South Riding

2391. SOUTH RIDING (1938-England). With ralph richardson, edna best, ann todd, edmund gwenn, john clements, clynis johns. Here is a real discovery: an incisive and intelligent film depicting the personal dramas of various public servants in a Yorkshire community, and their private lives. The scenario’s focus is a “typical county council” whose members run the gamut from a well-intentioned socialist committed lo eradicating the area’s slum housing to a pair o’ greedy and scheming businessmen who would pass costly measures solely to line their pockets, Ralph Richardson offers a brilliantly subtle performance-as Robert Came, a council member who once upon a lime was a gentleman farmer but now is a man under great stress. He is practically broke and is being pressured to sell off his family’s estate. The scenario charts Carne’s conflicts with his colleagues on the council and the manner in which he is affected by the arrival of the new headÂmistress of the local girls’ high school (nicely played by lovely Edna Best). Local government must serve as the “front-line defense thrown up by humanity against its common enemies of sickness, poverty and ignorance”: a viewpoint that is meaningful today, if the young actress playing Richardson’s daughter seems awfully familiar, she should be. She is 15-year-old Glynis Johns, makÂing her screen debut! 84 minutes. Drama