''Salute John Citizen'' is a 1942
black and white British
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...
and starring
Edward Rigby
Edward Coke MC (5 February 1879 – 5 April 1951), known professionally as Edward Rigby, was a British character actor.
Early life
Rigby was born at Ashford, Kent, England, the second son of Dr William Harriott Coke and his wife, Mary Elizabe ...
,
Mabel Constanduros
Mabel Constanduros (' Tilling; 29 March 1880 – 8 February 1957) was an English actress and screenwriter. She gained public notice playing Mrs.Buggins on the radio programme '' The Buggins Family'', which ran from 1928 to 1948. As well as writi ...
and
Jimmy Hanley. The Bunting family face up to the fortunes of war during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Plot
The life of an ordinary family during the London
Blitz
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
. In the summer before that explosive September, elderly clerk Mr. Bunting (Edward Rigby) loses his job at the Department store where he's worked for over 40 years. George Bunting is the head of a happy home, with wife Mary (Mabel Constanduros), daughter Julie (Peggy Cummins), and two sons, Chris (Eric Micklewood) and Ernest (Jimmy Hanley). When the Blitz hits London, we observe its effect on the family, and how they cope with the crisis. Mr. Bunting is rehired in his former job due to the shortage of manpower, though little else in his life is positive. Daughter Julie goes to work in a factory. The London blitz destroys everything in sight, and one of his sons, Chris, is killed. In the wake of this destruction, his other son, Ernest is converted from pacifism to the war effort.
Cast
*
Edward Rigby
Edward Coke MC (5 February 1879 – 5 April 1951), known professionally as Edward Rigby, was a British character actor.
Early life
Rigby was born at Ashford, Kent, England, the second son of Dr William Harriott Coke and his wife, Mary Elizabe ...
as Mr. Bunting
*
Mabel Constanduros
Mabel Constanduros (' Tilling; 29 March 1880 – 8 February 1957) was an English actress and screenwriter. She gained public notice playing Mrs.Buggins on the radio programme '' The Buggins Family'', which ran from 1928 to 1948. As well as writi ...
as Mrs. Bunting
*
Jimmy Hanley as Ernest Bunting
* Eric Micklewood as Chris Bunting
*
Peggy Cummins as Julie Bunting
*
Dinah Sheridan
Dinah Sheridan (born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg; 17 September 1920 – 25 November 2012) was an English actress with a career spanning seven decades. She was best known for the films '' Genevieve'' (1953) and '' The Railway Children'' (1970); the l ...
as Evie
* Charles Deane as Bert Rollo
*
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in ''My F ...
as Oskey
*
George Robey
Sir George Edward Wade, CBE (20 September 1869 – 29 November 1954), Harding, James"Robey, George" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 10 May 2014. known professionally as George Robey, was an ...
as Corder
*
David Keir
David Keir (1884–1971) was a British film actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, rad ...
as Turner
Reception
Allmovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...
described the film as " a simple, low-pressure study of the wartime "
home front
Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the full participation of the British public in World War I who suffered Zeppelin raids and endured food rations as part of what came t ...
."...in its own quiet, unassuming war, ''Salute John Citizen'' paints a truer portrait of a proud populace besieged by war than the more celebrated ''
Mrs. Miniver
''Mrs. Miniver'' is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Inspired by the 1940 novel '' Mrs. Miniver'' by Jan Struther, it shows how the life of an unassuming British h ...
'' "; and ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' noted "a nice little film--a simple telling of a modest family's attempts to cope with ongoing conflict" while in his book ''Typical Men: The Representation of Masculinity in Popular British Cinema'', Andrew Spicer concluded that the films "popularity was limited by its obviously frugal budget, and uncharismatic central star."
References
External links
*
{{Maurice Elvey
1942 films
1942 drama films
1940s English-language films
Films directed by Maurice Elvey
British drama films
British black-and-white films
Films shot at British National Studios
1940s British films