The Good Companions

The Good Companions

1h 53m 5.8/10

Overview

Film musical taken from JB Priestley's novel about three musicians joining together to save a failing concert party, the Dinky Doos.

Director

Victor Saville

Top Billed Cast

John Gielgud

John Gielgud

Inigo Jollifant

Edmund Gwenn

Edmund Gwenn

Jess Oakroyd

Jessie Matthews

Jessie Matthews

Susie Dean

Percy Parsons

Morton Mitcham

Mary Glynne

Mary Glynne

Miss Elizabeth Trant

A.W. Baskcomb

Jimmy Nunn

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

3/14/2024

7/10

There's actually something really quite plausible about this film. It all centres around people who are restless. Unsettled. They need a change in their lives, so leave homes and families and set off on a pilgrimage. For what? Well they don't really know - it's going to be what ever fate throws at them. As we encounter the characters, there's a sense that this might be quite a lively adventure. Edmund Gwenn ("Jess") is from Yorkshire whom you might not expect to gel well with the prim and proper "Jollifant" (John Gielgud). You might expect neither to get on with the lively, but green, "Susie" (Jessie Matthews) but thrive they do. Based on JB Priestley's 1929 novel, this film has a certain feel good factor to it. That not long after the national recovery from the atrocities of the Great War this was probably a tonic that was much needed. It also demonstrates nicely the variety of talents at the the disposal of the likes of Gwenn and Gielgud whom, along with Matthews, can hold a tune well enough as their "Dinky Doos" prove that teamwork and pulling together are usually the most effective way to success - or, at least, to survival! There's plenty of situation humour here and the characters have a little bit of everyone in them - some of that good, some not so. At times it's a bit random, but that does it no harm - it keeps it from becoming a predictable drama, and that's what makes it that bit more entertaining.

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