The Holly and the Ivy [Blu-ray]

Director: George More O'Ferrall George More O'Ferrall

Overview

Faithfully adapted from a popular holiday play by Wynyard Browne, this moving British drama centers on a recently widowed, aging country vicar who hosts a family Christmas and learns a valuable lesson about keeping his own homefires alight before spending too much time tending the fires of others. Those coming for the holiday include his sister, his late wife's sister, and her cousin. The vicar's free-spirited youngest daughter and his son, a furloughed soldier, also show up. The preacher's eldest daughter lives with him and together they welcome their guests. The vicar is a good man and a caring fellow who spends considerable time caring for and counseling his parishioners, perhaps too much time, for he does not recognize the troubles of his own clan. His devoted oldest daughter quietly deals with a terrible dilemma. She is about to marry an engineer who has just found a long-term job overseas. She wants desperately to be with him, but will not leave her beloved father who seems to need her so much. Her little sister also has trouble. While in the city she fell in love with a soldier. He impregnated her, returned to the war, and was killed. Later the child died and she has become an alcoholic, something she eventually tells her brother and sister. Meanwhile the young people's aunts, learning of the situation, ask the youngest to return home to care for her father so the eldest can marry. Unfortunately, the young woman refuses and heads off to get drunk with her brother. When the vicar learns about his daughter's troubles, he and she have an emotional reconciliation. He then moves on to make peace with the rest of his family.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/26/2019
UPC:	0738329240424
Original Release:	1952
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:20:00
Sales rank:	30,425

Special Features

Audio Commentary by Film Historian Jeremy Arnold; Trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ralph Richardson	Rev. Martin Gregory
Celia Johnson	Jenny Gregory
Margaret Leighton	Margaret Gregory
Denholm Elliott	Michael "Mick" Gregory
John Gregson	David Patterson
Hugh Williams	Richard Wyndham
Margaret Halstan	Aunt Lydia
Maureen Delaney	Aunt Bridget
William Hartnell	Company Sergeant-Major
Robert Flemyng	Major
Roland Culver	Lord B
Dandy Nichols	Neighbor
Muir Mathieson	Conductor
Maureen Delany	Actor
John Barry	Actor
Malcolm Arnold	Composer

Technical Credits

Anatole de Grunwald

Wynyard Browne

Anatole de Grunwald	Producer,Screenwriter
George More O'Ferrall	Director
Wynyard Browne	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

An unjustly underseen (at least in the United States) little gem, The Holly and the Ivy is a wonderful alternative to Christmas fare that has grown a bit too familiar. While some may feel that Holly's careful and precise structure reveals a bit too clearly its stage origins, it's a small flaw in an otherwise captivating and totally engaging film. Mixing drama, comedy and some unabashed sentiment, yet still maintaining an undertone of slight bitterness, Holly beautifully captures a moment in time for a small town British family the members of which love each other very much but don't know how to be upfront and honest with each other. There's poignancy and humor, love and resentment, courage and cowardice all through the film, but it all comes to a sweet and charming conclusion that reinforces the "familial" tradition of the Christmas holidays. George More O'Ferrall's direction could perhaps have been a tad more cinematic, but his deft handling of his wonderful cast and his ability to highlight a range of emotional attitudes more than makes up for this. As the vicar, Ralph Richardson is simply aces, turning in a magnificently modulate and affecting performance. Celia Johnson is achingly tender and self-sacrificing, and a young {Denholm Elliott a delight. As the wayward daughter, Margaret Leighton is splendid, but Margaret Halstan and Maureen Delaney steal their scenes with ease.