The Holly and the Ivy (1952). Photofest.
(George More O’Ferrall, UK 1952, 80 min., 16mm)
Widowed parson Martin Gregory (Ralph Richardson) eagerly anticipates having all three of his children home for Christmas, but his duties with his parishioners make him hard to pin down. Daughter Jenny (Celia Johnson) has lived with him since her mother died, but now she has fallen in love and wishes to marry and move away. Son Michael (Denholm Elliott) returns from his service in the army, while their sister Margaret (Margaret Leighton) travels in from her carousing career as a magazine writer. Each of them has had crises of conscience, but have found their father unapproachable in his moral standing and duties to his congregation. Jenny cannot leave until someone else decides to take care of him, making for an awkward holiday season. The title of the film (and of the play it is based on) derives from the two-hundred-year-old British Christmas carol heard so often during holiday celebrations at the time of the film’s release.
GEM Members admitted free to this screening.