Britannia Mews (1949) (aka: The Forbidden Street) Dana Andrews, Maureen O'Hara, Sybil Thorndike, Fay Compton Movie Review

Britannia Mews (1949)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Maureen O'Hara in Britannia Mews (1949) (aka: The Forbidden Street)

Here is the Mews

As a young child Adelaide 'Addie' Culver (Maureen O'Hara) was fascinated by Britannia Mews which ran by her well to do parent's home despite being forbidden from ever entering the Mews. And nothing changes when she becomes a woman as the Mews became the focus of her artwork under the tutelage of Henry Lambert (Dana Andrews) whilst Henry becomes the focus of her affections as they fall in love. Much to her parent's dismay Addie & Henry marry with Addie doing her best to support her short tempered husband as he tries to deal with his drinking problem. When Henry falls to his death, drunk Addie finds herself being blackmailed by Mrs. Mounsey (Sybil Thorndike), the hag who lives across the way leaving Addie to become tough till an unusual turn of events brings Gilbert Lauderdale Gilbert Lauderdale into her life.

"Britannia Mews" which also goes by the name "The Forbidden Street" is a nothing movie. Oh it tells a story, has a nice set and an appealing cast, well it stars Maureen O'Hara, but it is all kind of pointless. It is hard to describe without giving detail away but the story sort of goes well to do woman marries, suffers hardship, then tragedy but then receives a glimmer of hope of happiness again.

The thing is that everything else in "Britannia Mews" is fine and Maureen O'Hara delivers an enjoyable performance with an accent which takes a journey. Plus this movie features puppets and whilst you can see that it isn't Dana Andrews operating them the scenes featuring them work well. But the storyline just doesn't really grab your attention as it meanders along to a suitable ending but nothing special.

What this all boils down to is that "Britannia Mews" is a simple and charming drama which has everything other than a great storyline to make it compelling.


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