Esther Waters

Esther Waters (1948)

Tagline: "Sin of Esther Waters"
 
Starring: Kathleen Ryan, Dirk Bogarde, Cyril Cusack

Featured Racecourses: Epsom

Directors: Ian Dalrymple, Peter Proud
Producers: Ian Dalrymple, Peter Proud
Writers: Michael Gordon, William Rose, Gerard Tyrrell (based on a novel by George Moore)

Release Date: Sep 1948
Runtime: 108 mins

IMDB Synopsis: Esther (Kathleen Ryan) goes into domestic service as a maid, only to be seduced by sweet-talking footman William (Dirk Bogarde). When he abandons her, she must deal with not only pregnancy but also her mother's death. She struggles to survive with only herself for comfort and strength. She is forced to put her child into care in order to keep her job.

Where to Buy: Amazon
Film Links: IMDB, Wikipedia

Personal Review


Esther Waters (Kathleen Ryan) leaves the London slums to go and work as a domestic servant at the Barfield's manor house which also doubles up as a racing stables. Whilst there she meets and falls in love with the footman, William Latch (Dirk Bogarde), who has a very big gambling habit. William promises to marry Esther and take her away from the Manor House as soon as he wins his fortune on a dead cert but Esther doesn't want to marry a gambler and they have a big argument. William then gives into the attentions of one of the ladies of the house but is caught out by Esther and she feints with anguish knowing that she is already pregnant by William. William and Lady Sarah leave the Manor House together and Esther decides to go back to her mother's house in London to have the baby. When she gets back to London she discovers that her mother has died and so penniless, homeless and with child, her only option is to enter the working infirmary. She has her baby son Jackie in the infirmary and and then goes back to work as a maid whilst letting another women look after her child. She soon discovers that the child minder has sinister plans for Jackie so she quits her job and takes her baby away and is lucky enough to find a policeman and his sister who are willing to take her in. Esther soon gets back on her feet and gets amorous with a local preacher Fred who offers to marry her and treat Jackie as his own. Before she has a chance to respond to the proposal she bumps into William again who by now has left Lady Sarah and has his own pub and bookmaking business. William learns that he is now a father and offers to marry Esther and she eventually gives into his demands. They get married on the morning of the 1881 Derby, William cleans up on his book at the races and all seems to be going well with the pub and their relationship. However after several years of bad fortune and a falling out with his business partner, William catches tuberculosis on a cold wet day at the races and ends up gravely ill in bed. With the money almost gone and William's health fast fading he decides to risk everything he has on a horse called Paradox in the 1885 Derby.

Kathleen Ryan, who played Annie Killain in Captain Boycott the previous year, was once again brilliant as the leading lady in Esther Waters, a young and innocent illiterate maid who at the same time was a very strong and determined women. This beautiful Irish actress appeared as leading lady in a number of films in the late 1940s and early 1950s but then seemed to vanish of the face of the earth. Dirk Bogarde was also very good in his first major role as William Latch, a confident good looking young man and a self pronounced addicted gambler. Dirk has a long distinguished career which spanned several decades with his most famous role probably being Simon Sparrow in the "Doctor" series of movies such as Doctor in the House (1954).

I don't think this film spent enough time introducing the Esther Waters character - I would have liked to have known more about her upbringing and her desire to leave London to become a domestic servant. Apparently the film covers all of the events from the original book but the novel has much more detail so it will be worth while reading that in due course to get a greater insight into her life. I was happy to see Esther and William meet up again later in the film and if she had told him that she was pregnant at the Manor House they would probably never have parted, certainly not on the same acrimonious terms anyway. She made the right choice marrying William and not taking the hand of the down to earth preacher Fred (Cyril Cusack), she may have had a simple life with Fred but would have missed out on all of that gambling excitement that Latch brought to the table.

The best part of the film for me was the Epsom Derby scenes from 1881 and 1885 towards the end of the film which were very realistic in nature, even using the same horse and jockey names that contested those events. The Victorian carnival atmosphere at Epsom was well captured and the final racing action from the 1885 Derby where 15/8 favourite Melton ridden by Fred Archer and 4/1 second favourite Paradox ridden by Fred Webb go head to head was simply stunning and very believable. I thought the closing scene where Esther takes Jackie back to Mrs Barfield's house was a bit lame and left me feeling a bit empty with lots of questions unanswered.

Esther Waters is on the whole a very good film and the accuracy of the racing scenes from the 1881 and 1885 Derbys was truly amazing, however the lack of initial character development and a poor ending left me a bit deflated. (Rating 7/10)

Favourite Quotes
Esther Waters: "You won't need any money now, I wouldn't marry a man who would take my love and risk it in a horse race."
William Latch: "No more than I'd take a wife who when I act fair and decent turns everything I say into dirt."


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