Esther Waters

7/9/2022

This is quite a decent Victorian melodrama that sees naive housemaid "Esther" (Kathleen Ryan) fall for the mischievous charms of "Latch" (Dirk Bogarde). Left high and dry - with their baby - after he absconds with another woman, she must struggle to hold down a job and make ends meet at a time when there was no such thing as maternity leave. It is just when she seems to be making some progress that her nemesis turns up again - by now a quite successful pub owner and gambler with underlying health problems - and when he realises that they had a child together, he wants to try to help - and their drama intensifies. There are some lovey scenes set around the famous Epsom Derby horse race and when both actors are on screen at the same time, there is a distinct and quite engaging chemistry betw