Derby Day (1952 film)

Last updated

Derby Day
Derby Day FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Herbert Wilcox
Written byArthur Austen
John Baines
Monckton Hoffe
Alan Melville
Produced by Maurice Cowan
Hebert Wilcox
Starring Anna Neagle
Michael Wilding
Googie Withers
John McCallum
Peter Graves
Suzanne Cloutier
Gordon Harker
Narrated by Raymond Glendenning
Cinematography Mutz Greenbaum
Edited by Bill Lewthwaite
Music by Anthony Collins
Production
company
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
Release date
  • 9 May 1952 (1952-05-09)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£150,010 (UK) [1]

Derby Day (U.S. title: Four Against Fate) is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier and Gordon Harker. [2] An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously enjoyed on screen together. [3] To promote the film, Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. [4]

Contents

While making the film, Wilding began dating Elizabeth Taylor, who was in London filming Ivanhoe , and later became her second husband. [5]

Plot

On the morning of the Epsom Derby, a disparate group of people prepare to go to the races. Lady Helen Forbes, a recently widowed aristocrat, is planning to make the journey in spite of the disapproval of her social set who consider it unseemly to go while still in mourning. David Scott, a newspaper cartoonist, is ordered to go by his editor against his wishes. As part of a charity raffle, dissolute film star Gerald Berkeley must reluctantly escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom, although when the woman falls and injures her leg, her crafty housekeeper arranges for one of the young French maids to go in her place. In Hackney, a lodger kills a man whose wife he has been having an affair with. The lodger and the wife plan to flee the country, so they travel to Epsom, where he knows a tipster who may be able to smuggle them out. A young couple, Helen and David, meet and find themselves sharing confidences, as they were both bereaved in the same air crash, and it seems likely that they will meet again.

The lodger and the wife are spotted and arrested. A taxi driver's wife fulfils her life ambition to see the races.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The film involves a stereotyped collection of characters in some equally familiar situations, For the lower orders there is crime (John McCallum, unshaven, breathing heavily and on the run) and artificial Cockney comedy (Gladys Henson and Gordon Harker) with only one joke – the hypothetical superiority of television to the real thing. The film star (Peter Graves) makes tiresomely coy intramural jokes about the British film industry; the maid (Suzanne Cloutier) is stage French. The upper classes, represented by Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding – who contrive to look as though they were posing for an advertisement in a glossy magazine – suffer bravely but woodenly over their champagne. A script sadly deficient in wit, originality or probability shows up the pedestrian nature of Herbert Wilcox's technique. Usually he presents similar ingredients with a certain showmanship, but here excessive loyalty to a formula has produced far from happy results." [6]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This is an engaging, absorbing look at the various flotsam and jetsam that pit themselves against the Fates at Epsom Downs on Derby Day. The British class system was firmly rooted and unassailable in the early 1950s, and director Herbert Wilcox nicely milks its rituals and nuances at a great cultural event. The portmanteau cast effortlessly goes through its paces with aplomb and confidence. We have been here many times before, but it's still fun." [7]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Intercut comic and melodramatic stories of four people who go to the Derby. Quietly efficient, class-conscious entertainment on the lines of Friday the 13th and The Bridge of San Luis Rey. No surprises, but plenty of familiar faces." [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Neagle</span> English stage and film actress and singer

Dame Florence Marjorie Wilcox, known professionally as Anna Neagle, was an English stage and film actress, singer, and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Wilding</span> English actor

Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, Under Capricorn (1949) and Stage Fright (1950); and he guest starred on Hitchcock's TV show in 1963. He was married four times, including to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had two sons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Googie Withers</span> British actress and entertainer

Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers, CBE, AO was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and star of British films during and after the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McCallum (actor)</span> Australian Actor

John Neil McCallum, was an Australian theatre and film actor, highly successful in the United Kingdom. He was also a television producer.

<i>Travellers Joy</i> 1950 British film

Traveller's Joy is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Googie Withers, John McCallum and Maurice Denham. Based on a West End play of the same name by Arthur Macrae, it was the last film released by the original Gainsborough Pictures.

<i>Lady Godiva Rides Again</i> 1951 British film

Lady Godiva Rides Again is a 1951 British comedy film starring Pauline Stroud, George Cole and Bernadette O'Farrell, with British stars in supporting roles or making cameo appearances. It concerns a small-town English girl who wins a local beauty contest by appearing as Lady Godiva, then decides to pursue a higher profile in a national beauty pageant and as an actress.

<i>Spring in Park Lane</i> 1948 British film

Spring in Park Lane is a 1948 British romantic comedy film produced and directed by Herbert Wilcox which starred Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Tom Walls. Part of a series of films partnering Neagle and Wilding, it was the top film at the British box office in 1948 and remains the most popular entirely British-made film ever in terms of all-time attendance. It was shot at the Elstree Studios of MGM British, with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Some location shooting also took place in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epsom Downs Racecourse</span> Horse racing venue in England

Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse in a hilly area near Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Wilcox</span> Film producer and director from Britain

Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE was a British film producer and director.

<i>The Hard Way</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by Vincent Sherman

The Hard Way is a 1943 Warner Bros. musical drama film starring Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, and Joan Leslie. Directed by Vincent Sherman, it is based on a story by Irwin Shaw which was reportedly based on Ginger Rogers' relationship with her first husband Jack Pepper and her mother Lela.

<i>Piccadilly Incident</i> 1946 British film

Piccadilly Incident is a 1946 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Coral Browne, Edward Rigby and Leslie Dwyer.

<i>Home at Seven</i> (film) 1952 British film

Home at Seven is a 1952 British mystery drama film directed by and starring Ralph Richardson, featuring Margaret Leighton, Jack Hawkins, Campbell Singer and Michael Shepley. It is based on the 1950 play Home at Seven by R. C. Sherriff. The film is Richardson's only work as director. Guy Hamilton was assistant director.

<i>Maytime in Mayfair</i> 1949 British film

Maytime in Mayfair is a 1949 British musical romance film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Nicholas Phipps, and Tom Walls. It was a follow-up to Spring in Park Lane.

<i>Trents Last Case</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by Herbert Wilcox

Trent's Last Case is a 1952 British detective film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Michael Wilding, Margaret Lockwood, Orson Welles and John McCallum. It was produced by Wilcox as part of a distribution agreement with Republic Pictures. It was based on the 1913 novel Trent's Last Case by E. C. Bentley, and had been filmed previously in the UK with Clive Brook in 1920, and in a 1929 US version.

<i>Peg of Old Drury</i> 1935 British film

Peg of Old Drury is a 1935 British historical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Cedric Hardwicke and Margaretta Scott. The film is a biopic of 18th century Irish actress Peg Woffington. It was based on the play Masks and Faces by Charles Reade and Tom Taylor. It contains passages of 18th century Shakespearian performance, from The Merchant of Venice, Richard III and As You Like It.

<i>No Time for Tears</i> (film) 1957 British film by Directed by Cyril Frankel

No Time for Tears is a 1957 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel in CinemaScope and Eastman Color and starring Anna Neagle, George Baker, Sylvia Syms and Anthony Quayle. The staff at a children's hospital struggle with their workload.

<i>The Lady with a Lamp</i> 1951 film by Herbert Wilcox

The Lady with a Lamp is a 1951 British historical drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding and Felix Aylmer. The film depicts the life of Florence Nightingale and her work with wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War. It was shot at Shepperton Studios outside London. Location shooting took place at Cole Green railway station in Hertfordshire and at Lea Hurst, the Nightingale family home, near Matlock in Derbyshire. The film's sets were designed by the art director William C. Andrews. It is based on the 1929 play The Lady with a Lamp by Reginald Berkeley.

<i>Strange Boarders</i> 1938 film

Strange Boarders is a 1938 British comedy thriller film, directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black and written by Sidney Gilliat and A. R. Rawlinson. It stars Tom Walls, Renée Saint-Cyr, Googie Withers and Ronald Adam. The film is an adaptation of the 1934 espionage novel The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent by E. Phillips Oppenheim, and was well received by critics. It was produced by Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by General Film Distributors.

<i>My Teenage Daughter</i> 1956 British film Herbert Wilcox

My Teenage Daughter is a 1956 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Sylvia Syms and Norman Wooland. The screenplay concerns a mother who tries to deal with her teenage daughter's descent into delinquency. It was intended as a British response to Rebel Without a Cause (1955). It was the last commercially successful film made by Wilcox.

<i>Lilacs in the Spring</i> 1954 film

Lilacs in the Spring is a 1954 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Errol Flynn and David Farrar. The film was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director William C. Andrews. Shot in Trucolor it was distributed in Britain by Republic Pictures. It was the first of two films Neagle and Flynn made together, the other being King's Rhapsody. It was released in the United States as Let's Make Up.

References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p498
  2. ↑ "Derby Day". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Mayer p.385
  4. ↑ Harper & Porter p.156
  5. ↑ Walker p.131-133
  6. ↑ "Derby Day". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 19 (216): 89. 1 January 1952 – via ProQuest.
  7. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 243. ISBN   9780992936440.
  8. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 264. ISBN   0586088946.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.