Esther is also honest in front of others. Choosing to marry William is therefore not masochistic self-sacrifice, since her son could have Fred as a father. We also commented a little on the matte r of class in relation to the actor playing Esther — Kathleen Ryan. We noted that this was also the case in other British films from the time. While some thought William an irredeemable cad, scoundrel and bounder, others were more sympathetic. His back story explains that the family was previously important in the county and gives him this reason to better himself. This assertion, made to Esther on the hillside, is immediately undercut, however.
We hear thunderclaps and a storm commences — predicting that in fact William will not enjoy good fortune. They enjoy spending time together, and he only pursues another woman once Esther regrets their intimacy and avoids him.
William is absent for a fair proportion of the narrative, reappearing 6 years later. Despite the length of time that has passed it is clear that William has fond memories of his time at Woodview. The back room of the pub he runs, and invites Esther to visit after they are unexpectedly reunited, is full of photographs of him with fellow staff from Woodview.
He has also employed one of their former colleagues.
Summary of Discussion on Esther Waters | Melodrama Research Group
He seems genuinely to wish to make amends to Esther, soon proposing and proving to be a good husband and father. He is also demonstrably an honest bookmaker — even getting into a fight with his assistant when William insists they pay customers the money they are owed. If William were the heroine, it is likely that we would view such a relationship between socially unequal participants as exploitative. It also fits in with the sensitivity of Bogarde — both as described off screen his star image — as mentioned in his first fan magazine article considered to be different from the character he plays — though as I have noted there is sensitivity there and progressively onscreen.
We can link this to the sexual ambiguity scholars have said that Bogarde embodies. It is difficult to know how much this may be related to the fact Dirk Bogarde is the male star — whether it was tailored to fit him as an introduction, or if this would have happened regardless. Such rhythm is important to melodrama, the lows of slow-moving action contrasting to the highs of unexpected, and at times, unbelievable, action.
University of Kent
In the film, activity is especially notable during the scenes of the ball, the bustling crowds attending the races, and especially the derby day scenes. These aspects were especially singled out by reviewers to be of interest to the audience.
Trade paper Variety especially commented on these as well as the death bed scene 6 th October , p. While during the setting of the film, the s, cinema was not yet invented, its many predecessors such as magic lanterns were popular.
Summary of Discussion on Esther Waters
The derby scenes also connect more specifically to melodrama. Esther bumps into Fred who expresses pleasure, though surprise, that William married Esther. It seems that he expected the melodrama to end differently — as indeed might the film audience. The significance of Derby Day as a social mixer — a ground where those from various classes mingled — was also mentioned. We noted that while the film provided an indictment of the class system, it was even-handed in ascribing good and bad characteristics to those from the lower and the upper classes.
As already noted, Esther and William are subtly drawn, although it is significant that the most reprehensible of the characters — baby farmer Mrs Spires — is also working class. It is more often the institutions, or lack of them, which are criticised. A factory worker is fired from a reliable job and becomes a successful motorbike racer, until his wife threatens to leave him unless he comes to his senses. Produced by Ian Dalrymple.
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- A Good Book, In Theory: Making Sense Through Inquiry, Second Edition.
- The Chimes (Christmas Books series Book 2)?
Written by Jack Lee. A young woman visits Paris with her brother only to discover the following morning he has gone missing and the hotel staff have no recollection of his presence. Released from prison after 12 years, a wrongfully convicted British man seeks revenge on the witnesses who lied at his trial. Michael Marler, a successful business man in London, is about to make his way to the top.
The death of his father brings him - after five years - back to his hometown Liverpool, where he is Henry Hobson is a successful bootmaker, a widower and a tyrannical father of three daughters. The girls each want to leave their father by getting married, but Henry refuses because marriage traditions require him to pay out settlements. Four of Somerset Maugham's short stories are brought to the screen with each introduced by the author himself. In the first story, The Facts of Life, a young man with great potential on the A cynical, embittered newspaperman is tormented, then inspired, by visions he keeps having of people who have drowned.
Two teachers, man-hungry Doris and restrained Marian, visit the Yorkshire moors a year after friend Evelyn disappeared there. On a stormy night, they take refuge in the isolated cottage of A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal 97, pounds. Esther goes into service in Victorian England, only to be seduced by the sweet talking groom William, who then takes off with his employer's daughter. Left alone to bring up the child, Esther manages and after 7 years has a chance at happiness. Then William turns up again Kathleen Ryan is the poor and innocent young maid who gets the normal treatment of a lady and ends up down to her neck in trouble, and she is illiterate at that, but you can't really dislike him since he plays it so well, and he honestly makes an effort.
It all ends up in the great Derby, the festivity crowd scenes are the treat of the film, and they are several, including the great rural party in the beginning. It's a Dickensian story convincing enough in its realism of the s to 80s including a long dying scene, of which Dirk Bogarde was such an expert and made so many of, usually coughing to death, while Kathleen Ryan in spite of her hardships actually gets along quite well, not actually needing the sympathetic support of Cyril Cusack as the would be catcher in the rye.
Esther Waters
It's a lovely film of a serving maiden's tale and particularly a film for horse lovers - the final race is a killer. Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew.
Passed 1h 48min Drama 1 November UK. Left alone to bring up the child, Ian Dalrymple , Peter Proud. Our Favorite Trailers of the Week.