Jacqueline

Mike works at the shipyard in Belfast but cannot do the job because of his fear of heights, and starts drinking. His family is close to breaking up. His small daughter Jacqueline decides to find her father work and goes knocking on the doors of the adults one by one. The subject is not a child's heroism but pride. Mike cannot bear his daughter pleading on his behalf, and the film's best passages are the ones showing why accepting help is so hard. The form belongs to the British family film of the period, but the setting is different: the Belfast shipyard, narrow streets, a real harbour. The scale of the cranes and hulls is enough on its own to explain Mike's fear. The source is a novel by Catherine Cookson. Roy Ward Baker directs. Jacqueline Ryan, who plays Jacqueline, appears alongside her mother Kathleen Ryan, so part of the mother and daughter relationship on screen is real. John Gregson plays the father. Who it is for: viewers who like British family drama of the fifties and working-class stories. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to stay clear of a sentimental ending; the film does not hesitate at the close and unties the knot comfortably.