Hobson's Choice

In Salford at the end of the Victorian era, Henry Hobson runs a boot shop and works all three of his daughters in it for nothing, refusing to let them marry because he does not want to pay dowries. Maggie, the eldest, takes the matter into her own hands: she proposes to Will Mossop, the most gifted and most timid bootmaker in the cellar, and opens a rival shop across the street with him. As Hobson drinks himself toward ruin the balance of power inverts. David Lean directed. Charles Laughton plays Hobson, Brenda de Banzie plays Maggie and John Mills plays Will. Will Mossop was Robert Donat's part. After an asthma attack the insurers would not cover him and he lost it. John Mills was called back from a holiday in the south of France and put on set. Laughton was remembered as difficult during the shoot and was particularly unhappy that his close friend Donat had been replaced on health grounds. It won the Golden Bear at the 4th Berlin International Film Festival in 1954 and the British Film Academy award for Best British Film in 1955. Who it is for: viewers who like English class comedy and Charles Laughton. Who it is not for: anyone expecting Lean's deserts and epics. This is small in scale, drawn from the stage and built entirely on dialogue.