The following is commentary on Episode No. 3 ("Lines of Battle") from members of AFAMILYATWAR-LIST. If you wish to add your thoughts to what is being said on this page, become a part of our discussion group by clicking the "Join" button.

 

 


 

 

Richard Veit

With a fine script by Stan Barstow, “Lines of Battle” cleverly interweaves two distinct storylines: the Porter-Ashton marriage and the outspoken class bitterness of Gwyn Roberts (from whose political discourse the episode derives its title). It is a swiftly-paced episode, with a powerful screen portrayal by Ioan Meredith.

Of course, Gwyn Roberts will feature in a much later episode as well (Episode No. 34, “For the Duration”), when he engages in some decidedly one-sided pub talk with John, Freda, and Doris. (Oddly, much the same thing occurs with another communist character, Parker, who played a major role in “To Die for Spain” and will return much later in “Clash by Night.”)

I was impressed by the remarkable continuity of “Lines of Battle,” with Stan Barstow faithfully capturing the essence of John Finch’s characters. Indeed, that is, to me, a hallmark of the entire series, how the characters develop so convincingly over the span of 52 episodes with nary a false step along the way! I sense that John Finch must have worked very closely with the other writers, polishing the submitted scripts so as to make them fit seamlessly into the whole fabric.

One thing that I mentioned several weeks ago about “Lines of Battle” continues to puzzle me, and that is why Patrick Troughton and Margery Mason are accorded screen credits even though their roles (Harry Porter and Celia Porter) seem to have been cut from the final print of this particular episode. Was their scene at the wedding reception perhaps edited out of “Lines of Battle” because of time constraints, or was there a technical problem with that footage?

For me, a memorable scene in “Lines of Battle” is the tender moment when Margaret, attired in her wedding gown, tries to express her gratitude for all that her father has done in her life. It rings true throughout and appears to have been shot in a single take.

It would seem that the children of David and Sheila (Peter and Janet) may have been named for the child actors who played these roles (Peter Finch and Janet Tute). Or was that merely a fortuitous coincidence? Is young Peter related to series creator John Finch?

 


 

Paul Cook

“It won’t be a cricket match you know”
 
This line is taken from the conversation/argument that Phillip has with David in the pub at Oxford. I stress it here, as I feel it gives an impression of how things have changed for Phillip over the preceding months, following his return to England from fighting in Spain. Time spent with the International Brigade has altered his perception and beliefs about military conflict. We witness this in the altercation between Phillip and David. Phillip believes that the “Lines of Battle” are now drawn, Germany pursuing war, and with everyone impotent to stop what can be seen as the relentless expansion of the Third Reich.
 
There is excellent continuity here from the previous episode. In some ways I see the conversation between Phillip and David as mirroring the dialogue between Phillip and Edwin in “To Die For Spain”. The difference now is that Phillip has developed views similar to his father, or at least moving towards some mutual ground of understanding. He responds to David in an open, more mature way, probably from the insight gained from his traumatic experiences fighting the fascists. David on the other hand, has a rather “gung-ho” attitude to the prospect of imminent war. Him and his mates in the RAF are  “keen to have a go” and get stuck into active service. Phillip no longer sees war comprised of black and white issues, but full of grey areas, and a crazy world, sometimes one of desperate confusion.
 
Reflecting again on the previous episode, there is one visual edit towards the end that I appreciate in particular. This is the point where we see Phillip being wounded in Spain. It shifts dramatically to a cosy, domestic scene where Jean and Margaret are arranging red carnations in a vase in the kitchen. I have an almost physical sense of relief/release at this moment. I wonder if this was intentional in the programme’s direction, so as to highlight the differences individuals were experiencing at that time, and indeed throughout the war that was to come. On one hand we see the men coping with the life and death struggle of battle at the war front, but also the need of families on the Home Front striving for some normality.
 
Choosing red flowers is perhaps co-incidental in this scene, but of course this is the colour of the flower of remembrance to all our fallen men and women, the red poppy.

 
 
Gwynne, (aka Trotsky, the Welsh Gas-Bag)
 
Edwin refers to Gwynne as “the Welsh gas-bag”, and Freda labels him “Trotsky” towards the end of the episode. I chortle when I hear Edwin say this line.
 
I mention Gwynne because so much happens in this episode because of his behaviour. He is a prominent character in his own right, but more importantly, acts as a catalyst in the development of the other characters and themes. He causes antagonism throughout the episode, most notably in his tirade against Sefton, resulting in the public humiliation of Edwin. Poor old Gwynne just can’t keep his mouth shut can he?
 
Also, in the pub scene in Oxford, we see him really straining to hear the conversation of some other students. This ear-wigging happens a few times in the episode, giving the impression of someone who is itching to cause a fight or rumpus. He does love getting on his soap box, and venting off about what is right or wrong with people and the world. A real know-it-all.
 
Gwynne is a character who does have a black and white view of life, (at least for the time being). His beliefs in communism seem to stem from reading books, rather than immersion in his own experience of class struggle. Of course he has some decent credentials, coming from a deprived village in the Welsh valleys, and so Gwynne can talk at length about the lives of the men, women and children he has lived with. However, I feel his integrity is just that bit lacking. It is like he is on the edge of things, rather than immersed in the social problems he rants about.
 
I can’t quite find the words to convey what I am trying to say here, but perhaps a comparison from John Finch’s other seminal work, “Sam” might help. For those of you who are familiar with the series, there is a very powerful character in it called Jack Barraclough. He too has strong socialist ideals, (which some capitalists like Sefton would interpret as communism). I hear an instinctive difference between Jack and Gwynne. Jack’s beliefs are spoken true, from the heart, and with utter conviction. He has experienced terrible social deprivation throughout his life in the mining village of Skellerton. He has real fire in his belly when he speaks out to defend the cause of the working man, living and breathing this shared world. In this respect Gywnne barely comes to simmering point. Jack was black listed from working for (I think) 8 years because of his anti-establishment opinions, being branded a troublemaker by the owners of the mines. I don’t get the impression that Gwynne would sacrifice his ideals in such a manner. Those who know this character of Grandad Barraclough can easily appreciate that his political views have been hewn out, solid, just like the coal he mined from the pits for all those years.
 
At end of the episode, when there is an uncomfortable truce between Phillip and Gwynne,
Phillip comments that Gwynne “hates anyone born on the other side of the fence”.  My fantasy is that Gwynne will ditch these ideals, and even Phillip seems to intimate that Gwynne may well do this in the future, when he has his own children, and seen that he too, has stepped up the social ladder after his Oxford education. As an aside, I wonder if those from working class backgrounds from the USA might have had access to the Ivy League Universities during this period similar to our scholarship model? Did Harvard, or Princeton say, give opportunities to those from poor backgrounds like Gwynne during the 1930’s” as did Oxford and Cambridge?
 
 
The Front Room
We see the front room of the Ashton’s for the first time. Do we see it again in future episodes? – I can’t place it, if it does. We didn’t have a front room/parlour/drawing room ourselves, but some of my relatives did, who lived in those older Victorian terraced houses that survived the Blitz. Daft not to use the room regularly really when you think about it, as living space was really quite cramped. Mind you, where David and Sheila live, does remind me of my own history, living in an area where many houses were to be condemned some years after the war. Part of me is nostalgic for that loss of community, but of course that is part of social progress.
 
I remember the front room being kept just for special occasions. This has been traditional in our English past, the front room dating from Victorian times (as with Margaret’s wedding). Perhaps on a Sunday it might be used, or say, to welcome special visitors. For the most part, all the better furniture and possessions were located here, and as I remember, it had the atmosphere more of a museum, rather than a comfortable place to  have a chat or a laugh.  The image of the horse-hair sofa comes to mind. I remember sitting on this kind of furniture in my short trousers, at about 8 years old, feeling very uncomfortable and itchy, but daring not to say a word. I couldn’t wait and go out to play with my mates. My impression of such a room is of it being dreary and formal.

 
 
The Toffs
The students that Gwynne gets so uppity about obviously come from the upper classes, most likely up from public school as Eton, Harrow etc. (By the way for our American friends, “public” means “private” (so paid for), with regard to education in England). To a degree their accents are overdone, and perhaps mannerisms a bit exaggerated in those scenes, but the script has to make sure that the sense of social class is so emphatic. Of course, this only serves to make the encounter with Gwynne, who is from a definite working class background, that much more believable and visually challenging.
 
We can leave this episode with perhaps an unfortunate impression of these student chaps putting down the background of those of the ilk of Gwynne from the working classes, who “should know their place”. However, also seeing David in this scene makes me think of how important the University Air Squadrons of Oxford University were, (as well as those of Cambridge and London Universities) to provide so many of those fighter pilots soon to serve in the Battle of Britain in the following year, 1940.

 


 

John Finch

I am very impressed by Paul and Richard’s accounts of the various episodes of the series. Not just their perception of what the series is about, but their appreciation of the contributions made by actors, directors, and all those others involved in the teamwork that is television drama.

Towards the end of the series I told Sir Denis Forman, then Managing Director of Granada, that I could never edit again. I found the rewriting of other people’s work too painful, and too potentially damaging to relationships. It was why the 39 episodes of the series I created after "A Family at War" were written by myself, without the assistance of a script editor.

Stan Barstow, a first class and highly respected novelist, was one of my early thoughts for what I hoped would be a fairly close-knit writing team. He was also a friend. The friendship survived ( to this day) the tortuous process of getting what was intended as the pilot for the series, absolutely right. But a novelist is not necessarily at ease with the techniques of drama, and particularly television drama. The pilot sank without trace, largely due to casting problems, but the experience was not a happy one for Stan, particularly as I was beginning to appreciate, at this point, the problems of continuity. That the friendship survived the pressures (to this day) was largely due to Stan’s acceptance of the situation.

When he ultimately gave television another try, he succeeded largely because he wrote adaptations of what was essentially his own work.

Peter Finch is in fact my youngest son. Now in his Forties, and a teacher of mathematics, he still remembers that his first earnings were as an actor; the magnificent sum of £36.

 


 

Richard Veit

I am curious to know if the pilot episode still exists in a vault somewhere. That would be interesting to see, with different actors in the leading roles!

Along those same lines, does whoever manages the film archives of “A Family at War” perhaps have any auditions, screen tests, or bloopers that fans might hope to see someday?

 


 

John Finch

To the best of my knowledge the original pilot of "A Family at War" no longer exists. Alas, Granada has now been swallowed up by the giant ITV and has virtually ceased to exist. Media studies professors tell me that is more or less impossible to get any kind of material from Granada, even for educational purposes. I doubt they would keep auditions etc. anyway.

 


 

Richard Veit

I am curious as to why Harry and Celia Porter (Patrick Troughton and Margery Mason) do not appear on screen and yet are listed in the closing credits. Was their appearance filmed/taped but later edited out of the final presentation? If so, I wonder if this was because of time constraints or a technical problem. I know the storyline calls for Celia to be taken ill and having to leave with her husband, but such a scene is never shown.

 


 

Rhona Connor

I have noticed this and thought was it my eyesight or something I look every time!!! In the script it mentioned that Harry had taken Celia home as she had had one of her turns!!!! That much I do know and being an avid fan and not an anorak I have watched ten times this past four months and have not seen them yet!!!!

 


 

Jo Ellem

I could have sworn that I got a glimpse of Margaret Porter's sunny smile at the very end of the reception, but as my 18-month-old daughter did laps of the loungeroom, holding her pink stripey sock in one hand and a slowly melting crayon in the other, it became apparent that I may have been inhaling too many formula fumes. If I put the DVD on when she is around, she dances very slowly to the music, and then I turn it off! Little bit young yet, give her another couple of years!

 


 

John Finch

It would have been odd if the Porters had not appeared at all at their son's wedding. As I remember it, this episode called for some heavy editing and was part of the early learning process, and they may have been in a scene which was lost for this reason.