The Narrow Valley

BFI Most Wanted: the hunt for Britain's missing films

Directed by Cecil M. Hepworth, 1921

A young couple find romance amidst a narrow-minded valley community.

Jerry (George Dewhurst) and Victoria (Alma Taylor) conducting their ill-fated romance.

Credits

Director Production Company Screenplay Photography	Cecil M. Hepworth Hepworth Picture Plays George Dewhurst Geoffrey Faithfull
Cast: Alma Taylor (Victoria); George Dewhurst (Jerry Hawkins); James Carew (Eli Jones); Gwynne Herbert (Ursula Jones); Hugh Clifton (Richard Jones)
5,400 ft, silent, black & white

Why are we so keen to find it?

Cecil Hepworth was one of the most important filmmakers in Britain until the 1920s. In 1905 he made the pioneering Rescued by Rover, which established core principles of film grammar. Ironically, his later films were often seen as old-fashioned because of their long takes and tableau-like compositions. However, film historians Andrew Higson and Christine Gledhill have demonstrated how this aesthetic was intentional, with Hepworth's pictorial concept of beauty being bound up with pastoralism.

Films such as Hepworth's Comin' Thro' the Rye (1916) and The Lure of Crooning Water (Arthur Rooke, 1920), both of which survive, have qualities that are distinct from contemporary US productions with pictorial beauty and emotional content often taking precedence over story-telling. One can presume that The Narrow Valley also made use of English scenery and beautiful photography to evoke similar qualities of romance and nostalgia.

Indeed, in the trade press The Narrow Valley's points of appeal were seen to be its "strong story of English country life, set amid the grandeur of the Sussex Downs and the glory of the Surrey hills and valleys." The film was compared to earlier Hepworth productions including Comin' Thro' the Rye, now considered a classic of British cinema of this period.

What's it about?

According to Kinematograph Weekly:

"Victoria, maid of all work in the house of Eli Jones, draper, and churchwarden, falls in love with Jerry Hawkins, who, with his father, represents the "undesirable" element in the village of Little Weevil. Money is missed from Eli's till, and Victoria is suspected. Eli's son, the real culprit, is discovered in time to clear her, but she is told that she must give up Jerry (her meetings having been reported to the self-appointed "Watch Committee" of the place) or leave Little Weevil. The two go off together, to the horror of the self-righteous, after a brush with gamekeepers has delayed Jerry and forced Victoria into apparent submission."

Last seen?

It was trade shown on 8 June 1921 and released on 29 August 1921. It was originally intended that the film should be trade shown in May, but a coal strike intervened.

What else do we know about it?

It was based on an original story by George Dewhurst, the film's star, who often contributed to Hepworth's productions and also directed. Another long-term collaborator was cameraman Geoffrey Faithfull. He had a stock company which included Chrissie White, Henry Edwards and Alma Taylor.

Most of the Hepworth-directed films featured Taylor (they were rumoured to be an item) and she was one of the few British actresses who could be described as a film star; more popular than Chaplin, according to a poll conducted by Pictures and the Picturegoer in 1915. The following year she topped the same journal's survey of 'the Greatest British Film Player'. In 1921 she made nine films. In Picture Show during the same year she features regularly, even with full page portraits of the sort regularly accorded to US stars like Mabel Normand and the Talmadge sisters. In anticipation of The Narrow Valley, there is a page devoted to 'The Expressions of Alma Taylor' ('Trustful', 'Attentive', 'Thoughtful', 'Pensive', 'Worried', and 'Pathetic').

In 1923 Hepworth was forced into bankruptcy. Most of his films were melted down for their silver nitrate content which is why so few survive.

Does anything survive?

A press book with a very detailed synopsis and two stills is held in the BFI's Special Collections and several press stills are held in the BFI's Stills, Posters and Designs collections. These emphasise the film's drama and rural settings.

Other promotional material exists in the contemporary trade press including a striking advert for the film - a sketch of a long winding valley with a couple off in the distance walking away as anthropomorphised trees on both sides reach over, representing the ghastly, bigoted villagers.

Because Hepworth's film travelled there is hope that a print will one day emerge. For instance, Exceeding his Duty (1911) was rediscovered in Germany and Helen of Four Gates (1920) was found in a Canadian archive and in 2010 received its first screening for ninety years in Hebden Bridge, where it was filmed.

Reviews

Contemporary reviews emphasised its atmosphere and its appeal as an English rural drama. Kinematograph Weekly called it "a pleasant though a decidedly leisurely story. It is in no sense strong fare, but there is a refreshing leaven of humour in the presentation, and the rural backgrounds are picturesque and well photographed."

As for the acting, Picture Show reported that "Alma Taylor scores a big triumph in her subtle characterisation of Victoria, the little maid-of-all-work in the Eli Jones household. George Dewhurst is all that can be desired as Victoria's strong rugged lover. Gwynne Herbert gives a clever study of Ursula Jones; and James Carew as Councillor Eli Jones, the proprietor of the Emporium and leader of the elect of Little Weevil, is perfect in his role of the cold, calculating hypocrite whose attentions are divided between God and mammon."

Kathleen Mason's Kinematograph Weekly column 'Through a Woman's Eyes' stated that "The film, because of its small world, will have a greater appeal to women than to men. It is hardly big enough or broad enough in its outlines to attract or hold the latter."

Kelly Robinson, Filmographic Editor (Festivals and Awards), BFI National Library

You can find more about British films of the early 1920s, including entries on surviving films and video clips for users in UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries, at BFI Screenonline. You can also view similar titles at the BFI Mediatheques.