Waterfront Women

source: Waterfront Women

Moviecut—Waterfront Women

This raw British working-class drama starts off with husband and father Robert Newton going to see his daughter at school, and telling her that he's boarding a ship as a crew member and won't be back. Oh, and by the way, tell your mother. That doesn't really leave a good impression on daughter Avis Scott so is the one who discovered him when he returns, just as she's getting her life together with happiness with young Richard Burton who is having problems finding a job on a ship during troubled financial times. Wife Kathleen Harrison, a fragile type, found out right after he left that she was pregnant, and now her son is a teenager, doing very well in school, absolutely nothing like his no-good father. Newton's character is an absolutely wretched man with no good qualities, a drunk who has been fired off of his latest assignment for his violent temper. The other daughter, Susan Shaw, has become involved with the higher class Robin Netscher, but he's under the impression that all waterfront girls are easy girls, and he laughs at her in a humiliating manner when she says she isn't that type of girl, and wants to save herself for marriage. In fact, he humiliates her to the point of telling her that she is not his idea of a girl fit to marry. Not an easy life for the women in this family, although the youngest son does seem to have a good head on his shoulders. A very powerful film that gives great detail do each of the characters, with everybody having some sort of story. The film however does not really have a conclusion other than just an end. It's a metaphor that explains how the lives of these people are often wrapped in troubles oh, and it's pretty clear what will happen with Newton's character. But some do get a happy ending so it's not all that depressing. Very well filmed with a very raw atmosphere, and featuring some very interesting minor characters, particularly the upstairs neighbor from Harrison who tries to woo Newton into a liaison even though she knows who he is. Pretty gritty stuff for the early 50's, and one of the earliest Burton films where he already shows great promise.

The story of a poor Liverpool mother (Harrison) and her two daughters, the honest Nora (Harrison) and the reckless Connie (Shaw), covering the fourteen years from 1919 to 1933. There was a father too (Newton) but he was a careless scoundrel and took off for the entire period without ever writing his family, after which he returned, got drunk, and murdered an unpleasant adversary. Michael Anderson, the director, manages his job comfortably. The acting is fine, with two exception performances -- exceptional because they are outrageously over the top. I mean it. Robert Newton is his usual scalawag self, cocking his head, smiling with only his lips, his eyebrows doing a dance atop his orbital sockets. Yet he becomes entirely plausible at the end, when meeting his young son for the first time, handing him a tobacco pouch, one of his few belongings. Second prize for overacting goes to Kenneth Griffith who turns his character into a cartoon of selfishness and lust. You've never seen such excess. When he plies Connie with liquor and she goes upstairs to "lie down" for a while, he watches her climb the steps and his eyeballs bug out. He licks his lips -- literally, licks his lips. Richard Burton has a minor part too but he doesn't overact at all. Knowing what he's capable of, we might find him a little stiff here, though stern and handsome. It's all about families and character, about their values and responsibilities. The milieu is grimy and dispiriting. The poverty is oppressive, not colorful, but the performances help the story along.

****SPOILERS**** Leaving his impoverish family in Liverpool high and dry in going out to sea merchant marine Peter McCabe, Robert Newton,is gone for almost 15 years not realizing that his wife, Kathleen Harrison, is with child and two daughters Nora & Connie, Avis Scott & Susan Shaw, without any directions in life. Strugging to make ends meet the McCabe family with the added addition of George Alexander, Robin Netscher,somehow sail through life until Papa Peter suddenly shows up unexpectedly one evening drunk as usual after circling the earth a half dozen times on his his un-sea worthy tub of a freighter. Almost thrown out by his outraged daughter Nora whom, together with her mom and siblings, he deserted 15 years ago the looking for a good time Peter drops into his next door neighbor's apartment Mrs. Gibson, Olive Slone, for a few drinks as well as a romp in the hey with her. It's when Peter finds out that he's the father of a handsome and soon to attend collage 15 year old son-George Alexander-he heads to the nearest pub to celebrate by getting, as if he isn't already, good and smashed! This leads to a drunken brawl with a fellow sailor of his, who's been on his back all the way from South America,ship engineer Michael Brennan whom Peter with his straight edge razor ends up killing him. Now facing life behind bars Peter only wan't to see his son George Alexander before he's put away for good and make up, in the few minutes of freedom he has left, for all the pain and suffering he caused him as well as his family. There's also the two boyfriends of the McCabe sisters young and high pitched voiced Richard Burton as out of work ship engineer Ben Sattertwaite and insurance salesman on the Liverpool docks Maurice Bruno, Kenneth Griffith, who are the exact opposite of each other. Ben is a sweetheart of a guy towards Nora who want to marry her and raise a family as soon as he can get a job to support them. But on the other hand the set for life and independently wealthy Maurice is a low down creep only looking for action and treating Connie like a, excuse the word, * even though she's at first, until she found out what a rat he is, in love with him. At the end of the movie Peter finally realizes what a drunken jerk he was and is able to tell his son George Alexander not to end up the way he did a drunk who deserted his family and ended up behind bars for killing someone. The only one of the McCbe family that had an happy ending is Nora who finally tied the knot with her dreamboat of a man the now fully employed ship engineer Ben Satterthwaite who after saying good by was on his way, on his next assignment, headed for the Far East.

Robert Newton slings his ditty on his shoulder, tells his elder daughter he's off on another voyage and walks off singing. He's not seen again for more than fourteen years. In the meantime, his wife, Kathleen Harrison, gives birth to his son, who turns out to be a swot. His daughter grow up into Avis Scott and Susan Shaw. Miss Scott gets engaged to Ship's engineer Richard Burton (in his third screen role)m who can't get a berth because of the downturn. Miss Shaw takes up with well-to-do Kenneth Griffith, who's looking for a good time with an easily impressed slum girl, Miss Harrison...well, she is worn out, bewildered, and hopeful. It's an ambitious film from a novel by John Brophy, directed by Michael Alexander. You can tell by Liszt Prelude conducted by the London Symphony Orchestra that is offered as the opening and closing themes, and the graceful camerawork by Harry Waxman that swoops from the skies to show the dingy, worn-down Merseyside. The problem is, that while always watchable, and always well performed, the characters don't change, just the situations. Some will make their way out by talent, like Robin Netscher as Harrison's son, or by hard work, like Burton and Miss Shaw; some will sink into dust, like Miss Harrison and Miss Shaw. And some will be hanged, like Newton. But they can't change places. This sort of Greek tragedy isn't a story of people, but of fates.

Every year, like most families I suppose, we watch Alistair Sim's A Christmas Carol in December. Part of me always thinks that the people in that movie aren't really actors, so you can imagine my surprise when I saw Mrs. Dilber make an appearance in another movie! Kathleen Harrison is her actress name, and not only is she the matriarch in Waterfront Women, but she has 113 credits to her name on IMDb. And she lived to the ripe old age of 103! Anyway, in Waterfront Women, Kathleen lives in seaside Liverpool. At the start of the movie, her seafaring husband leaves her, and shortly afterwards she gives birth to her third child. As the film continues, she works hard to provide singlehandedly for her family, all the while pining away for her husband and hoping he'll return to her. Kathleen's two daughters grow up very differently. Avis Scott, the elder daughter, follows in her mother's footsteps. She's a hard worker, and against her better judgement, falls in love with a sailor, a very young and handsome Richard Burton. The younger daughter, Susan Shaw, flirts with bad boys and gets into trouble. All three Waterfront Women give very good performances, and the plot moves quickly, with lots of twists to keep you guessing. This is a great one to watch with your girlfriends on a rainy Saturday!

I have to wonder if the other reviewers on IMDb were watching the same film I have just seen. Waterfront must have been the most unrealistic "slice of life in the raw" film even upon its release in 1950. Some 64 years on it is simply laughable. Considering the Liverpool docks setting, and the fact that all the characters are meant to be local, it is incongruous to say the least that Ma is played by the Cockney sparrer herself, Kathleen Harrison, whilst her daughters are Susan Shaw (doing her It Always Rains on Sunday "EastEnders" bad girl accent), Avis Scott (who she?) at least attempting something vaguely Lancastrian - but certainly not Liverpudlian), and the two younger male leads are both Welsh - Richard Burton and Kenneth Griffith. Robert Newton opts for a mildly northern twang - occasionally. Newton, Harrison and Shaw are top-billed, though the starring role is actually played by Avis Scott, in what appears to have been her first and last lead (presumably Sally Gray was not available). Waterfront can only be viewed as a period piece, but it is not a good one, and is never for one moment believable or engrossing. Perhaps in the attempt for 'realism', none of the cast inject any personality into their characters: this is the only film in which the usually wonderful Kathleen Harrison has actually gotten on my nerves, and Richard Burton shows no sign of being a megastar in embryo.

I accept - though it's difficult to do so - that even as late as 1950 a film could be both set and shot in Liverpool with every character born and bred in the city yet not one is capable of a scouse accent and neither audiences nor critics would find anything odd in this, but watching it some 66 years on it's virtually impossible not to be so aware of this that it impairs enjoyment of the film. The big attraction of course was Bobby Newton in yet another pre-Treasure Island entry following which he wasn't allowed to say good morning without rolling his eyes. Although top-billed the story is carried by Avis Scott who is more than up to the task and has been unfairly neglected and this is arguably the only film in which Kathleen Harrison starts out young enough to be pregnant and give birth just off-screen. It's a gritty story and all the better for it and certainly well worth a look.

This is one of Michael Anderson's earliest films but already a masterpiece. It is like almost a documentary of very ordinary people living by the docks of Liverpool. The father, Robert Newton, is an irresponsible drunk who goes for the sea for fourteen years without once writing home to his family. His two daughters grow up in the meantime, the eldest taking on the responsibility for the family to make it survive with a father gone without ever sending any money home, but she finds the young Richard Burton, who already here makes a brilliant appearance in one of his first films. The other daughter is more flimsy and gets courted by a cad, Kenneth Grahame, always a pleasure to watch on screen, while the mother, Kathleen Harrison, as good as ever, keeps faithful to her wretched husband in good memory, and the drama begins in half of the film when he suddenly comes home after fourteen years. Nora, the eldest daughter, happens to be alone at home and is shocked to her bones to see him come back in the middle of the great depression, when everyone is out of work and money is more than scarce, and all her reasonable bitterness immediately flares up. He is thrown out, and there the tragedy begins, he not even knowing he has a son who was born after he had left. It's a very humdrum but gripping drama with the fascinating environment of the Liverpool docks, reminding you of the tense atmosphere In films like "Odd Man Out" and "For Them That Trespass", similar classical down to earth films without any Hollywood lustre. Robert Newton as the pathetic father makes the deepest impression, but all the acting here is first class, giving a perfectly convincing insight into basic life at the old docklands of Liverpool. Adding to the charm is the somewhat striking accompaniment of music by Liszt ("The Preludes" above all.)