I am talking now of Two films that have nothing much in common except from a personal angle because I happened to have watched them quite close together – within a couple of days of one another.

The first a great favourite of mine ‘Mr Perrin and Mr Traill’ released in 1948 and the other a so-called cinema classic ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ which came out over a decade later but one which seems to gather lavish praise.

I find Mr Perrin and Mr Traill a fascinating story set at a private boarding school in the West Country between the Wars with a quick moving plot and quick moving scenes that hold the audience.

In contrast ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is long and drawn out with a slow moving plot and even slower moving scenes. There are too many long silences with us waiting for Gregory Peck to speak leaving us just wanting to wind things up like clockwork and get them moving.

I have to admit that I am not a great fan of Gregory Peck even though he had such a long and successful career in films. He just appears so down-beat and in need of a rev up in many scenes – particularly in this one.

ABOVE – With Mr Perrin and Mr Traill, we have sharp and punchy dialogue and well cast characters – all capable of turning in a good performance – and in this film they do just that

I can’t think that ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ had a very big budget. The home and village where most of the cation took place was quite confined – and the final courtroom drama looked to be filmed on quite a small set.

Nevertheless the filmmakers extracted the maximum from the quite limited surroundings.

Back to ‘Mr Perrin and Mr Traill’ which I far prefer, pne of he stars – in fact the female lead – was Greta Gynt. She certainly looked very lovely and captured the heart of Mr Perrin whose inability to admit his feelings and his failure to act led him to be devastated when she turned elsewhere.

I remember Grta Gynt a few years late in another favourite – the widescreen, Colour film ‘The Blue Peter’

Greta Gynt

The Blue Peter 1955 Film

The Film title comes from the flag of England’s Outward Bound Sea School at Aberdovey, Wales.

The Story concerns Mike Merriworth, a Merchant Navy hero of the Korean War returns to England after three years of captivity in Communist hands, his mind confused by brain-washing and indoctrination at the hands of his captors, and accepts a post as an instructor at the Outward Bound Sea School

Stars: Kieron Moore, Sarah Lawson, Greta Gynt, Harry Fowler, Mervyn Johns, Anthony Newley