Book of Obituaries by Ann Wroe

Author:Ann Wroe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Profile

Alfred Hitchcock, has something of the endurance of “Casablanca”. Both are daft stories, quickly and cheaply made, but have the fascination of antiques that mirror an era. “The Lady Vanishes” is a melodrama, but for it Mr Launder invented two comic characters, Charters and Caldicott (Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne). Although Mr Launder said his films were solely to entertain, part of the entertainment was to show the British class system in its more absurd forms. Charters and Caldicott are upper-class buffoons, more interested in cricket scores than the imminent war. Class is an inviting battleground for satirists. The “idiotic and splendidly senseless” St Trinian’s girls, as an admiring critic called them, were obviously from privileged homes. The staff at the terrible school were played by Alastair Sim and Joyce Grenfell,issuing their pointless orders in stately accents.

During the war Mr Launder made “Millions Like Us”, about women factory workers. It is warm rather than funny. Mr Launder never made political statements, but it seems likely that his sympathies were with what is now called the disadvantaged. His film that he liked best was “Geordie”, about a poor boy who has success as an athlete. The director he most admired was René Clair, who like Mr Launder had a talent for fantastic satire, but also, as in “Sous les Toits de Paris”, saw value in ordinary people.

Frank Launder’s good fortune was to be a film-maker when the industry was presided over by a rich and generous patron. This was Arthur Rank, who had made millions as a miller, producing the flour for much of Britain’s rather awful bread, and then became infatuated with the glamour of films. “We would go to Mr Rank,” Mr Launder recalled, “and tell him we have a story. He says, ‘How much?’ We tell him. He hands it over and that’s that. We then go about our business.” The miller’s tale. Quite amusing really, in a British sort of way.

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