THE MAGNET
(Rank-Ealing) JUST missed The Magnet in Auckland two and a half years ago, and have looked out for it ever since; and now that I’ve seen it I can’t help wondering why it has taken so long to get what I think is its first screening in a Wellington metropolitan theatre. It isn’t a masterpiece, but it has a freshness which is one of the most agreeable qualities in any film, and it should appeal very much to the many family filmgoers who may. not like some of the heavier pieces I recommend on this page. It’s about a small boy (engagingly played by William Fox) who acquires a giant magnet from another boy by a piece of childish dishonesty-when all other offers fail he trades for it his "invisible" watch. Straightway he develops a bad conscience, and the rest of the story is about the consequences. The script is by T. E. B, Clarke, who has written some of the most successful Ealing comedies. This one isn’t up to his best, but it is amusing in a quiet way (there’s a nice sequence at the expense. of the psychiatrist fatherStephen Murray-well off the track in his diagnosis of the boy’s behaviour) and exciting, too (when the boy runs away and becomes involved in a piece of daring that nearly ends in tragedy). I feel that the film as a whole doesn’t quite succeed, but I would be less than honest if I didn’t say I enjoyed it.. Charles Frend directed.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540827.2.41.1.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 788, 27 August 1954, Page 21
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253THE MAGNET New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 788, 27 August 1954, Page 21
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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