Mandy (1952 film)

Mandy
Original UK cinema poster
Directed by	Alexander Mackendrick
Screenplay by	Nigel Balchin Jack Whittingham
Based on	The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis
Produced by	Michael Balcon Leslie Norman
Starring	Phyllis Calvert Jack Hawkins Terence Morgan Godfrey Tearle Mandy Miller
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Seth Holt
Music by	William Alwyn
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date	29 July 1952 (1952-07-29) (UK)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Mandy is a 1952 British drama film about a family's struggle to give their deaf daughter a better life. It was directed by Alexander Mackendrick and is based on the novel The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis. It stars Phyllis Calvert, Jack Hawkins and Terence Morgan, and features the first film appearance by Jane Asher. In the US the film was released as The Story of Mandy,^[1] and later was sold to television as Crash of Silence.^[2]

A high proportion of the film looks at educational methods for the deaf in the 1950s and is very instructional in this context. It also sees the world from the deaf child's eyes.

Plot

Christine Garland has a young deaf daughter, Mandy. Her husband Harry is away from home.

As they realise their daughter's situation, the parents enrol Mandy in special education classes to try to get her to speak. They quarrel in the process and their marriage comes under strain. There are also hints of a possible affair between Christine and Dick Searle, the headmaster of the school for the deaf where Mandy is enrolled. Mandy's first speech is achieved by using a balloon. She is able to feel the vibrations of sound onto the balloon and know she had made a sound.

Harry Garland returns to Christine and Mandy and wants Mandy taken out of the school and sent to a private school. Christine strongly resists.

Searle perseveres and eventually, the training succeeds to the point where Mandy says "Mama". Searle's boss Ackland is unhappy about the relationship between Searle and Christine and word of this reaches Searle. Word also reaches Harry Garland who is staying with his parents in a large London townhouse. Harry goes to speak to Ackland. Then he confronts Christine.

He takes Mandy out of the school and takes her to his parents' house. Mandy is sad. The back garden looks onto a bomb-site where children are playing. The children ask her to play and ask her name. With her parents behind she says "Mandy" for the first time.

Cast

Production

The film's screenplay was written by Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham. The film was shot at the Ealing Studios in west London, and also at the Royal Schools for the Deaf outside Manchester.^[3]

Reception

Box office

Mandy premiered in London on 29 July 1952, and was the fifth most popular at the British box office that year.^[4][5]

Awards

The film was nominated for six BAFTA awards at the 1953 British Academy Film Awards ceremony, but did not win any. Alexander Mackendrick was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 1952 Venice Film Festival for his direction, and the film was nominated for the Golden Lion at the same festival.^[6]

See also

• List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing

References

External links

• Mandy at the BFI's Screenonline
• Mandy at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
• Mandy at the British Board of Film Classification
• Mandy at IMDb
• Mandy at the TCM Movie Database

This page was last edited on 2 April 2024, at 17:18