This version of HG Wells's classic story of a little draper's fight to be free of his wretched existence was produced by its star, John Mills, and has immense charm. The original author would surely have been delighted with the performances of Mills, who projects the perfect blend of diffidence and determination, Megs Jenkins, Betty Ann Davies and Finlay Currie, while Desmond Dickinson's sunny photography exactly catches the leisurely pace and atmosphere of British rural life. Wells's ingenious plot, crammed with incident, is treated remarkably faithfully by director Anthony Pelissier's screenplay, with a fire sequence and the final riverside battle between Mills and Currie coming out as the highlights. A memorable British success and a perfect example of a popular novel springing to life just as you had imagined it.

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