''The End of the Road'' is a 1954 British second feature ('B')

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Wolf Rilla Wolf Peter Rilla (16 March 1920 – 19 October 2005) was a film director and writer of German background, who worked mainly in the United Kingdom. Rilla is known for directing '' Village of the Damned'' (1960). He wrote many books for students, ...

and starring

Finlay Currie William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He rec ...

Duncan Lamont Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pres ...

and

Naomi Chance Naomi Chance (born Naomi Freeman, December 1927 – 18 March 2003) was an English film and television actress. She appeared in many television shows from the 1950s onwards, including ''The Plane Makers'' (as Joyce Pender); five times in ''Compa ...

. It was written by James Forsyth and Geoffrey Orme, and produced by Group Three Films with funding from the

National Film Finance Corporation The National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) was a film funding agency in the United Kingdom in operation from 1949 until 1985. The NFFC was established by the Cinematograph Film Production (Special Loans) Act 1949 ( 12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 20), a ...

, and distributed by

British Lion British Lion or British Lions may refer to: * British Lion, a national symbol of Great Britain Sport * British & Irish Lions, a touring side playing rugby union, known until 2001 as the British Lions * Great Britain national rugby league team, fo ...

Plot

Mick-Mack, a veteran employee at the Jericho Works strongly resists when he has retirement forced upon him by his employers. He says he will retire when he is 90. All he has to show is a small clock as a retirement present which he places on the family mantelpiece. After retirement he takes a job as night watchman at the works. The employers decide that only Mick-Mack can resolve the troubles they are having in the

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the redox, reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct current, direct electric cur ...

section. He discovers it is drops of honey, from bees in the roof, which are ruining the process.

Cast

as Mick MacAulay, old 'Mick-Mack' *

as Barney *

as Molly * Edward Chapman as works manager *

Hilda Fenemore Hilda Lilian Fenemore (22 April 1914 – 13 April 2004) was an English actress with a prolific career in film and television from the 1940s to the 1990s. Fenemore played mainly supporting roles which were characterised in her obituary in ''The ...

as Madge * George Merritt as timekeeper * Gordon Whiting as young Kennie * David Hannaford as wee Barny * Eugene Leahy as old worker *

Edie Martin Edith Emma "Edie" Martin (1 January 1880 – 22 February 1964) was a British actress. She was a ubiquitous performer, on stage from 1886, playing generally small parts but in high demand, appearing in scores of British films (although often u ...

as Gloomy Gertie * Pauline Winter as personnel manager * Michael Bird as builder * Anthony Kilshawe as manager * Kenneth Henry as Labour Exchange clerk * Herbert C. Walton as first old man * Claude Bonser as second old man *

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British actor. Most of his film roles were very small but he appeared in more than 290 films, more than any other British actor, including 119 between 1946 and 1952. His best-known ro ...

as first postal clerk *

Hugh Munro Sir Hugh Thomas Munro, 4th Baronet (16 October 1856 – 19 March 1919), was a British mountaineer best known for his list of mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914.4 m), known as Munros. Born in London, Munro was the fifth child of ...

as second postal clerk * Bert Simms as crane driver *

John Baker John Baker or Jon Baker may refer to: Military figures *John Baker (American Revolutionary War) (1731–1787), American Revolutionary War hero, for whom Baker County, Georgia was named *John Baker (general) (1936–2007), Australian Chief of the ...

as foreman *

Ewen Solon Peter Ewen Solon (7 September 1917 – 7 July 1985) was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia. At the outbreak of World War II, Solon became a member of the First Echelon, 2nd NZEF that saw ser ...

as policeman *

Edward Malin Edward Ernest Malin (23 October 1894 in Stoke Newington, London – 1 March 1977 in Ealing, London) was an English actor. He was the youngest of seven children of John Malin (1850–1921), a purse maker in a fancy leather works, and Mar ...

as nightwatchman

Production

It was made at

Beaconsfield Studios Beaconsfield Film Studios is a British Television studio, television and Film studio, film studio in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The studios were operational as a production site for films in 1922, and continued producing films - and, later, ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Michael Stringer John Michael Stringer (26 July 1924 – 7 March 2004) was a film production designer, art director, painter and illustrator. Stringer's work as art director on ''Fiddler on the Roof'' (1971), involving much shooting in Yugoslavia, earned h ...

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "''The End of the Road'' begins as if it were a serious study of old age, and its difficulties when spirit and energy do not diminish with years. The problem is satisfactorily posed; Finlay Currie's dignified and accomplished performance carries off awkward moments such as the improbable scene Mick-Mack makes when he is presented with a retiring gift. The stock working-class husband and wife of Duncant Lamont and Naomi Chance are sufficiently good to support the impression of Mick-Mack's difficulties at home. But after this lengthy and quite satisfactory exposition, the film deteriorates into over-wrought scenes of the old man's wanderings of mind and body; and finally to a wholly artificial solution and a conventional, unlikely happy ending." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "interesting study of the problems of old age." The film historians Steve Chibnall and

Brian McFarlane Brian McFarlane is a Canadian television sportscaster and author. He is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books. He is also the honorary president of the Society for International Hockey Researc ...

note that ''The End of the Road'' was "rightly praised" at the time of its release by ''

Kinematograph Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' as "provocative and purposeful entertainment", and they add that it is "characterised by a real feeling for cramped working-class life and for the gap left when suddenly one is no longer required to be anywhere on a regular basis".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:End of the Road (1954 film), The 1954 films British drama films 1954 drama films Films directed by Wolf Rilla Films shot at Beaconsfield Studios 1950s English-language films British black-and-white films 1950s British films English-language drama films