The Holly and the Ivy

George More O'Ferrall has assembled a really strong cast for his adaptation of Wynyard Browne's emotionally rich play. It all centres around a Christmas family gathering at the home of "Rev. Martin" (Ralph Richardson). As with every such get-together, it becomes a little fraught as his children "Jen ... ny" (Celia Johnson), "Margaret" (Margaret Leighton) and "Michael" (Denholm Elliott) congregate and their not immediately cogent personalities soon start to show through their veneer of politeness. Thing is, they are all still trying to deal with the psychological impact left upon them - and their extended family - following the horrors of the Second World War. To be honest, it can border on the melodramatic at times and it also struggles a bit when Richardson is off screen, but somehow as it advances this story starts to glow a little. The characters have a certain degree of truthfulness as they develop - and made in 1952, many of the supposed scenarios being recalled and dealt with by all concerned do ring true somewhat. There are a tightly knit series of domestic scenarios here that allow each to offer us a glimpse of their childhood resentments, aspirations, dreams, frustrations and loves - Johnson being especially effective as the daughter who is in love with "Paterson" (a slightly static John Gregson) but remains committed to stay at home and "look after" their father - whether he wants her to or not! It has a degree of nostalgia to it, but not in an overly sentimental fashion. They reminisce, as we would have been invited to do at the time, but there is still enough contemporary joy from this Christmas together to offer glimmers of light and hope at a conclusion that probably resonated well with a new reign in the UK at the time. It's short, hardly eighty minutes, and does pack in plenty of characterful performances and offers us just a little food for thought too. read more