This will be , for me, the highlight film of this Christmas – The Holly and the Ivy – 1952. On Talking Pictures Christmas Eve at just after 9 pm.

It is a film I have known for many years and have featured it on this Blog previously but make no apologies for doing so again.  I just love this film – and this type of film. Very British – where we have a family gathering at Christmas – nothing much happens but somehow we are drawn in to the  lives of the family we meet – and find ourselves absorbed in their lives – as they unfold before us. Fascinating.

Christmas Film: The Holly and the Ivy (1952)

Starring Ralph Richardson, Celia Johnson, Denholm Elliott, Margaret Leighton, Hugh Williams, Margaret Halstan and Maureen Delaney, the film takes place as a family returns home on Christmas Eve and in the midst of the bright holiday, none of them are very happy and are hiding their troubles.

Rev. Martin Gregory’s (Richardson) wife recently died and his daughter Jenny (Johnson) cares for him at the parsonage. Jenny sends letters to her brother Michael (Elliott), sister Margaret (Leighton), cousin Richard (Williams) and aunts Lydia and Bridget (Halstan, Delaney), inviting them to their home for the holiday.

Jenny is the only child of the reverend who lives at home, and she feels she can’t leave him. But on Christmas Eve she learns that her fiancé David (John Gregson) is being transferred to South America for his job. David tells Jenny that he told his job he would be bringing a wife, but she doesn’t feel she can marry and leave her father. She wishes her younger sister Margaret would leave the city, where she works as a fashion writer, and live at home. But Jenny isn’t even sure Margaret will come home for Christmas.

 As each family member arrives home, they bring their problems. Michael is in the Army and lies his way to get leave so he can go home. Aunt Lydia is a grand, wistful, and dreamy woman who has been a widow for 30 years, but talks of her deceased husband constantly. In stark contrast, Aunt Bridget is crabby and constantly criticizing everyone. Bridget never married, because she spent her life caring for her mother.

Margaret arrives late on Christmas Eve and is deeply troubled by loss she experienced during and after World War II. She masks her pain by drinking and only confides in Jenny. Margaret doesn’t feel that she can divulge her sins to her father because he is a holy man. Michael and Margaret feel that they will be judged by their father and will receive a religious lesson if they discuss their indiscretions with him.

Ralph Richardson as Rev. Gregory and Denholm Elliott as Michael (Mick) Gregory

When the Reverend realizes his children never brought their pain to him and why, he feels he has failed as a religious figure—he isn’t there to criticise but to help.

Set on the snowy English countryside, “The Holly and the Ivy” (1952) has a cozy, warm feel.

Although the holiday surroundings are inviting and happy, no one seems to like Christmas much. Jenny decorates the house “because it’s what we always do.” David says decorating is a waste of time. Michael and David agree that Christmas is depressing. Margaret wonders why she even returned home.

Jenny (Celia Johnson) and David (John Gregson) decorate the vicarage.

Even the Reverend says he hates Christmas, because it focuses more on drinking and commercialism and “No one remembers the birth of Christ.” He also hates giving his Christmas sermon, because he knows everyone is fidgeting and “wanting to get home to baste their turkeys.”

Margaret Leighton as Margaret in The Holly and the Ivy (1952)

Celia Johnson’s character of Jenny is the calm and responsible daughter who is concerned for the family. Margaret Leighton’s character of Margaret is hard, bitter and emotional.

Margaret Leighton does a good job of exhibiting the pain within her – from her life’s sad life experiences that we eventually hear about.

Denholm Elliott’s Michael doesn’t seem to take life too seriously.

While the film is largely a drama, the aunts played by Margaret Halstan and Maureen Delaney ( reprising their West End Theatre roles.) supply the comic relief.

“The Holly and the Ivy” originated as a play by Wynyard Browne, which premiered on London’s West End at the Duchess Theater in 1950.

It is easy to see that this film was adapted from the stage by the extent of dialogue, long scenes and drama – it comes to the screen very well indeed – and I love it.