One Man's Meat

1947

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Comedy of a haunted house.

Interior shot of a house followed by a shot of a dog. Henry builds a deck of cards and the dog runs over to him and makes him knock it over. He shouts at the dog and his wife walks in and demands that they move house. She storms out of the room and he gathers up the cards. A man with a moustache named Fortesque pushes a pram through the street. He sees two women walking along the street and falls down a drain as he wasn’t watching where he was going. He climbs out and wheels the pram back home. His wife shouts at him and asks whether he has found a house, as her mother won’t have them there much longer. A man named Alphonse sits in an armchair and smokes a pipe and a little boy reads a book on the floor. His wife is knitting on the chair across from him. Alphonse’s father walks into the room and claims that he needs to look for a house as his mother can’t look after him indefinitely. Alphonse storms out of the room. Fortesque sits in an armchair looking dejected. He suddenly has an idea and hurries out of the house. Shot of Alphonse with a cane walking down the street. He bumps into Fortesque as they are both trying to go through a gate to the house. They both fall over, bow to each other and then hurry towards the front door. Shot of Henry moving furniture outside. Shots of Fortesque and Alphonse cleaning guns ready for the duel the next day. They meet in a field along with two other men and get into position. Alphonse and Fortesque unexpectedly shoot the two other men instead of each other. Shot of the two men dead on the ground. Fortesque and Alphonse stand over the bodies and take their hats off in respect and then walk to the house they wish to buy. Outside the gate, they agree to settle it peacefully and have a bike race to determine who will get the house. Shot of Fortesque and Alphonse getting ready to race their bikes. Fortesque points to a man sleeping in the grass nearby and two children preparing to drop a book on his head. They drop it and Fortesque and Alphonse laugh before they set off on the race. Alphonse has a puncture and so he dejectedly sits by the side of the road. A couple walk past him and he starts crying. Alphonse walks along a path at night and smiles when sees a ghost outside the church. The ghost sits by a gravestone and then disappears as he walks off into the night. Fortesque and his wife sit in the living room of their new house. His wife yawns and goes to bed and when he looks up a ghost is in the room. He runs upstairs in fright and tells his wife they have to move out of the house. Fortesque and Alphonse meet outside the house and they shake hands. Shot of Alphonse sitting in the armchair of the new house smoking a pipe. Shot of his wife and child in the living room. Fortesque walks down the street and sees the ghost outside the church. They talk and then the ghost disappears. Fortesque raises his fist in anger as he realises that Alphonse sent the ghost to him in order to get the house. He marches to the house he gave to Alphonse and they have a fight outside. A police officer breaks up the fight and sends them to jail. Henry and his wife move back into the house. Henry questions why his wife wants to move back into the house if it is haunted. A queue of people wait outside the house near a sign reading ‘Haunted House! See The Ghost! Admission 2/6.” Henry’s wife takes people’s money as they enter the house. Shot of Henry washing up in the kitchen. People jump and faint when they walk past and see the ghost sitting in the room smoking a pipe.

Keywords

Comedy; Haunted House; Ghost; Ghosts;

Intertitles

Once upon a time, when everyone had lots of money and there was nothing to by: and houses were very scarce so that people had to wait a long time to get one; at such a time (it must have been about the year 1948) Henry's wife decided to MOVE.... "Bother!" "Henry! For fifteen years I've lived in this house and i'm sick and tired of it. I won't stand it a day longer! Henry, we will MOVE!" "FORTESQUE! Look at your hair! Is the baby alright? Where HAVE you been? DID YOU FIND A HOUSE?? Mother won't have us here much longer!" "Alphonse!" Yes Dad?" "Alphonse...you really must find a house. Your mother can't look after you indefinitely." "We'll have to settle it peacefully old boy. Let's have a race on our bicycles and the winner gets the house!" "My dear, i'm not quite sure this house quite suits us." "Fortesque! What do you mean?" "Well- you know- size- my position - um - position, you know-" "FORTESQUE!!" "Can't help it, dear- We'll have to move-" "At least, it's solved our housing problem. What's your wife done about it?" "Gone to her mother." "But if it IS haunted, why are you coming back?"-"You'll see!"

Background Information

-Scenes shot at Old Orchard by kind permission of Mr and Mrs Hayes. -R.L Hoult was awarded the I.A.C Silver Medalion for his film "One Man's Meat" in the 1948 competition of The Institute of Amateur Cinematography.

  • Howard Jones

  • Don Stanwell

  • Elizabeth Evans

  • Pat Gibson

  • Fred Hayes

  • Willis Holt

  • Alfred Jackson

  • Phyl Jones

  • Joan Moggeridge

  • George Orment

  • Paul Richfield Jr.

  • Paul Richfield Sr.

  • Valerie Richfield

  • Alfred Roberts

  • Edith Rogers

  • Henry Slagter

  • Phil Turner

  • Bette Wolf

  • The Dog Annabelle

Manifestations

One Man's Meat

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