The greater good!

Central to the film's charm is Charles Laughton as the most irascible & inflexible of small business owners. His tyrannical control of the status quo (& the business) is gradually chipped away by his three daughters' refusal to kowtow to him. The eldest, Maggie (De Banzie) masterfully manipulates her father's weaknesses so that, in the end, it is not a case of "Hobson's choice'". A delight is Will's transformation from a timid, inarticulate cobbler being exploited by Hobson, to a position (after being groomed by Maggie) where he can stand up to the master. Reuniting of the great team of Mills & director Lean. Interesting to see Prunella Scales decades before her trademark 'Sybil' incarnation.