''It's Hard to Be Good'' is a 1948 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Jeffrey Dell and starring Jimmy Hanley, Anne Crawford and

Raymond Huntley Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the pragmatic family soli ...

. In the film, an ex-army officer finds his altruistic attempts to improve the world are unsuccessful. It was shot at Denham Studios. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Alex Vetchinsky.

Plot

On leaving the army, officer and war hero Captain James Gladstone Wedge (Jimmy Hanley) is full of idealism about bettering the world. He falls in love with Mary Leighton (Anne Crawford), who nursed him whilst he was recovering from his wartime injuries. He bungles a proposal to her at a railway station after being demobed, (

Demobilization Demobilization or demobilisation (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or becaus ...

), but his good-nature had already convinced her that she should marry him. Jimmy's attempts to promote goodwill and community spirit amongst his relatives and neighbours are always frustrated, due to their innate hostilities, which the latest collaborative war efforts did nothing to dispel. All his attempts at neighbourhood reconciliation having failed, and seeing that people have put their trust in the same status-quo of conflict after the war that existed before, Jimmy finally settles into a flat with Mary, and ends the film by loudly playing his trumpet in response to all the thoughtless noise around him, no longer caring what people might think.

Cast

* Anne Crawford as Mary Leighton * Jimmy Hanley as Captain James Gladstone Wedge VC *

as Williams * Edward Rigby as Parkinson * Elwyn Brook-Jones as Budibent * Joyce Carey as Alice Beckett * Geoffrey Keen as Sergeant Todd * Lana Morris as Daphne * David Horne as Edward Beckett * Muriel Aked as Ellen Beckett *

Cyril Smith Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a British Liberal Party and Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rochdale from 1972 to 1992. Smith was first active in local politics as ...

as Fred Hobson * Leslie Weston as Buck *

Alison Leggatt Alison Joy Leggatt (7 February 1904 – 15 July 1990) was an English character actor, character actress. Career Born in the Kensington district of London, Leggatt trained under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based ...

as Mrs Buck * Robert Adair as Committee Man * Francis De Wolff as Fighting Neighbour * Judith Furse as Sister Taylor * Colin Gordon as Neighbour with Baby *

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series '' Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number of ...

as Mending Woman * Sam Kydd as Husband * Leslie Perrins as Major Gordon * Wensley Pithey as Vicar * Walter Rilla as Kamerovsky * John Salew as Committee Man *

Marianne Stone Marianne Stone (23 August 1922 – 21 December 2009) was an English character actress. She performed in films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s, typically playing working class parts such as barmaids, secretaries and landladies. Stone app ...

as Clerk in Newspaper Office * Merle Tottenham as Mrs. Hobson * Ian Wilson as Fighting Neighbour * Joan Newell as Woman Shopper * Amy Dalby as Bargee's Wife (uncredited) * Gwen Williams as Woman in Town Hall (uncredited) * Dudley Williams as Barman (uncredited) * Guy Verney as Lieutenant (uncredited) * Isola Strong as Girl in Post Office (uncredited) * HG Stoker as Elderly Man (uncredited) * George Spence as Annoyed Neighbour (uncredited) * John Singer as Cameraman (uncredited) * Ian Selby as Pedestrian outside Buckingham Palace (uncredited)

Critical reception

In his book ''Forgotten British Film'', Philip Gillett argued that "The satirical ''It's Hard to be Good'' (1948) deserves rescuing from obscurity, with its decorated hero looking for a niche in an uncaring peacetime world."

References

Bibliography

* Gillett, Philip. ''Forgotten British Film: Value and the Ephemeral in Postwar Cinema''. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.

External links

* 1948 films 1948 comedy films 1940s British films 1940s English-language films British black-and-white films British comedy films British World War II films English-language comedy films Films directed by Jeffrey Dell Films scored by Antony Hopkins Films set in London Films shot at Denham Film Studios {{1940s-UK-comedy-film-stub