Newlywed Problems Abound in "The Family Way"

Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett.

These days, The Family Way (1966) is best-known for featuring one of Hayley Mills' first grown-up roles and a music score by Paul McCartney. Viewers expecting a song-laden soundtrack by McCartney will be disappointed. It's a pretty pedestrian instrumental score, to be honest, though notable because Paul did it while still a Beatle. On the other hand, Hayley Mills fans will enjoy her nuanced performance as a newlywed--even if her own father, John Mills, steals the film.

Hayley and Hywel Bennett star as Jenny and Arthur, a young, working-class couple in Lancashire whose marriage remains unconsummated due to a lack of privacy, interfering in-laws, and personal anxiety. To make matter worse: they can't get their own place due to a housing shortage; they lose their honeymoon money in a scam; and they barely see each other because Arthur works nights as a movie projectionist. But their biggest challenge is the lack of physical intimacy in their marriage--Arthur begins to feel inadequate and Jenny starts to wonder if she is somehow responsible.

As a result, Arthur seeks professional help from a marriage counselor and, at her mother's urging, Jenny discusses the situation with her Uncle Fred (a masseur, which makes him a "medical professional"). Thanks to gossip and loose lips, family, friends, and neighbors soon learn about the state of Jenny and Arthur's marriage--.which, of course, make their lives exponentially worse.

Bill Naughton wrote an early version of The Family Way as a television play called Honeymoon Postponed, which aired on British TV in 1961. He expanded it into the stage play All in Good Time in 1963, which was a modest hit in Britain and a flop on Broadway in 1965 (that cast included Donald Wolfit, Richard Dysart, and John Karlen). John and Roy Boulting acquired movie rights to the play and produced the film. Roy Boulting began a relationship with his star, Hayley Mills, who was 33 years younger than him. They married in 1971, had a son, separated in 1975, and divorced in 1977.

John Mills as Ezra.

While the film's young stars acquit themselves nicely, The Family Way belongs to John Mills and Majorie Rhodes as Arthur's working-class parents Ezra and Lucy. John Mills gives Ezra a sharp, almost comic rigidity, scolding his son for wasting time on “fancy books” with the bluster of a man terrified of anything he can’t control. Yet, at the same time, he offers Jenny unexpected support that reveals a gentler instinct beneath his hard exterior, making his contradictions feel painfully human.

Naughton's screenplay hints at unresolved issues, specifically the sudden disappearance in the past of Ezra's best friend Billy. In one scene, Ezra reminiscences about his and Lucy's honeymoon, noting that watching a sunrise alone with Billy was the best part. Later, Lucy talks of the night Billy disappeared, leaving one to wonder if Arthur is really Billy's son.

The Family Way isn't among Hayley Mills' best non-Disney films. Those would include Tiger Bay, Whistle Down the Wind (based on a book by her mother), and The Chalk Garden. Yet, it's an effective family drama and well acted by the cast. By the way, that's Murray Head ("One Night in Bangkok") as Arthur's brother. Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett reteamed for Twisted Nerve (1968) and Endless Night (1972).