Introduction

Set in the Lancashire cotton town of Hindle during the annual 'wakes' when the mills closed and the workers took their holidays, Stanley Houghton's play caused some sensation when it was first staged in 1912, with its rather daring content and suggestion that women too might be able to regard sex as 'a bit of fun'. Elvey rejoices in the Blackpool sequences with an exuberant, liberated camera and even allows his actors' faces to remain in semi-darkness. This is the second of four film adaptations of the play and features a new music soundtrack by In The Nursery.

The story revolves round a holiday affair between mill hand, Fanny Hawthorn (played by Estelle Brody), and the boss's son, Allan Jeffcote (played by John Stuart). In 1912, when the play was first performed, and even in 1927, when the film was made, sexual relations between young people were controlled by a strict moral code and the central focus of the play and the film is the reactions of the respective families to Fanny and Allan's misdemeanour. Fanny makes an enduring heroine. She is a modern miss and, eighty years on, her attitudes and behaviour stand up well.

Hindle is a mill town, and Wakes Week is the traditional eight days of leisure and pleasure for the mill workers (a week of factory closure plus the August bank holiday). The film develops and expands the play with scenes at the Hindle Mill and at the holiday resort, Blackpool.