The Halfway House is a 1944 Ealing Studios mystery-fantasy film starring Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns, Tom Walls and Françoise Rosay. It was loosely based on the play The Peaceful Inn by Dennis Ogden.
During World War II a variety of people find themselves in a quiet inn in the Welsh countryside, all of them dealing with various issues:
- David Davies, a famous conductor urged by his doctor to take a rest for his health.
- Richard and Jill French, a squabbling English couple on the verge of divorce whose daughter Joanna hopes to keep them together by tricking them into staying at the same in.
- Captain Fortescue, a disgraced ex-soldier and criminal freshly released from prison, and his friend Oakley, a genial black marketeer.
- Captain Harry Meadows, a merchant navy sailor, and his French wife Alice, whose marriage is in a rocky state after their son's death at sea and Captain Meadows' disillusionment with his life at sea.
- Terence, an Irish diplomat, and his English fiancée Margaret. Terence is considering a promotion to the Irish embassy in Berlin much to Margaret's horror and anger.
All these disparate people are met by the innkeeper Rhys and his daughter Gwyneth, who are welcoming if a little strange. It soon emerges that The Halfway House is not quite what it seems...
Though the film does have some comedic moments it is much more of drama, being made a few years before Ealing found their niche for distinctive comedy.
The Halfway House provides examples of the following tropes:
- Affably Evil: Oakley appears to be a witty, affable criminal who is happy to tell avuncular stories to Rhys's daughter. Rhys calls him out on his attitude and tells him his demeanour is just a self justification for his true cowardliness and selfishness - though also implies it is not too late to atone.
- Dead All Along: Rhys and Gwyneth are ghosts, killed in an air raid exactly a year before the events of the film.
- Informed Flaw: At least two different characters accuse Captain Fortescue of lacking brains. While he doesn't come across as especially sharp nor does he seem particularly stupid.
- Oireland: Terence is actually quite toned down as as an Irish stereotype (though his nationality is very important to his plot) but he is still vocally happy to leap for a bottle of whiskey as soon as it is suggested(and immediately after the very English Fortescue turns it down.)
- Time Travel: The film takes place in 1943 but at the climax the main characters are sent back in time exactly a year to the night the inn they are staying in was blown up in an air raid. It seems to be a mix of actually being a year in the past and an extremely vivid vision since they experience the air raid but are physically unharmed and after they leave the inn are back in 1943.
- With Us or Against Us: Terence is from Ireland and much of the tension in the film regards his defence of Irish neutrality in a film where everyone else (including his own girlfriend Margaret)are British or French. Though he isn't depicted too negatively (unlike the greedy profiteer Oakley his refusal to fight is merely depicted as naïve rather than selfish) Terence is still presented as being in the wrong, with his consideration of a job in Berlin and a promotion portrayed as at best insensitivity. No less than three different characters - Margaret, Rhys and Alice Meadows all try and persuade him to rethink his loyalties. In the end he does, reconciles with Margaret and is even implied to join the British armed forces.
