They Came to a City

They Came to a City
Directed by	Basil Dearden
Written by	Basil Dearden Sidney Cole J.B. Priestley
Based on	They Came to a City by J.B. Priestley
Produced by	Michael Balcon Sidney Cole
Starring	John Clements Googie Withers Raymond Huntley Renee Gadd
Cinematography	Stanley Pavey
Edited by	Michael Truman
Music by	Ernest Irving
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	Ealing Distribution
Release date	August 1944 (1944-08)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

They Came to a City is a 1944 British black-and-white film directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Clements, Googie Withers, Raymond Huntley, Renee Gadd and A. E. Matthews. It was adapted from the 1943 play of the same title by J. B. Priestley, and is notable for including a cameo appearance by Priestley as himself.

The plot concerns the experiences of various people who have come to live in their "ideal" city, and explores their hopes and reasons for doing so. Many of the cast had also performed their roles in the original West End stage production. The film's art direction was by Michael Relph.

Plot

The story is framed as a tale told to a young couple by a stranger walking in a field overlooking a small British industrial city during WWII. The unnamed stranger is played by J.B. Priestley; his story is framed as a parable as to how people might live after the war, if they were presented with the opportunity to live in a utopia.

The story: Nine people from different walks of life and class are brought by unknown means to a mysterious, modernistic and empty castle-like structure. The nine people are Sir George Gedney, a misanthropic aristocrat; Malcolm Stritton, a bank clerk who is dissatisfied with the current political system; Dorothy Stritton, Malcolm's domineering and jealous wife; Alice Foster, an unhappy waitress; Mr. Cudworth, a money-obsessed businessman; needy Lady Loxfield and her compliant daughter Philippa; cynical, free-thinking seaman Joe Dinmore; and Mrs. Batley, a practical charwoman.

The nine interact -- not always agreeably -- and after a time, they discover the castle overlooks a city, and a door opens to allow them to access it. We never see the city, but the nine return to the castle and discuss what they've experienced. Some see the city (which is implied to run on socialistic principles) as a utopian society, others as something they would never want to live in. Before sundown, each of the nine must make a permanent decision whether to stay and live in the city (and never return to their original homes), or to leave the city forever.

Cast

• John Clements as Joe Dinmore
• Googie Withers as Alice Foster
• Raymond Huntley as Malcolm Stritton
• Renee Gadd as Dorothy Stritton
• A. E. Matthews as Sir George Gedney
• Mabel Terry Lewis as Lady Loxfield
• Frances Rowe as Philippa Loxfield
• Ada Reeve as Mrs. Batley
• Norman Shelley as Cudworth

uncredited:

• J.B. Priestley as The Stranger
• Brenda Bruce as WAAF officer
• Ralph Michael as Sergeant Jimmy
• Johnnie Schofield as Bert the Bartender

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Direction, acting and photography are all excellent, but the film is not true cinema as it is practically all talk and no action. Though the film is welcome in that it has a worthwhile motive, it gives little help as to how Utopia is to be achieved, apart from that most difficult of all things, universal friendship."

Kine Weekly wrote: "Intelligently and artistically presented, competently acted and, within its bounds, elaborately staged, it is, nevertheless, no paltry pictorial pamphleteering. ...The tale cross-sections humanity effectively, but by leaving everything to talk – the workings of the brave new halcyon administration, which roughly repudiates what the author bitingly describes as 'the dogfight round a dustbin" life followed by most societies, are never witnessed – and displaying obvious political bias, it becomes a task rather than a diversion. J. B. Priestley tells the story, re-winds it in the middle and figures prominently at the fadeout, but the personal touch, at once both agreeable and formidable, fails adequately to compensate for its lack of movement."

In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote, "as symbolism and an outlet for Priestley's philosophy, They Came to a City is eloquent and courageous, but as a motion picture it is immobile."

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Uncinematic conversion of play; not box-office either."

Leslie Halliwell said: "Good talk and good acting, but not quite cinema."

External links

• They Came to a City at IMDb
• They Came to a City then-and-now location photographs at ReelStreets