No Room at the Inn (1948): Cast & Plot

In the early months of World War II, as children are evacuated from cities to safer areas, teenage Mary O’Rane O’Rane is billeted with Mrs Agatha (‘Aggie’) Voray Freda Jackson in a quiet part of the north of England, where the street looks calm but the household hides trouble. Mary quickly uncovers a troubling truth: behind Voray’s respectable veneer, the evacuee children are kept in squalor and near-starvation, while the money meant to support them is siphoned off to alcohol and unnecessary extravagances. This grim dynamic is kept hidden from the outside world, and even a visit from Mary’s father is deftly turned to Voray’s advantage, as she convinces him that Mary’s allegations are groundless and that his presence on a pub crawl is harmless.