Extracts for study and discussion

The opening ten minutes

This is a fine scene setter for the story. We see the place of work and the world of the workers and their bosses. The knocker-upper, Mary's father, helps to establish the mill-town setting, along with the terraced houses and cobbled streets. The film then cuts between the working-class household of the Hawthorns, in Cotton Street: and the master's mansion in Midas Avenue. The characters are quickly established, relying on generic conventions familiar to 1920s audiences. The disruption of the sequence by the factory hooter, calling the mill-hands to the day's work, transports us from the domestic world to that of work.

The sequence uses superimposition, ie the placing of images over one another in the frame. Thus, the images of the firemen stoking the two furnaces, named Alice and Sally, overlap with each other and with the town skyline, with its prominent mill chimneys. The technique of overlapping images from one shot to the next is called a dissolve. Both techniques could be achieved in camera, by rewinding and re-shooting film; or, more commonly they were done in post-production using a device called an optical printer.

• Ask students to describe the visual characteristics of the working class Hawthorns and of the upper class Jeffcotes. They could then trace these characteristics as visual motifs through the film as the narrative develops.
• The intrusion of sexual politics into the world of work is suggested by the female names above the furnaces. Students could investigate this further in looking for other symbols of male and female in the film.

Blackpool, 20 minutes into the film. The sequence runs for seven minutes and includes the scene in the Tower Ballroom.

In three or four minutes the film establishes the setting of Blackpool as a holiday resort. The Tower Ballroom is the key site of pleasure and promise in this resort. We see the initial encounter between Fanny and Allan. The sequence uses relatively short shots, edited together in a montage, introducing the world of the resort with great brevity and condensation. The term 'montage' particularly described a style of editing developed in the Soviet film industry, which had a great impact in the late 1920s as films began to use a faster and more varied selection of camera shots.

• List the different camera and editing techniques used in this sequence. What sort of camera shots and editing are used for showing Blackpool and its attractions. Are the same techniques used to focus on the two couples, especially Allan and Fanny? If not, what is different?
• An interesting comparison could be made between Hindle Wakes and actuality films made by Mitchell and Kenyon made in the early 20th century. The bfi DVD The Electric Edwardians, and The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon includes excellent footage of people enjoying northern seaside resort holidays nearly a century ago.

• The scene in Mary and Fanny's lodgings, 40 minutes into the film. The sequence runs for five minutes, including the introduction of the postcard

An intertitle, 'Lights Fairyland Romance' sets up the sequence. We see Mary alone as she wonders about Fanny, as she has not returned by the time the lodgings are locked up for the night. Fanny returns and tells Mary of her affair. This is a fine example of how actors, through mime and gesture, were able to communicate the development of the story to audiences. Though the sequence lasts five minutes, the crucial plot information about Fanny's illicit trip away with Allan only appears at the end of the sequence in dialogue on an intertitle:

"Allan's taking me to Llandudno for rest of holidays."

• Examine the performances of the actresses playing Fanny and Mary. Through what gestures and expressions do they communicate what they are thinking and saying to the audience?

Are there other visual clues that help an audience to make sense of what is happening?

Fanny's rejection of Allan, 102 minutes into the film, running for just under six minutes

This scene follows the play very closely. However, Brody adds a wistful note to Fanny's actions. There are separate shots of her, first moving to touch Allan but stopping, and then looking back at the unregarding Allan. Both suggest a longing that she does not openly admit to. After this the Hawthorns return to Cotton Street and Fanny packs and leaves home. This is followed by her 'Lancashire Lass' speech on intertitles, slightly shorter than the version in the play, where it is addressed directly to Allan. Next day Fanny returns to work.

Even with Brody's wistfulness, the character expresses an unusual degree of autonomy. One of Fanny's comments pointedly picks up the question of marriage and refers to Allan as 'my fancy'. This is a remarkably advanced expression of female emancipation for the period.

• Each character takes a slightly different standpoint on the illicit sex and the proposed marital solution and it is worth studying the position and inter-play between them. Trace the relative stances and positions of the characters in the scene and use this information to identify their opinions and influence. For example, Fanny uses a range of movements and gestures as she converses with Allan. Which gestures do you think are most important in suggesting their attitudes and state of mind?
• Study Fanny in relation to other heroines. Several of the films suggested below include statements by their heroines. Brief Encounter and Bhaji on the Beach have equivalent speeches by a main female character after an equivalent scene of confrontation. How does each film represent the position of women in society?