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The Halfway House

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6.4/10 • 28

1944-04-021h 35m

MysteryDramaFantasy

A group of travellers, each with a personal problem that they want to hide, arrive at a mysterious Welsh country inn. There is a certain strangeness in the air as they are greeted by the innkeeper and his daughter. Why are all the newspapers a year old? And why doesn't Gwyneth seem to cast a shadow?

Directors
Basil Dearden
Editors
Charles Hasse

Top Billed Cast

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  1. Mervyn Johns

    Mervyn Johns

    Rhys

  2. Glynis Johns

    Glynis Johns

    Gwyneth

  3. Sally Ann Howes

    Sally Ann Howes

    Joanna French

  4. Françoise Rosay

    Françoise Rosay

    Alice Meadows

  5. Tom Walls

    Tom Walls

    Capt. Meadows

  6. Esmond Knight

    Esmond Knight

    David Davies

  7. Guy Middleton

    Guy Middleton

    Fortescue

  8. Valerie White

    Valerie White

    Jill French

  9. Richard Bird

    Richard Bird

    Squadron Leader Richard French

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Nov 10, 2022

7/10

When a group of weary travellers arrive at a rural inn, they immediately feel that something is amiss. It's run by "Rhys" (Mervyn Johns) and his (real life) daughter "Gwyneth" (Glynis Johns) who somewhat curiously never casts a shadow. The whole place looks like it's been stuck in a time-warp as the storm rages outside. Now, as the story develops we discover that each of the guests have their own skeletons in their closets, but the hostelry in which they shelter seems to be possessed with a sort of benevolence that manifests itself in different ways to help (nor not!). Made during the latter stages of the Second World War the story offers us a degree of poignant retrospective, paralleling some of the tales with the trauma many will have experienced during that conflict. It also features a charming and entertaining degree of chemistry between the father and daughter too. The individual stories themselves are maybe a bit too undercooked, but it has a decent cast of familiar British faces - Tom Walls and Esmond Knight amongst them - to deliver them solidly enough, and to help create a mysterious and poignant atmosphere for this quirky ninety minutes of wartime optimism.

Media

  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster
  • The Halfway House poster

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
walesworld war iisupernaturalblack and whitespirit