Hobson's Choice [Criterion Collection]

Director: David Lean, Norman Spencer, Stuart Latham

Overview

A "Hobson's Choice," as any slang expert will tell you, is no choice at all. In this 1953 filmization of Harold Brighouse's 1915 play Hobson's Choice, hero John Mills finds after several reels of evidence to the contrary that he does have a choice over how he'll conduct his life after all. Mills is the assistant to domineering boot-shop owner Charles Laughton, who lords it over his employees and three daughters by day, then tumbles through the streets on many a drunken evening. Laughton's "old-maid" daughter Brenda DeBanzie breaks free of her father's tyranny, marries Mills, and together with her new husband sets up a rival boot shop when Laughton refuses her a dowry. Father rants and raves, but finally agrees to a merger with his daughter that will assure Mills a large measure of freedom over managing things. The winner of the British Film Institute "Best Film" award of 1954, Hobson's Choice chalked up another international success for director David Lean.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/17/2009
UPC:	0715515042116
Original Release:	1954
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	13,023

Special Features

Audio Commentary featuring Film Scholars Alain Silver and James Ursini, Coauthors of David Lean and His Films; ; The Hollywood Greats: Charles Laughton, 1 1978 BBC documentary abou the actor's life and career, featuring interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues; ; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charles Laughton	Henry Horatio Hobson
John Mills	Willie Mossop
Brenda de Banzie	Maggie Hobson
Daphne Anderson	Alice Hobson
Prunella Scales	Vicky Hobson
Richard Wattis	Albert Prosser
Derek Blomfield	Freddy Beenstock
Helen Haye	Mrs. Hepworth
Joseph Tomelty	Jim Heeler
Julien Mitchell	Sam Minns
Gibb McLaughlin	Tudsbury
Philip Stainton	Denton
Dorothy Gordon	Ada Figgins
Madge Brindley	Mrs. Figgins
John Laurie	Dr. MacFarlane
Raymond Huntley	Nathaniel Beenstock
Jack Howarth	Tubby Wadlow
Herbert C. Walton	Printer
John Barrie	Actor
Michael Caine	Actor
June Barry	Actor
Patricia Routledge	Actor
Malcolm Arnold	Composer

Technical Credits

David Lean

Wynyard Browne

Harold Brighouse

Norman Spencer

David Lean	Producer,Screenwriter
Wynyard Browne	Screenwriter
Harold Brighouse	Screenwriter
Bob Cuff	Special Effects
Buster Ambler	Sound Effects
Red Law	Sound Effects
Norman Spencer	Producer,Screenwriter

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Hobson's Choice
1. Opening [5:13]
2. Hobson's Girls [9:24]
3. No Settlements [6:12]
4. A Working Partnership [7:37]
5. Daylight Robbery [7:22]
6. Capital [11:25]
7. Big Fish [10:11]
8. Wedding Day [7:26]
9. A Free Man [12:47]
10. Wedding Night [9:00]
11. A Clean Slate [8:55]
12. Mossop & Hobson [12:25]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Hobson's Choice
Play The Movie
Chapters
Color Bars
Commentary
Genre Expectations
Power Dynamics
Protofeminist
Dreams
Visual Puns
Larger Than Life
Dissolution
Music
Diminished Capacity
Jitters
Springboard
In Control
Color Bars
Commentary: Off/On
Trailer
The Hollywood Greats: Charles Laughton
Play
Index
"It Was All Enormous"
Acting and Elsa
Inferiority Complex
Roses From Garbage Heaps
New Directions
Last Acts

Editorial Reviews

David Lean backs up vicious wit with tender romance in this thrilling adaptation of Harold Brighouse's play. As Henry Hobson, a tyrannical bootshop owner, Charles Laughton Mutiny on the Bounty, Ruggles of Red Gap is a comical drunk of Falstaffian proportions. When Hobson forbids his daughters to marry (their unpaid labor supports his pub visits!), his eldest daughter defiantly sets her cap for Willie, the shop's best bootmaker. Brenda de Banzie The Man Who Knew Too Much, as the eldest daughter, hounds the flabbergasted Willie into marriage, resulting in a thriving new shop of their own. As Willie, John Mills, Great Expectations, The Big Sleep performs a gradual metamorphoses from painfully awkward to gently confident. Together, the sweet couple turn a crafty business deal into a loving partnership.