David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India) directs Charles Laughton and John Mills in this tale of a hapless 19th century boot-maker, rather too fond of his local pub and trying to cope with a trio of willful daughters.

Charles Laughton delivers a bravura performance as a self-important Lancashire bootmaker who attempts to dictate his daughter’s choice of husband, only to find that she marries his downtrodden and simple-minded employee and starts a rival business. Set in the 1890s, this working class comedy by Harold Brighouse was first staged in 1916 but is here given a fresh breath of cinematic life thanks to luminous cinematography by Jack Hildyard. With John Mills, Brenda de Banzie, Prunella Scales.