Film Review

This Happy Breed, directed by David Lean.-

I would recommend this film, the most successful blockbuster in 1944 and directed by David Lean, to all those people keen on so-called British social films with an optimistic tinge, depicting the humour and resilience of ordinary British people even in the worst of circumstances.
It starts with a breathtaking opening sequence, a stunning aerial view of London, from the Thames and across the rooftops, down to the back door of one particular house and right through it to the front door.
Here live the Gibbons, a lower-middle class family in the suburbs of South London between 1919 and the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.
Their everyday lives show us some of the important events in the post-war national reconstruction, and their discussions, about whether another war will somehow be avoided.
The plot, the setting and the characters get wonderfully accomplished and, thus, we get an intimate portrait of the economy and politics of Great Britain in the 1920s and 30s, and the advances in technology : the arrival of primitive crystal radio sets, home gas lights being replaced by electric lights, the arrival of telephones and mass broadcast radio. The dialogues are really witty and at times moving.
Moreover, he is considered to be one of the greatest film directors of all time by many people and having some of his films achieved great success (Dr. Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver Twist, Passage to India, among many others)