The Holly and the Ivy review
Check out David’s review of the 1952 movie, The Holly and the Ivy.
A refreshingly adult departure from the usual run of Christmas movies, The Holly and the Ivy (1952) is an English family drama set during the Christmas holidays in 1948. Though not without warmth or good cheer, it’s also a film with serious things to say about how parents and their grown children relate to each other.
Each Christmas, the Gregory family returns home to Wyndenham, a remote village in rural Norfolk, where the head of the family, Martin (Ralph Richardson), a country parson, resides with his daughter, Jenny (Celia Johnson). Martin’s youngest, Mick (Denholm Elliott), is in the Army. His other daughter, Margaret (Margaret Leighton), leads a sophisticated life in London. There are two elderly aunts (Margaret Halstan, Maureen Delany), an uncle (Hugh Williams), and, this year, Jenny’s boyfriend, David (John Gregson), who wants to marry her and take her away to South America, where he has a job opportunity. But that would force Jenny to leave her father alone as he’s approaching old age.
Margaret arrives late on Christmas Eve, and, after going out on a pub crawl with Mick, informs Jenny she has no intention of giving up her life in the city to take Jenny’s place caring for their dad. Later, Margaret shares surprising revelations with her sister about her experiences in London during the war, things she has not been able to tell their father. And on Christmas morning, Mick has a confrontation with his dad, accusing him of being unapproachable. In fact, all three of the Gregory children feel they can’t bring their problems to Martin because his profession puts a barrier between him and the realities of life. Eventually, a moving and dramatic epiphany brings the family together just as church services are about to begin on Christmas morning.
It’s hard to describe the charm of this film, set in an England long gone, but still surprisingly relatable in its universal depiction of a family, and the power of Christmas. The performances are uniformly excellent, from the stars to the delightful supporting players (especially Halstan and Delany as the eccentric aunts). The Holly and the Ivy was written by Wynard Browne and Anatole de Grunwald, and directed by George More O’Farrell. The music is by Malcolm Arnold. I enjoyed discovering this film and I think you will, too.
