Jassy (1947)

Historical Melodrama - Jassy review by Steve

This historical saga is the last of the Gainsborough melodramas and the first in colour. It doesn't feel like a movement that is running out of steam. The abundant plot loves along gleefully and the production was still able to call upon studio stars like Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc.

Many motifs of the series are revisited: there are three beatings whether by whip or cane; there's a gypsy with spectral gifts; and the aristocracy are decadent wastrels who abuse their power over the destitute tenants. A drunken patriarch (Dennis Price) loses his estate in a throw of dice to another dissolute idler (Basil Sydney).

Lockwood is the ambitious gypsy with second sight who ingratiates herself into the household and takes it over. The film is a primarily vehicle for her, with the lovely Patricia Roc disappointingly sidelined. Basil Sydney is a fine foil for the star in the sort of villainous role that used to go to James Mason.

The sets and costumes are sumptuous in Technicolor. Bernard Knowles' direction lacks the panache that this sort of material needs, but the speedy picaresque narrative is always moving on to some new adventure, so it never gets weary. It's all quite familiar, but the formula still works its magic.