A Day to Remember (1953 film)

Last updated

A Day to Remember
A Day to Remember poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ralph Thomas
Written by Robin Estridge
Based onThe Hand and the Flower
by Jerrard Tickell
Produced by Betty Box
Starring Stanley Holloway
Joan Rice
Odile Versois
Donald Sinden
James Hayter
Cinematography Ernest Steward
Edited by Gerald Thomas
Music by Clifton Parker
Distributed by General Film Distributors
Release date
  • 10 November 1953 (1953-11-10)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

A Day to Remember is a 1953 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring an ensemble cast including Stanley Holloway, Donald Sinden, James Hayter and Bill Owen.

Contents

Plot

The darts team of a London public house go on a day trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. On the eve of their visit to France, the members of the Hand & Flower pub darts team gather for a drink. The day trip has been organised by one of the team, Percy, who is a travel agent. For some of the team, it is their first ever trip abroad, while for others it is the first time they have returned to France since their service in World War I or World War II. Charley is looking forward to meeting some French mademoiselles, but Fred, the pub's landlord, whose wife is within earshot, says there'll be "none of that sort of thing". Stan has a plan to buy watches in France and smuggle them back into Britain, avoiding customs duty. Jim is going through a rocky patch with his fiancée, whom he suspects considers him to be boring and staid.

The following day, the group meet at London Victoria station and catch the boat train to Folkestone Harbour station for the ferry across the English Channel to Boulogne. Once they have landed in France, despite the insistence of Fred that they stick together, Jim departs to visit the area where he had been involved in heavy fighting during 1944 when British troops had arrived to liberate France. In the local florists, the shop owners refuse to take his money for flowers for his friend's grave. After taking them to the cemetery where his comrade is buried, he visits a local farm and meets Martine, with whom he spent time eight years before when she was eleven. Now an attractive young woman, she recognises him and invites him to have lunch with her family who also remember him. They immediately strike up a chemistry, which his relationship with his fiancée in England lacks. However, Martine is engaged to a local lawyer who is expecting to land a prestigious partnership in Paris.

Back in town, the rest of the group enjoy lunch in a cafe and then separate to tour around the town. Stan goes and picks up his black market watches, while "Shorty", stewing over those who use his resented nickname, gets drunk and joins the French Foreign Legion, in spite of Charley's efforts to stop him. Fred is enticed by a young woman into a bar and she persuades him to buy champagne for them and dance with her. He is embarrassed when Charley finds him in there. Percy, the travel agent, becomes violently homesick and desperate for a cup of tea.

Reassembling, the group attempt but fail to retrieve Shorty from service in the Foreign Legion, and then drift towards the docks and the ship for the return trip, wondering what has happened to Jim who has been missing all day. Stan sees a policeman calling to him, so, thinking he knows about the watches, throws them into the water; but he only wants to return Stan's passport which he had left at the customs check.

Jim has fallen in love with Martine, but they argue over whether they can be together, and he heads for the docks, while Martine goes to rejoin her fiancée. But once there, she tells him she does not love him and cannot marry him, and then drives hurriedly towards the docks. Meanwhile, on a blind date with a friend, Jim's fiancée in London has met and struck up a relationship with an American serviceman. Arriving as his ship is leaving, Martine shouts her true feelings for Jim, and they agree to meet again when he returns to France.

Cast

Production

The film was based on The Hand and Flower, a 1952 novel by Jerrard Tickell, who had written Appointment with Venus , also filmed by Betty Box and Ralph Thomas. [1] It was partly filmed on location in Boulogne. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i> 1905 novel by Emma Orczy

The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title enjoyed a long run in London, having opened in Nottingham in 1903.

<i>My Cousin Vinny</i> 1992 film directed by Jonathan Lynn

My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn from a screenplay by Dale Launer. It stars Joe Pesci, Ralph Macchio, Marisa Tomei, Mitchell Whitfield, Lane Smith, Bruce McGill, and Fred Gwynne in his final film appearance before his death. The film was distributed by 20th Century Fox, and released in the United States on March 13, 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sterling Holloway</span> American actor (1905–1992)

Sterling Price Holloway Jr. was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in Dumbo, Adult Flower in Bambi, the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Roquefort the Mouse in The Aristocats, and the title character in Winnie the Pooh, among many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Richardson (actor)</span> English actor (1934–2021)

John Richardson was an English actor who appeared in films from the late 1950s until the early 1990s. He was a male lead in Italian genre films, most notably Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960) with Barbara Steele, but he was best known for playing the love interest of Ursula Andress in She (1965) and then of Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. (1966).

Charlotte Elspeth Pollard, or simply Charley, is a fictional character played by India Fisher in a series of audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, a radio show based on the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. She is a young woman from 1930s England, and she is a companion of the Eighth Doctor.

<i>The Cruel Sea</i> (1953 film) 1953 British film by Charles Frend

The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British war film based on the best-selling 1951 novel of the same name by former naval officer Nicholas Monsarrat, though the screenplay by Eric Ambler omits some of the novel's grimmest moments. The film stars Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister. The movie was made by Ealing Studios seven years after the end of World War II, and was directed by Charles Frend and produced by Leslie Norman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Venet</span> American record producer (1936–1998)

Nick Venet was an American record producer, who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz. He is best known for signing The Beach Boys to Capitol Records and producing the band's earlier material including the song "Surfin' Safari". Brian Wilson has credited Venet with helping him learn the craft of production.

<i>Legionnaire</i> (film) 1998 American film

Legionnaire is a 1998 American drama war film directed by Peter MacDonald and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a 1920s boxer who wins a fight after having been hired by gangsters to lose it, then flees to join the French Foreign Legion. The cast includes Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Daniel Caltagirone, Nicholas Farrell and Steven Berkoff. The film was filmed in Tangier and Ouarzazate, Morocco.

<i>Men in White</i> (1934 film) 1934 film directed by Ryszard Bolesławski

Men in White is a 1934 pre-Code film starring Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, and directed by Ryszard Bolesławski. The story is loosely based on the Sidney Kingsley Pulitzer-Prize-winning play of the same name. Due to suggestions of illicit romance and abortion, the film was frequently cut. The Legion of Decency declared the movie unfit for public exhibition.

<i>Monte Walsh</i> (1970 film) 1970 film by William A. Fraker

Monte Walsh is a 1970 American Western film directed by cinematographer William A. Fraker starring Lee Marvin, Jeanne Moreau and Jack Palance. The name "Monte Walsh" is taken from the title of a 1963 western novel by Jack Schaefer, but the film has little to do with the plot of Schaefer's book. The film was set in Harmony, Arizona. The story has elements of a tragedy. The song played over the opening credits is "The Good Times Are Comin' " by Mama Cass, with music and lyrics by John Barry and Hal David.

<i>The Scarlet Pimpernel</i> (1982 film) 1982 British film

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1982 British romantic adventure television film set during the French Revolution. It is based on the novels The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) and Eldorado (1913) by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, and stars Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy Blakeney/the Scarlet Pimpernel, the protagonist, Jane Seymour as Marguerite St. Just, the love interest, and Ian McKellen as Chauvelin, the antagonist.

"Up in Michigan" is a short story by American writer Ernest Hemingway, written in 1921 and revised in 1938. It is collected in Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923) and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1938).

<i>Mad About Men</i> 1954 British film by Ralph Thomas

Mad About Men is a 1954 British Technicolor comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Glynis Johns, Donald Sinden, Anne Crawford and Margaret Rutherford. It was written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the 1948 film Miranda which preceded Mad About Men. Johns appears in both films as the mermaid Miranda. However, Rank Films insisted it was not a sequel.

<i>The Captains Table</i> 1959 British film by Jack Lee

The Captain's Table is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Jack Lee and starring John Gregson, Donald Sinden, Peggy Cummins and Nadia Gray. The film is based on the 1954 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon, later adapted into the 1971 German film The Captain starring Heinz Rühmann.

<i>An Alligator Named Daisy</i> 1955 British film by J. Lee Thompson

An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. It was written by Jack Davies based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Charles Terrot.

Bowery Champs is a 1944 American film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids.

<i>Oh, Kay!</i> (film) 1928 film

Oh, Kay! is a 1928 silent film produced by John McCormick and distributed by First National Pictures. McCormick's wife Colleen Moore starred and Mervyn LeRoy directed the film. It is based on the 1926 musical Oh, Kay!, which had music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse.

<i>Monte Walsh</i> (2003 film) 2003 TV film

Monte Walsh is a 2003 American Western television film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Tom Selleck, Isabella Rossellini, and Keith Carradine. It was adapted from Jack Schaefer's 1963 novel Monte Walsh. This film is a remake of the 1970 Monte Walsh film that starred Lee Marvin.

References

  1. Thompson, Howard (20 September 1953). "Random observations on pictures and people". The New York Times. p. X5.
  2. "Sinden again in naval role". The Mail (Adelaide) . Vol. 43, no. 2, 143. South Australia. 4 July 1953. p. 7 (SUNDAY MAGAZINE). Retrieved 24 May 2016 via National Library of Australia.