The Family Way

The Family Way seems to have had a splashy release for a couple of reasons. It involved a topic rarely dealt with: an unconsummated new marriage, and the debut of Harley Mills in an adult role. I know when I was in the throes of puberty I would have been gobsmacked if I had been allowed to see the naked back of Hayley Mills, whom I had boyishly fancied in her Disney movies. It is a pretty good movie in its own right, not rude or crude in its depiction of what would be treated as a sex comedy nowadays but which received a half-serious treatment back then.

It takes its time to develop the characters and the main plot. I read a couple of reviews that suggested that John Mills stole every scene he was in, but I didnt see it that way. He wa...

There is quite a fun dynamic on display here from Hayley Mills ("Jenny") and her new husband "Arthur" (Hywel Bennett) as they have to make their way in a new married world fraught with difficulties. They have little money, so live with his well meaning but slightly domineering parents "Ezra" (John Mills) and "Lucy" (Marjorie Rhodes) and an accident with their bed puts paid to any hanky-panky! Their honeymoon is aborted after it transpires the travel agent has absconded with their money and gradually they discover that their lives are the subject of the wagging tongues all around town. The comedy is gently effective here. This could be a depiction of many new marriages where even the most loving of couples are having to get used to the stres...