This remarkable film was largely the brainchild of Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who had the idea that British ex-patriates in Hollywood donate their services to make a stirring film with a strong nationalistic theme. He rounded up a lot of potential contributors including actors and directors and writers, but by the time he found a home for this at RKO, some of them like Cary Grant and Ronald Colman and Alfred Hitchcock were no longer available. Some Americans and Canadians pitched in their services and the result is the very entertaining tale of two distant cousins and and a house that survives into the blitz told in flashbacks as London is bombed. Hardwicke and Buster Keaton steal the show as two bumbling plumbers, but there are excellent contributions by Sir C. Aubrey Smith, Dame May Witty, Ida Lupino, Charles Laughton, Roland Young, Dame Gladys Cooper and others. Some material was deleted, perhaps because of the length and leisurely pace of the story-telling. For those who love Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, this will appeal. It was a miracle it got made. Most of the contributors gave their time for the war effort. Worth a look.

This is the saga of a house handed down from generation to generation and the stories of each of the owners. The episodes range from good to better-than-good, but the value here is in the all-star cast; virtually any famous or near-famous British star from the 30's and 40's is in this picture, and even a few 'Yanks'. The nominal stars are Kent Smith and Ruth Warrick, she the present (1942) tenant. He stops in to sell it, and they swap stories about the different owners throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.In all, seven directors and 21 writers are given credit for working on the film, as well as 79 actors and actresses. It is a "sentimental story with some amusing and affecting passages, but as the story is somewhat hackneyed it is well-served by some superb performances" (Bosley Crowther, NY Times, 3/43). But I think to arrive at the most satisfactory effect one should necessarily be from the Sceptered Isle. I am a 'Yank' and didn't get that effect, but it was still good entertainment. It was shown at the Columbus,O. Cinevent, 5/12.

This grand 1943 film once again proved that the British were at their best when they kept that stiff upper lip.This magnificent piece tells the story of a house from its inception in England in 1804 until the German blitzkrieg circa 1940.Nothing was spared in this provocative film regarding the cast. Practically everyone known in British films is in it and they all shine.As two people are dickering in selling the house, its rich history is brought back in a series of flashbacks. We go back to the Napoleonic Era and trace the house to Queen Victoria's era, World War 1 and eventually the second world war.The film provides plenty of heartbreak and sadness but is a definite testament of faith to the British people in the tradition of Mrs. Miniver.

Most of the "British Colony" of Hollywood, and many American and Canadian born actors (Buster Keaton and Gene Lockwood, for instance) appeared in this 1943 gem which manages to transcend it's original purpose. Like most of Hollywood's wartime product, FOREVER AND A DAY was supposed to cement allied friendship and emotional bonding between the U.S. and the British. But the design of the story actually told of two families who intermingled and grew in the period from 1804 to 1943: from the battle of Trafalgar to the London Blitz. The concentration of the story was around an old house built by Admiral Trimble (Sir C. Aubrey Smith, in a superb characterization) when the area was countryside at the time of Napoleon and Nelson. Trimble and his son (Ray Milland) rescue a young woman from her sinister guardian, Mr. Pomfret (Claude Rains, of course), but make him a personal enemy. The young woman marries Milland, but he is killed at Trafalgar. After the death of Aubrey Smith, Rains manages to get possession of the house due to Smith's debts. He kicks out the young widow and her son, and moves in...only to find himself never at ease in the house. Eventually he is found to have fallen and hit his head on a marble decoration after attacking a portrait of the old admiral (the scene is handled brilliantly in the movie).I won't go into the full film - it takes in 140 years of English (and by extension, world history) to tell how the Trimbles and Pomfrets keep confronting each other over the years. There are many wonderful performances, such as Charles Laughton as a tipsy butler, Cedric Hardwicke and Buster Keaton as plumbers installing a new invention - an indoor shower, and best Roland Young and Dame Gladys Cooper as wartime parents confronting heartbreak (made all the more unbearable by their understated approach). In the end you feel you have seen the story of a nation's spirit, invincible and principled like Admiral Trimble was at the start. This was one wartime propaganda film that turned out to be far beyond it's required propaganda values.