This Happy Breed is a 1944 Technicolor British drama directed by David Lean and based on a play by Noël Coward. This was David Lean’s solo-directorial debut.
Throughout the years 1919-1939, the Gibbons are like any other lower middle-class English family. There’s the patriarch, Frank (Robert Newton), who served in The Great War, his steadfast wife, Ethel (Celia Johnson), and their three vibrant children; Vivian, Reggie, and Queenie.
Through deaths, marriages, children, and heartbreak, the film follows their tribulations and glimpses of happiness as the family transitions through 20 years of English history.
Tropes:
- Break the Haughty: Queenie gets a thorough lesson in appreciating her parents and the life they lead. She runs away with a married man who ditches her in Europe. Left stranded, she is forced to earn her own living and realize how wrong she’s been.
- Cranky Neighbor: Averted: Bob Mitchell is the friendliest neighbour anyone could ask for.
- Dad the Veteran: Frank and Bob both served in World War I.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Vivian is the proper one who gets married and settles down while Queenie is not satisfied with her middle-class life and wants something more.
- Happily Married: Frank and Ethel are Stiff Upper Lip middle-class types, but they truly do love each other.
- Kitchen Sink Drama: A surprising one from Noel Coward.
- I Am Very British: The Gibbons very much hide their feelings from each other. Deconstructed in a sense when Queenie returns and the often cool Ethel breaks down in tears in seeing her daughter again.
- I Have No Son!: When Ethel finds out that Queenie has run away with a married man, she disowns her and refuses to have any contact with her. Frank, on the other hand, continues to communicate with his daughter and wants to mend the broken relationship with her and her mother.
- I Will Wait for You: Billy Mitchell (John Mills) is deeply in love with Queenie. When she soundly rejects him on the basis of being boring, he still says that he’ll wait for her to come around eventually.
- Never Say "Die": Averted: Frank is adamant that it bothers him exceedingly when someone uses a euphemism for death.
- Shout-Out: The film’s title comes from Richard II.
- Spoiled Brat: Queenie to a T.
- Strawman: Sam is a communist through and through until he marries Vivian and settles down. Queenie remarks that all the life has been taken out of him when he no longer spouts his Bolshevik ideals.
- Parental Favoritism: Frank accuses Ethel of this, stating that she prefers Vivian and Reggie over Queenie.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Ethel’s mother is very exacting and annoying to everyone but especially to Sylvia.
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: When Queenie runs away, Ethel asks herself this over and over, wondering if they indulged their children too much.
