Those Kids from Town

Those Kids from Town is a 1942 British, blackandwhite, comedydrama propaganda film war film, directed by Lance Comfort and starring George Cole, Harry Fowler, Percy Marmont, Ronald Shiner as Mr. Bert Burns and Charles Victor as Harry, the Vicar. It was produced by Richard Vernon and presented by British National Films and AngloAmerican Film Corporation. The film is adapted for the screen, by Adrian Alington, from his own, topical novel These Our Strangers, dealing with the experiences of a group of wartime evacuee children from London, sent to safety in a rural village, and their interaction with the host community. Of the juvenile actors involved, Fowler making his screen debut here agedand Cole thenwould go on to very successful adult careers, while Angela Glynne and Stanley Escane had more modest careers for the next decade or so.

Sisters Liz and Maud are placed with a pair of oldfashioned and stern spinster sisters and chafe under the constrictions of the discipline imposed on them. They become increasingly unhappy until they are taken in by the local Earl, who discovers Lizs singing talent and proposes to sponsor her to train professionally. Lizs parents are called to visit and her father at first bridles at the interference of a member of the gentry in his daughters life, before being brought round to the view that her talent should be nurtured.No print of Those Kids from Town is known to survive and it is currently classified as missing, believed lost. Contemporary reviews commended the film for exploring a timely subject which had not previously been tackled on screen, and gave it a generally sympathetic reception. However comments suggest that rather than aiming for a documentaryrealism feel, Comfort fell back on an uneasy mixture of obvious pathos and broad comedy. Kine Weekly said it had some good moments and a certain amount of child psychology, but it hardly presents a good case for evacuation. The Daily Film Renter labelled it commendable popular entertainment, while Cinema praised sympathetic direction...which cleverly sets wartime atmosphere and..a convincing picture of reactions of parents, children and hosts, but felt the film faltered badly in its later stages by resorting to frank slapstick. Another trade reviewer complimented the film as a whole, but felt that it made no attempt to solve the problems with any profound searchings and its overall tone was more burlesque than life. ........

Source: Wikipedia