The Winslow Boy (1948)

Set in pre WWI England, when a 13 year old cadet (Neil North) at a naval college is accused of stealing a postal order, he is expelled. His father (Cedric Hardwicke) is furious and sets out to prove the boys innocence at any cost, even as it causes the family notoriety and financial hardship. Based on the play by Terence Rattigan (SEPARATE TABLES) and directed by Anthony Asquith (THE VIPS). Inspired by an actual event that set a legal precedent, Rattigan's drama about a family's refusal to backdown in the face of injustice when that might have been the easiest thing to do is hampered because the end result is never in doubt. We know where the journey will end but is the journey engrossing enough to hold our interest? My response is ..... kind of. Although top billed, Robert Donat, who plays the barrister who takes on the case, doesn't come in until 45 minutes into the movie. British audiences turned up in droves at the box office. Remade in 1999. Decently acted. With Margaret Leighton, Basil Radford, Kathleen Harrison, Francis L. Sullivan, Marie Lohr, Stanley Holloway, Cyril Ritchard, Mona Washbourne and Wilfrid Hyde White.