There could well be a term-paper at the film school in Beaconsfield on two mediocre actors of the late forties/early fifties who went on to become prolific directors albeit John Howard Davies (Oliver Twist, The Rocking Horse Winner) tended to work mostly in television and for the BBC whilst Peter Hammond (Holiday Camp, Fly Away Peter) dabbled in both big and small screen fodder with this entry, adapted by Bill Naughton from his own stage play, being one of the latter. Apart from the fact that every single actor employs a Yorkshire accent in a film set in Bolton - a Yorkshire connection strengthened when Rodney Bewes mentions that the Messiah is being performed in Huddersfield (a Yorkshire town and the birthplace of James Mason) to father Rafe, James Mason, and Mason replies 'I'll be there', implying the Yorkshire town is within easy reach. On the whole what we have here is a nice, cosy, and 'safe' slice of Midlands life in which a storm in a demi- tasse is resolved to everyone's satisfaction thus sending the audience home in a pleasantly warm cocoon and no one too concerned that a hip audience would have cottoned on to Hilda's condition the second the sight of the herring made her feel queasy.
Review of Spring and Port Wine
