost Train (1931)
* The Happy Ending (1931)
* A Gentleman of Paris (1931)
* Rome Express (1932)
* Falling for You (1933)
* Orders Is Orders (1933)
* Friday the Thirteenth (1933)
* Jack Ahoy (1934)
* Chu Chin Chow (1934)
* My Heart is Calling (1935)
* Bulldog Jack (1935)
* King of the Damned (1936)
* Where There's a Will (1936)
* The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936)
* Strangers on Honeymoon (1936)
* Take My Tip (1937)
* A Yank at Oxford (1938)
* Strange Boarders (1938)
* The Gaunt Stranger (1938)
* Ask a Policeman (1938)
* Jamaica Inn (1939)
* The Girl in the News (1940)
* Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light (1941)
* Kipps (1941)

|

Director|

* Waterloo Road (1945)

Launder only|

| Writer only|

* Under the Greenwood Tree (1929)
* Children of Chance (1930)
* The W Plan (1930)
* The Middle Watch (1930)
* How He Lied to Her Husband (1931 short)
* Hobson's Choice (1931)
* Keepers of Youth (1931)
* The Woman Between (1931)
* Children of Fortune (1931)
* After Office Hours (1932)
* Josser in the Army (1932)
* Old Spanish Customers (1933)
* You Made Me Love You (1933)
* For the Love of Mike (1932)
* Hawley's of High Street (1933)
* A Southern Maid (1933)
* Those Were the Days (1933)
* Happy (1933)
* Get Off My Foot (1935)
* Rolling Home (1935)
* The Black Mask (1935)
* Emil and the Detectives (1935)
* So You Won't Talk (1935)
* Mr. What's-His-Name? (1935)
* I Give My Heart (1935)
* Educated Evans (1936)
* Where's Sally? (1936)
* Don't Get Me Wrong (1937)
* Oh, Mr Porter! (1937)
* A Girl Must Live (1939)
* Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1941)
* We Dive at Dawn (1943)
* Ring of Spies (1964)

|

Director|

* The Last Coupon (1932)
* Two Thousand Women (1944)
* The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980)

Together|

| Writers only|

* Facing the Music (1933)
* Twelve Good Men (1936)
* Seven Sinners (1936)
* The Lady Vanishes (1938)
* Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939)
* They Came by Night (1940)
* Night Train to Munich (1940)
* The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)
* The Green Man (1956)

|

Directed together|

* Partners in Crime (1942 short)
* Millions Like Us (1943)
* The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)

Directed by Gilliat|

* The Rake's Progress (1945)
* Green for Danger (1946)
* London Belongs to Me (1948)
* State Secret (1950)
* The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
* The Constant Husband (1955)
* Fortune Is a Woman (1956)
* Left Right and Centre (1959)
* Only Two Can Play (1962)
* Endless Night (1972)

Directed by Launder|

* I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
* Captain Boycott (1947)
* The Blue Lagoon (1949)
* The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
* Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951)
* Folly to Be Wise (1952)
* The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)
* Geordie (1955)
* Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957)
* The Bridal Path (1959)
* The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960)
* Joey Boy (1965)

Producers only|

* The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
* Ooh… You Are Awful (1972)

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