British director Basil Dearden's 1944 film version of J B Priestley's play of the same name is a rather original 'philosophical tract' on post WW2 British reconstruction. As a group of (nine) strangers find themselves adrift, but coming together, in an artificial (almost A Matter of Life and Death-like) heavenly construction overseeing a 'city', Priestley (and co-writer Dearden) attempt to give us a representative microcosm of 1940s Britain (waitress, businessman, sailor, cleaner, bank manager, member of the aristocracy, etc.) split roughly, and particularly relevantly for the time, along class lines. We then get quite a wide-ranging discussion encompassing a range of issues, including mortality, marriage, fidelity, sexual politics, artifice, religion, catharsis, etc, but which, in line with Priestley's world view, essentially boils down to a debate on capitalism vs. Socialism in the context of Britain needing to 'rebuild' (and 'reform') itself post-war.
Such a premise may sound a little dry and, to an extent, it is! Nevertheless, some of the characters here, particularly Googie Withers' (typically for the actress) exuberant waitress, Norman Shelley's blustering narrow-minded businessman, Raymond Huntley's wavering bank manager and Ada Reeve's elderly and life-experienced cleaner, bring Priestley's drama to emotional (and political) life. Having visited the 'utopian city' Dearden's cast is left with the dilemma - who wants to stay and who to go? Of course, the leavers are, perhaps predictably, the more narrow-minded (i.e. Those with vested interests in the status quo) of the bunch. The film therefore suffers from a curious mix of overambition (in the scope of the philosophical discussion) and predictable outcome. That said, it is particularly the roles of (the great) Googie Withers (whose stolen just about every film I've seen her in) and Reeve's perhaps unexpectedly sage words of wisdom that cut though some of the more preachy content here. Dearden's film was criticised at the time for being 'uncinematic' which it largely is, but other play-based films, for example Twelve Angry Men and His Girl Friday, disprove this as a definitive criticism and it is rather They Came To a City's dry and esoteric subject matter that is its principal limiting factor. And on this latter subject I would certainly opt for I'm All Right Jack as a more effective and, of course, funnier depiction of a similar political spectrum.
Such a premise may sound a little dry and, to an extent, it is! Nevertheless, some of the characters here, particularly Googie Withers' (typically for the actress) exuberant waitress, Norman Shelley's blustering narrow-minded businessman, Raymond Huntley's wavering bank manager and Ada Reeve's elderly and life-experienced cleaner, bring Priestley's drama to emotional (and political) life. Having visited the 'utopian city' Dearden's cast is left with the dilemma - who wants to stay and who to go? Of course, the leavers are, perhaps predictably, the more narrow-minded (i.e. Those with vested interests in the status quo) of the bunch. The film therefore suffers from a curious mix of overambition (in the scope of the philosophical discussion) and predictable outcome. That said, it is particularly the roles of (the great) Googie Withers (whose stolen just about every film I've seen her in) and Reeve's perhaps unexpectedly sage words of wisdom that cut though some of the more preachy content here. Dearden's film was criticised at the time for being 'uncinematic' which it largely is, but other play-based films, for example Twelve Angry Men and His Girl Friday, disprove this as a definitive criticism and it is rather They Came To a City's dry and esoteric subject matter that is its principal limiting factor. And on this latter subject I would certainly opt for I'm All Right Jack as a more effective and, of course, funnier depiction of a similar political spectrum.