Love On The Dole (1941)

Set in England in 1930 at the height of the great depression, a family struggles to survive as they lose their jobs and can't find work. Based on the novel by Walter Greenwood and directed by John Baxter (CROOK'S TOUR). This bleak and unflinching look at working class poverty has lost none of its power since its debut in 1941 (the book came out in 1933). How does one hold onto their dignity and their moral structure when they can't put food on the table and being evicted from their home? Yes, there are structures put in place to help like unemployment but there's a time limit on unemployment and somehow if you're unable to find work, it's deemed your fault. You're not trying hard enough but the work just isn't there! Can we judge a young girl (Deborah Kerr) from a good family for becoming the mistress of an oily bookie (Frank Cellier) to escape poverty and help her family? Are we to judge an old woman living on a meagre pension for evicting a penniless man (Geoffrey Hibbert), his wife (Joyce Howard) and their newborn baby because they can't pay the rent? A film version was planned soon after the book was published but the subject was considered "too sordid" so it took eight years to get a movie made. Despite a "hopeful" epilogue at the very end, this is a pretty grim and unsentimental movie. With Clifford Evans, George Carney, Mary Merrall and Marjorie Rhodes.