Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 28-February-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Hobson's Choice (1954)

In the queen's English the phrase "Hobson's choice" is used when a person has only one option to choose from and must take it or leave it. In the 1954 film Hobson's Choice, based on a play of the same name, such a narrow selection is presented to Henry Hobson (Charles Laughton), a "dunderheaded lump of obstinacy" who owns a shoe store in nineteenth-century Manchester. Hobson is an alcoholic widower with three grown daughters who serve him dutifully but always seem, to him, to be under his feet. At the beginning he considers marrying off the two younger ones until his pub buddies bring up dowries, at which point miserly selfishness overcomes paternal consideration. Yet as the plot unfolds he discovers that the matter is out of his hands, for he is master of neither his fate nor his domain.

Comic drunkards are a hard sell even when played by a pro like Laughton, so it is fortunate that the core of this lighthearted movie, not to mention the core of Hobson's picturesque home, is his oldest daughter Maggie (Brenda De Banzie). An outspoken pragmatist of 30, she looks every bit the stern spinster but proves to be the sister with the heart of gold. The pleasure of Hobson's Choice is watching her flourish in a singular way. If ever a person was designed to forge her own destiny, Maggie is she, being clear-eyed, fearless, and as obstinate as her unappreciative parent. Deciding that the time has come for herself to marry, she informs her father's simple yet skilled bootmaker (John Mills) that they are going to set up shop as husband and wife. "You're my man" she announces to his round-eyed, uncomprehending face, and within a couple of flurried weeks he finds that she was right.

The newlywed entrepreneur blooms under Maggie's coaching, which would resemble henpecking were it not so effective and marked by sincere tenderness. She literally reaches into her husband's psyche and extracts the precious mettle that would otherwise have remained buried. Their joint pride at his success fuels the fires of love. When not improving her own lot, Maggie brokers marriages for her sisters behind her father's back. The quaint conclusion to be made from her actions and subsequent confrontation with her father is that men have one viable choice in life: to put themselves into the hands of a good woman. Choosing not to is tantamount to perishing. In Hobson's case this threat is real since he would drink himself to death without Maggie's oversight. For a comedy that pits feminine self-actualization against masculine self-destruction, the idea of having one's future determined by someone strong, kind, and sensible feels like a happy ending indeed.

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