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For over fifty years, the presence of John Mills in a British film was as comforting as cup of hot tea. And the characters he played were, more often than not, as reliable as rain on a Sunday. So it can be easy to forget that he was an actor of considerable versatility, and not always ensconced in roles of solid, stiff-lipped decency. This second ‘centenary’ collection admirably captures a broad range of performances, from his youthful, light-footed song and dance man in Car of Dreams (1935) and Forever England (1935), to his Oscar-winning but barely recognisable turn as the mentally challenged Michael in Ryan’s Daughter (1970).

In between, there are some ‘classic Mills’ roles here (as an RAF pilot officer in The Way to the Stars (1945) and a submarine commander in Above Us the Waves (1955), as well as some intriguing ones rescued from semi-obscurity. In Robert Hamer’s The Long Memory, for example, he is an ex-convict bent on revenge after serving 12 years for the murder of a criminal who is actually still at large. A stark urban drama, it shows Mills equally convincing in the underworld as he was on the right side of the law. Similarly, Gerald Thomas’s brisk and serviceable The Vicious Circle (1957) sees him on top form in another ‘wrong man’ role, this time as a doctor framed for the murder of an actress whose body is found in his flat.

In Tiger Bay (1959), with characteristic chivalry, the star lets daughter Hayley walk away with the honours. But, as a Cardiff detective thwarted by a young girl’s protection of a sailor on the run, he still holds the film together, and serves as a safety net for her precocious acting acrobatics.

Ryan’s Daughter, Mills said, was “the best thing that happened to me, professionally. It brought me the Academy Award, and that meant I could finally be known again as somebody other than Hayley Mills’s father.” Nevertheless, this performance was perhaps the last great (welcome) surprise of his career. He then settled into prestigious, elder statesman roles, and continued to bring quality and warmth to British cinema and TV for the next 25 years.

 

Julian Upton on 31st March 2008
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