The Magnet (1950 film)
Encyclopedia
The Magnet is a 1950 Ealing Studios
comedy film
, and gave James Fox
his first starring role. The story revolves around a young boy, Johnny Brent (Fox), whose deceptive obtaining of the eponymous magnet leads to confusion and ultimately him being hailed as a hero, but feeling guilt at his slyness. Although not regarded highly by critics, it is one of the few films to fall within the Ealing Studios canon set outside London, and may be seen as being of its own kind.
, manages to con
a younger boy out of a magnet by swapping it for an "invisible watch". However the little boy's nanny accuses him of stealing, which makes Johnny feel guilty: he runs away but then tries to get rid of the magnet, particularly after an older boy uses it to cheat at a pinball machine and the owner thinks Johnny is involved. He then meets an eccentric iron lung
maker who is raising funds for the local hospital and gives him the magnet which is later auctioned for charity. The iron lung maker tells the story of the magnet at the various fund-raising events he attends, exaggerating wildly and portraying Johnny as everything from a Little Lord Fauntleroy
to a ragged orphan from Dickens, all the while hoping that he can find him again.
After he returns to school, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend about her budgerigar
, which she says has died of a broken heart. Johnny, however, thinks she is talking about the little boy himself and becomes convinced that he is guilty of murder. He hides in the back of a van which takes him to Liverpool
, where he conflicts with local boys, winning them over by convincing them he is on the run from the police. He saves the life of one of them when he falls through the floor of a disused pier. The injured boy ends up in the very iron lung for which the fund-raising has been all about and when Johnny visits him he sees the magnet mounted on it - and also bumps into the inventor, who is delighted to have found the little hero at last. Johnny is awarded the Civic Gold Medal, which he gives to the magnet's original owner, his conscience clear.
, Wirral
, Cheshire
and Liverpool
, and at Ealing Studios
, London
, in black and white
. Given its setting, however, authentic local accents
are absent until almost the end of the film, in a scene filmed in the shadow of the Anglican cathedral
. A Chinese
boy appears in this scene, which was unusual for the time in film, although there had been a significant Chinese community in Liverpool since the 1860s, but when he is called home by his mother in Chinese, explains this to his friends in fluent scouse
.
James Fox
(then known as William) had appeared in The Miniver Story
earlier in the year, and this was his first starring role, at the age of 11; his performance was largely appreciated, being described by the British Film Institute
's reviewer as "certainly lively enough as the over-imaginative Johnny". Stalwarts of Ealing's repertory
ensemble, however, such as Stanley Holloway
and Alec Guinness
, were absent, although James Robertson Justice
made a small appearance as a tramp, using a Gaelic
pseudonym
; at the time he was a candidate in the General Election
.
such as Passport to Pimlico
and The Lavender Hill Mob
, although described as "a mild-mannered affair and the comedy gives way to a decidedly poignant conclusion". Leslie Halliwell
similarly described it as a "very mild Ealing comedy, not really up to snuff". The British Film Institute
's reviewer criticised it as "somewhat burdened by cumbersome moralising and too many credibility-stretching coincidences and misunderstandings" and described it as "an attempt to revisit the success of Clarke's earlier Hue and Cry
".
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
comedy film
Ealing Comedies
For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....
, and gave James Fox
James Fox
James Fox, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:James Fox was born in London, England to theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. He is the brother of actor Edward Fox and film producer Robert Fox. The actress Emilia Fox is his niece and the actor Laurence Fox is his son. His...
his first starring role. The story revolves around a young boy, Johnny Brent (Fox), whose deceptive obtaining of the eponymous magnet leads to confusion and ultimately him being hailed as a hero, but feeling guilt at his slyness. Although not regarded highly by critics, it is one of the few films to fall within the Ealing Studios canon set outside London, and may be seen as being of its own kind.
Synopsis
Johnny Brent (Fox), whilst off school in quarantine for scarlet feverScarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
, manages to con
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
a younger boy out of a magnet by swapping it for an "invisible watch". However the little boy's nanny accuses him of stealing, which makes Johnny feel guilty: he runs away but then tries to get rid of the magnet, particularly after an older boy uses it to cheat at a pinball machine and the owner thinks Johnny is involved. He then meets an eccentric iron lung
Iron lung
A negative pressure ventilator is a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost or the work of breathing exceeds the person's ability....
maker who is raising funds for the local hospital and gives him the magnet which is later auctioned for charity. The iron lung maker tells the story of the magnet at the various fund-raising events he attends, exaggerating wildly and portraying Johnny as everything from a Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy is the first children's novel written by English playwright and author Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was originally published as a serial in the St. Nicholas Magazine between November 1885 and October 1886, then as a book by Scribner's in 1886...
to a ragged orphan from Dickens, all the while hoping that he can find him again.
After he returns to school, Johnny sees the little boy's nanny and overhears her telling her friend about her budgerigar
Budgerigar
The Budgerigar , also known as Common Pet Parakeet or Shell Parakeet informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot, and the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus...
, which she says has died of a broken heart. Johnny, however, thinks she is talking about the little boy himself and becomes convinced that he is guilty of murder. He hides in the back of a van which takes him to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, where he conflicts with local boys, winning them over by convincing them he is on the run from the police. He saves the life of one of them when he falls through the floor of a disused pier. The injured boy ends up in the very iron lung for which the fund-raising has been all about and when Johnny visits him he sees the magnet mounted on it - and also bumps into the inventor, who is delighted to have found the little hero at last. Johnny is awarded the Civic Gold Medal, which he gives to the magnet's original owner, his conscience clear.
Production and casting
The Magnet was filmed on location in and around New BrightonNew Brighton, Merseyside
New Brighton is a seaside resort forming part of the town of Wallasey, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside, England. It is located at the northeastern tip of the Wirral Peninsula, within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and has sandy beaches...
, Wirral
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, and at Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, in black and white
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
. Given its setting, however, authentic local accents
Scouse
Scouse is an accent and dialect of English found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the adjoining urban areas such as the boroughs of south Sefton, Knowsley and the Wirral...
are absent until almost the end of the film, in a scene filmed in the shadow of the Anglican cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin...
. A Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
boy appears in this scene, which was unusual for the time in film, although there had been a significant Chinese community in Liverpool since the 1860s, but when he is called home by his mother in Chinese, explains this to his friends in fluent scouse
Scouse
Scouse is an accent and dialect of English found primarily in the Metropolitan county of Merseyside, and closely associated with the city of Liverpool and the adjoining urban areas such as the boroughs of south Sefton, Knowsley and the Wirral...
.
James Fox
James Fox
James Fox, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:James Fox was born in London, England to theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. He is the brother of actor Edward Fox and film producer Robert Fox. The actress Emilia Fox is his niece and the actor Laurence Fox is his son. His...
(then known as William) had appeared in The Miniver Story
The Miniver Story
The Miniver Story is a 1950 film sequel to the successful 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.Like its predecessor, it was made by MGM and starred Greer Garson in the title role, but it was filmed on location in England. The film was directed by H.C. Potter and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by...
earlier in the year, and this was his first starring role, at the age of 11; his performance was largely appreciated, being described by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's reviewer as "certainly lively enough as the over-imaginative Johnny". Stalwarts of Ealing's repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
ensemble, however, such as Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
and Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
, were absent, although James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
made a small appearance as a tramp, using a Gaelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
; at the time he was a candidate in the General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
.
Reception
The film has not achieved the general popularity of better-known Ealing ComediesEaling Comedies
For the film Ealing Comedy, see Ealing Comedy .The Ealing Comedies were a series of film comedies produced by Ealing Studios during the period 1947 to 1957....
such as Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
and The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
, although described as "a mild-mannered affair and the comedy gives way to a decidedly poignant conclusion". Leslie Halliwell
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell was a British film encyclopaedist and television impresario who in 1965 compiled The Filmgoer's Companion, the first one-volume encyclopaedia devoted to all aspects of the cinema. He followed it a dozen years later with Halliwell's Film Guide, another monumental work...
similarly described it as a "very mild Ealing comedy, not really up to snuff". The British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's reviewer criticised it as "somewhat burdened by cumbersome moralising and too many credibility-stretching coincidences and misunderstandings" and described it as "an attempt to revisit the success of Clarke's earlier Hue and Cry
Hue and Cry (film)
Hue and Cry is a British film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Alastair Sim, Harry Fowler and Joan Dowling.It is generally considered to be the first of the "Ealing comedies", although it is better characterised as a thriller for children...
".
Cast
- Stephen Murray - Dr Brent
- Kay WalshKay WalshKay Walsh was an English actress and dancer. She grew up in Pimlico, raised by her grandmother....
- Mrs Brent - James FoxJames FoxJames Fox, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:James Fox was born in London, England to theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington. He is the brother of actor Edward Fox and film producer Robert Fox. The actress Emilia Fox is his niece and the actor Laurence Fox is his son. His...
(as William Fox) - Johnny Brent - Meredith EdwardsMeredith Edwards (actor)Gwilym Meredith Edwards was a Welsh character actor and writer.He was born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a collier. He became an actor in 1938, first with the Welsh National Theatre Company, then the Liverpool Playhouse...
- Harper - Gladys HensonGladys HensonGladys Henson was a British actress whose career lasted from 1932 to 1976 and included roles on stage, radio, films and television series...
- Nanny - Thora HirdThora HirdDame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
- Nanny's friend - Michael Brooke (as Michael Brooke Jr) - Kit
- Wylie WatsonWylie WatsonWylie Watson was a British actor. Among his best known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film The 39 Steps, and wily storekeeper Joseph Macroon in the Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!...
- Pickering - Julien Mitchell - Mayor
- Anthony OliverAnthony Oliver-Selected filmography:* Once a Jolly Swagman * The Happy Family * To Dorothy a Son * They Can't Hang Me * Eyewitness * The Entertainer * H.M.S. Defiant * Danger by My Side...
- Policeman - Molly Hamley-Clifford - Mrs Dean
- Harold GoodwinHarold Goodwin (English actor)Harold Goodwin was an English actor born in Wombwell, Yorkshire, England.Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years...
- Pin table man - Joan HicksonJoan HicksonJoan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...
- Mrs Ward - Joss AmblerJoss AmblerJoss Ambler was an Australian-born British film and television actor.He usually played somewhat pompous figures of authority, excelling in comedy films...
- Businessman - Sam KyddSam KyddSam Kydd was an Ulster-born English actor. An army officer's son, he was born in Belfast, but moved to London, England when he was a child. He was educated at Dunstable Grammar School in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England....
- Postman - Russell WatersRussell WatersRussell Waters was a Scottish film actor.Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then appeared in repertory theatre, at the Old Vic and in the West End. On screen Waters generally...
- Doctor - James Robertson JusticeJames Robertson JusticeJames Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...
(as Seumas Mor na Fesag) - Tramp