Hayley Mills' performance - which surely was BAFTA-worthy - had me in bits. John's film - of his wife's story 'Bats with Baby Faces' - is hugely successful, though he himself was unhappy with the script. It's wonderfully rural - Arthur Ibbetson is the photographer - gets into the minds of children, and the villagers.
This is the film on which Johnny gave every member of the crew a copy of the script so they'd really feel a part of it. (A trick he probably learned from Noel Coward, who did the same thing for In Which We Serve.) I think he did a really good job. He and editor Gordon Hales move things along cinematically, but sensibly giving us single takes when effective. The acting throughout is excellent: you have to mention Geoffrey Bayldon and his wife Pauline Jameson and Annette Crosbie in particular. But Hayley's just so natural - it's a great screen performance.
P.S. April 2022. What is also remarkable is how unhappy Hayley was at this period of her life - she had no confidence whatsoever in her own acting, and spent much of her time off-camera hanging out with McShane and drinking too much.
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