The Remarkable Mr Kipps 1941 H.G. Wells

H G Wells’ seriocomic tale of romance and class division in Edwardian England. Michael Redgrave has the title role at the head of a competent cast. Good period piece production considering it was made under wartime conditions. Filmed before in 1921. The Remarkable Mr Kipps (1941) - H. G. Wells The day before the fourteen-year-old Arthur "Artie" Kipps leaves to begin a seven-year apprenticeship, he asks his friend's sister, Ann Pornick, to be his girl. She gladly agrees. They split a silver sixpence and each keeps half. Kipps goes to work for Mr. Shalford in a Folkestone drapery store. Years pass and Kipps grows up into an unremarkable young man. One day, he attends a free lecture on self-improvement presented by Chester Coote and decides to take a course. Coote steers the young man away from the literature class he would prefer to a woodworking class taught by Helen Walshingham, a member of the local gentry. Kipps is soon smitten with his lovely teacher, but she is mindful of his social inferiority and keeps her distance. One night, actor and playwright Chitterlow rides his bicycle into Kipps and tears his trousers. Taking Kipps back to his lodgings to repair his clothes, they get drunk together, while Chitterlow tells Kipps about his latest play. By coincidence, one of Chitterlow's characters is also called Kipps, a name the writer got from a newspaper advertisement. When Kipps arrives late for work, he is sacked for breaking one of Mr. Shalford's strict rules for live-in employees. Chitterlow arrives while he is working out his notice to tell Kipps that the advertisement was about him. It turns out that Kipps has inherited a large house and a fortune (£26,000) from a grandfather he had never met. Chitterlow talks Kipps into investing £300 in his new play for a half share. At the bank, they run into Mr. Coote. Coote suggests that Kipps employ new solicitor Ronnie Walshingham to look after his fortune. When Kipps finds out that the man is Helen's brother, he becomes interested. Soon, Coote and the Walshinghams have manoeuvred the naive Kipps into an engagement with Helen, though he is uncomfortable at her attempts at his self-improvement. Directed by Carol Reed. / Public Domain Mark 1.0 Philip Frost as Arthur Kipps as a boy Michael Redgrave as Arthur Kipps as a man Diana Wynyard as Helen Walshingham Diana Calderwood as Ann Pornick as a girl Phyllis Calvert as Ann Pornick as a woman Arthur Riscoe as Chitterlow Max Adrian as Chester Coote Helen Haye as Mrs. Walshingham Michael Wilding as Ronnie Walshingham Lloyd Pearson as Shalford Edward Rigby as Buggins, an older Shalford employee Mackenzie Ward as Pearce Hermione Baddeley as Miss Mergle Betty Ann Davies as Flo Bates Arthur Denton as Carshot Betty Jardine as Doris Frank Pettingell as Old Kipps Beatrice Varley as Mrs. Kipps George Carney as Old Pornick (scenes deleted) Irene Browne as Mrs. Bindon-Botting Peter Graves as Sidney Revel Viscount Castlerosse as Man in Bath Chair