Sin of Esther Waters

Kathleen Ryan is the poor and innocent young maid who gets the normal treatment of a lady and ends up down to her neck in trouble, and she is illiterate at that, but you can't really dislike him since he plays it so well, and he honestly makes an effort. It all ends up in the great Derby, the festivity crowd scenes are the treat of the film, and they are several, including the great rural party in the beginning. It's a Dickensian story convincing enough in its realism of the 1870s to 80s including a long dying scene, of which Dirk Bogarde was such an expert and made so many of, usually coughing to death, while Kathleen Ryan in spite of her hardships actually gets along quite well, not actually needing the sympathetic support of Cyril Cusack as the would be catcher in the rye. It's a lovely film of a serving maiden's tale and particularly a film for horse lovers - the final race is a killer.

If you like racing, this movie is for you (though I could have done without it, as that dragged on too long) and if Victorian melodrama's your thing, then you've come to the right place as well.

Kathleen Ryan does a good job in the title role, a young woman, working as a servant, who finds herself "in the family way", after being seduced by footman William Latch (Dirk Bogarde), who then elopes with a young woman of means. Esther faces tough times, harsh attitudes, almost loses her baby boy to unscrupulous black marketers, and an eventual reunion with William (who didn't know about their son), whom she prefers to the local preacher (Cyril Cusack) who's willing to marry her and help raise her son.

Life changes for the better, but not for long. But one thing stays the same: her deep and abiding love for her child.

It's a good movie and doesn't get either too maudlin or too sentimental.

I waited up until 2:00 am to see this film back in 1964. Very well done and I was surprised with all the attention paid to "Upstairs;Downstairs" that this film has not made it to video.

The period detail is outstanding and Dirk Borgarde gives a very good performance as does Kathleen Ryan. I have read that Dirk's younger brother played his "son" in this film. By all means, if you have a chance to view this, do so.

I have always been fond of the British costume dramas and melodramas of the immediate post-war period, but this is a decidedly lacklustre example of the breed. Rank had undertaken an ambitious production schedule but was sorely lacking in talented and experienced directors; nor did Dirk Bogarde have the experience to carry the male lead, a role crying out for the likes of Stewart Granger, who apparently turned it down.

Opportunities are missed in the early scenes in the Barfield country house, with those in the middle of the picture, depicting poor Esther having her child in the workhouse, her encounter with the sinister baby farmer, and the slave labour conditions of her work as a domestic servant, being considerably more resonant. Then, around the time of the introduction of Cyril Cusack as a rather wet lay preacher, it all starts to go down hill. Though evident that a great deal of time, expense, and attention to detail was expended on the racing scenes toward the end, the prolonged business with Bogarde's gambling cronies struck me as monumentally tedious. Kathleen Ryan as Esther is one of the few saving graces and, according to Bogarde, she gave him a silver brandy flask after shooting was over, engraved with 'To hell with Esther Waters!' I had a similar sentiment.

Remembered today solely for containing Dirk Bogarde's first lead (actually second billed to Kathleen Ryan). This screen version of George Moore's socially concerned 1894 novel starts well with a wonderful opening pan across the Wessex countryside, like most postwar British films looks lovely and has an interesting supporting cast (including Cyril Cusack, Ivor Barnard and a young Pauline Jameson). But one's attention starts to wander as the heroine's fortunes eventually pick up...