BootDigest
Such a frustrating disappointment
Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
kevuk-36830
First watched this film one Sunday afternoon back in the early sixties and fell in love with it.Great story,great acting and directing by David Lean.I have lost count how many times I have watched it and I can still watch it again and again even to this day.
HotToastyRag
The story of daddy's little girl leaving the nest never gets old. If you like that classic theme, go out and rent Hobson's Choice. Charles Laughton plays the overbearing father of three daughters, all of whom are extremely anxious to marry and leave. Daphne Anderson is paired with Richard Wattis, Prunella Scales with Derek Blomfield, and Brenda De Banzie wins the prize with John Mills. But Papa Laughton isn't about to let them go without a fight, and in true British fashion-propriety at all costs and dry humor thrown in for the fun of it-the family battles it out.While it's very obvious the film was based off a play, it isn't overly wordy or boring like some plays are. Parts of it are pretty funny, if you like British humor, and it's always fun to see Charles Laughton transform for a role. Check out this family comedy and see if you like it!
rdolan9007
I was hoping for a little more from this film. I should clarify I was not disappointed as such in the film - it was well made and had some visual polish. It had great actors (John Mills and Charles Laughton), and in particular one truly outstanding performance from Brenda de Banzie.I think the main 'problem' I have with the film is because that the script is a little pedestrian and clichéd in places. It has a lot of 'ee by gum' references sprinkled through out the dialogue.From the 'ee by gums' you should be able to locate this film as a Northern film. Indeed it is set in Manchester in the 1880's and concerns the family of the often drunken boot shop owner Charles Laughton and his three long suffering daughters and in particular his oldest unmarried daughter played by Brenda de Banzie. They are unmarried because the father will not pay dowries to marry off his daughters. In revenge she decides to get married to the fairly dim, if likable boot maker who works in the shop. They then leave to set up their own business in spite of her father's wishes.There are great moments in this film; one I think I remember already seeing in a documentary about Lean. This is where an intoxicated Charles Laughton follows the moon reflected in puddles, splashing away childlike as he goes along in fits and starts.There are some nice visuals flourishes including vistas of open city parkland, as well as in other scenes factory chimneys punctuating brooding industrial landscapes. Overall though I did not find the cinematography quite as atmospheric as I hoped although I was probably spoiled by remembering the marvellous cinematography in Leans earlier 'Great Expectations'.This is a film that relies upon the acting therefore to make it work, and does not fail because of Brenda de Banzies performance. She plays a fantastically strong female lead. Determined, and clever wanting something better than just to be stuck in a boot shop ministering to her ungrateful father.Charles Laughton is good but not great in this film (puddle scene excepting). I think Charles Laughton does his turn as Charles Laughton, which is what he does best. This should not be seen as a criticism, but it perhaps over balances this film a little bit; whereas in the film 'witness for the prosecution' his performance is brilliantly judged.John Mills performance doesn't quite work in this film either. He appears slightly uneasy in the role. It's not a bad performance, but because it's John Mills you expect a little more.I would therefore put this film in one of David Leans lesser works. It hasn't the peerless brilliance of Great expectations, the visual splendour of Dr Zhivago or the epic grandeur of Lawrence of Arabia. It does show a film maker helping what might have been creaky cliché into something better than the sum of its parts. Yet this film, and I cannot stress this enough depends on Brenda de Banzies superb performance to make it truly worth watching.I would also note that Prunella Scales(Basil Fawlty's wife) appears in an early role as one of the daughters.
Hotwok2013
Directed by one of the all-time great directors David Lean, "Hobson's Choice" is the kind of movie that doesn't get made any more or probably ever will again, more's the pity. Charles Laughton plays Henry Hobson who owns a boot-shop in 19th century Salford, Manchester. He is a typical hard-drinking domineering Victorian father with three daughters, Maggie, Alice & Vicky. They are played by Brenda De Banzie, Daphne Anderson & a very young Prunella (Sybil Fawlty) Scales respectively. His eldest daughter Maggie has designs on marrying the firms star boot/shoe maker William Mossop (John Mills) but her father is dead set against it. He claims that at thirty years she is too old, "a bit on the ripe side", to get married, but the real reason is purely selfish. She runs his business very well and her father expects his meals ready & waiting on the table for him when he rolls home from the pub. Marriage would change all that & naturally her father wants to keep things exactly as they are. His two younger daughters are also looking to get hitched & their father isn't exactly encouraging both of them either. There is the question of shelling out his money on marriage "settlements" which would cut into savings severely. What follows is a battle of wills between father & daughter. Maggie gets her way in the end & claws herself out of her tyrannical father's shadow. She also sets about changing her new husband who is very much a shy retiring type of man & brings him out of his shell. They very successfully set up their own rival business & with the new-found self-confidence instilled in him by his wife, Will Mossop wants to take over his former employer's business with Hobson a sleeping partner. Hobson's hard drinking has by now taken its toll on his health & at the film's end he reluctantly agrees. Charles Laughton was one of the greatest actors this country ever produced & in this movie he is just fantastic. Brenda De Banzie & John Mills are also great but then so is the acting all around even in minor roles. This is a movie that works on every level, for my money. Shot in black & white the cinematography is great, the story is great & so too the comic situations. Highly Recommended.
