Hindle Wakes (1927)
September 12, 1927Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
Estelle Brody
Fanny Hawthorne
John Stuart
Allan Jeffcote
Norman McKinnel
Nathaniel Jeffcote
Marie Ault
Mrs. Hawthorn
Humberston Wright
Chris Hawthorne
Gladys Jennings
Beatrice Farrar
Irene Rooke
Mrs. Jeffcote
Peggy Carlisle
Mary Hollins
Media.
Details.
This Movie Is About.
Wiki.
Hindle Wakes is a 1927 British silent film drama, directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Estelle Brody and John Stuart. The film is adapted from Stanley Houghton's 1912 stage play of the same name, and reunites Brody and Stuart following their hugely popular pairing in the previous year's Mademoiselle from Armentieres. The film was also released under the title Fanny Hawthorne.
In its time, Houghton's play was considered extremely controversial and provocative in its message. It is seen as proto-feminist in tone, with its assumption that women as well as men could enjoy a brief sexual fling for what it was, without any sense of obligation on either side, and further that a woman was capable of making her own decisions, ignoring familial and societal strictures if necessary. Hindle Wakes was filmed four times, twice as a silent (the first version, also directed by Elvey, made in 1918) and twice in sound (in 1931 and 1952). The 1927 production was well-budgeted, made extensive use of location filming in Manchester and Blackpool, and is generally held by film historians to be the best of the four.