The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures between 1943 and 1947 which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes that were usually developed by the same film crew and frequently recurring actors who played similar characters in each. They were mostly based on popular books by female novelists and they encompassed costume dramas, such as The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945), and modern-dress dramas, such as Love Story (1944) and They Were Sisters (1945). The popularity of the films with audiences peaked mid-1940s when cinema audiences consisted primarily of women. The influence of the films led to other British producers releasing similarly themed works, such as The Seventh Veil (1945), Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), Hungry Hill (1947), The White Unicorn (1947), Idol of Paris (1948), and The Reluctant Widow (1950) and often with the talent that made Gainsborough melodramas successful.
History
During the mid-1940s, with many of the men fighting in World War II, and many of the children evacuated to rural areas, women attained more financial responsibility and independence by having to work, and Gainsborough Pictures took advantage of this by providing films with powerful images of female independence and rebellion that resonated deeply with audiences. Maurice Ostrer, who was head of production at Gainsborough, pushed forward escapism, in contrast to Ealing's focus on the war, as he contended that the public did not need to see "patriotic war settings" for enjoyment, since many could find it "too near home", and that audiences wanted "good themes and good laughs".
Previously, Gainsborough had made films in a variety of genres during its twenty-five year existence, and had been particularly known for its comedy films; however, with the advent of war, and the paying viewing public consisting mainly of women, the studio rapidly became closely associated with melodrama, to the extent that these films have become synonymous with the studios, in a manner resembling the Ealing Comedies (1947-1957) and the Hammer Horrors (1955–1974). Gainsborough also produced other films during the war which featured strong women as the protagonist, such as the Launder and Gilliat "unofficial trilogy", Millions Like Us (1943) Two Thousand Women (1944) and Waterloo Road (1945). The Huggetts (1947-1949) film series were also notable in this regard. However, it was the melodramas that were the biggest financial success for Gainsborough.
The dynamics of the paying viewing public changed in 1946, with men returning from war, and this brought about a change in the successful formula of the previous melodramas, in that, on the release of Caravan (1946) and The Magic Bow (1946), there was more focus on men and masculinity, rather than on women, who were relegated to supporting roles. However, 1947 would see a return to the previous formula of putting the women front and centre, which had been central to the previous films' success.
Reception
The critics had a scathing analysis upon their initial reception of the films, and they were not alone, as some of the films' stars also expressed their dissatisfaction with the releases. Stewart Granger described Love Story (1944) as "a load of crap - and a smash hit!", while calling Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) and Caravan (1946) "terrible films" and saying that he "didn't like" Fanny by Gaslight (1944) because of its "drippy characters". Meanwhile, Phyllis Calvert said in a 1983 British Film Institute interview "I hated the films [...] in retrospect, they're even worse now than they seemed at the time. I find it very difficult to say anything nice about them."