11th May 2011

LYME REGIS: Another chance to see 'All Over the Town' film

By Chris Boothroyd

FILM buffs will have the chance to see the 1949 film “All Over the Town”, made in Lyme Regis, at the Regent Cinema on the morning on Tuesday, May 31st.

With its outdoor scenes filmed in Lyme, this ‘gentle satire of provincial politics’ in a seaside town (Tormouth) beautifully evokes post-war Lyme Regis. Scenes and sights which today are familiar appear like old friends in slightly unexpected and nostalgic dress - instead of Tesco, for example, not even Woolworths, but a garage for the repair of all those black-only Fords ...

“All Over the Town’ stars Norman Wooland as Nat Hearn, returning to his reporter’s job on the Tormouth Clarion after the war. When circumstances conspire to give Nat a share in the business and the editor’s chair, and being upset that the paper has been compromising its integrity to satisfy local businessmen, he radically alters its editorial policy. His stance brings him into conflict with local politicians and strains his romance with Sally Thorpe, played by Sarah Churchill (pictured).

Stanley Baker (Zulu) and Patrick MacNee (The Avengers TV series) make early appearances in the film.

“All Over the Town” goes well beyond any cliché about the honest newsman standing up to a corrupt world. It deals with the discrimination faced by returning servicemen and women, and with the tensions between tradition and change after the war; it examines the nature of the social and political order in a settled provincial community at a time when social upheaval is not only in the air but is embodied in the post-war Attlee government. A reviewer concluded that “With a vein of dry wit running throughout, this is a very good picture that more people should be aware of.”

That wasn’t possible in later years, for no usable print remained.

However, the negative survived at the National Film and Television Archive, and in 2005 the Lyme Regis Film Society came to the rescue, paying for a new print to be made and also for permission to show the film in Lyme Regis. The new print is kept safely in Lyme Regis Museum, along with contemporary posters and other related material. This print has been shown a couple of times at the Regent Cinema, the last occasion being around three years ago.

With the kind support and cooperation of Scott Cinemas and David Johnson, the cinema manager, all proceeds from this showing will be shared equally between the Town Mill Trust and the Marine Parade Shelters Fund. The costs of hiring the cinema are being generously covered by two sponsors, one for each of the two benefiting funds, so every penny from admissions will go to the two causes.

Tickets will be at normal cinema prices (Balcony: £6.50 / £5.00 concessions / £20 family; Stalls: £5.50 / £4.00 / £16.50). You can book in advance online (http://lymeregis.scottcinemas.co.uk), by phone (0871-230-3200) or in person at the cinema; or you can buy your ticket on the day. Coffee and cake will be available at modest cost from 10.15 am, with an opportunity to look at the exhibition material kindly loaned by the museum. The film will start at 11.00 and finish at 12.30.

LYME REGIS: Another chance to see 'All Over the Town' film

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