Here Come the Huggetts | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Ken Annakin |
Written by | Muriel Box Sydney Box Peter Rogers Denis Constanduros Mabel Constanduros |
Produced by | Betty E. Box |
Starring | Jack Warner Kathleen Harrison Jane Hylton Susan Shaw Petula Clark |
Cinematography | Reginald H. Wyer |
Edited by | Gordon Hales |
Music by | Antony Hopkins |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date | 24 November 1948 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £100,000 [1] |
Box office | £127,000 [1] |
Here Come the Huggetts is a 1948 British comedy film, the first of the Huggetts series, about a working class English family. All three films in the series were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough Pictures. [2]
Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison head the cast as factory worker Joe Huggett and his wife Ethel, with Petula Clark, Jane Hylton and Susan Shaw as their young daughters (all with the same first names as the actresses portraying them) and Amy Veness as their opinionated grandmother. Diana Dors had an early role. [3]
Joe and Ethel had been introduced a year earlier in the film Holiday Camp and there would be two sequels, Vote for Huggett and The Huggetts Abroad (both 1949).
Factory worker Joe Huggett has a first-time telephone installed at home, for work purposes, but his daughters quickly find a lot more use for it. Diana, a flighty cousin of Ethel's (played by a 16-year-old Diana Dors), arrives for a not-very-welcome visit and causes problems at home and at Joe's workplace when Ethel persuades Joe to get her a job there. Eldest daughter Jane must choose between her fiancé who has been away in the forces and a new local admirer. Meanwhile, the family is planning to go to London to see the royal wedding, and Grandma Huggett joins them in camping out overnight near Buckingham Palace.
Clark, who began her career as a child vocalist on BBC Radio, sings the song "Walking Backwards".
Filming took place in June 1948. The working title was Wedding Bells. [4]
Film reviewer Stephen Vagg described the film as a breakthrough role for Diana Dors, who played Ma Huggett's niece. [5]
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE is a British singer, actress, and songwriter She has had one of the longest careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades.
Kathleen Harrison was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-class family's misadventures, The Huggetts. She later played the charwoman Mrs. Dilber opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film Scrooge and a Cockney charwoman who inherits a fortune in the television series Mrs Thursday (1966–67).
Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE was an English film director.
The Weak and the Wicked is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel Who Lie in Gaol by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.
Alison Joy Leggatt was an English character actress.
Easy Money is a 1948 British satirical film about a modern British tradition, the football pools. It is composed of four tales about the effect a major win has in four different situations in the post-war period. Written by Muriel and Sydney Box, based on the play "Easy Money" written by Arnold Ridley, and directed by Bernard Knowles, it was released by Gainsborough Pictures.
Dance Hall is a 1950 British drama film directed by Charles Crichton. The film was an unusual departure for Ealing Studios at the time, as it tells the story about four women and their romantic encounters from a female perspective.
Susan Shaw was an English actress.
Vote for Huggett is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw and Petula Clark. Warner reprises his role as the head of a London family, in the post-war years.
The Huggetts are a fictional family who appear in a series of British films which were released in the late 1940s by Gainsborough Pictures. The films centre on the character of Joe Huggett, played by Jack Warner, the head of a working class London family. Along with the Gainsborough melodramas, the Huggett films proved popular and lucrative for the studio. All four films were directed by Ken Annakin and produced by Betty E. Box.
The Huggetts Abroad is a 1949 British film starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the final film of The Huggetts. The film was less commercially successful than its predecessors. A sequel, Christmas with the Huggetts, was planned but never made.
Holiday Camp is a 1947 British comedy drama film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Flora Robson, Jack Warner, Dennis Price, and Hazel Court, and also features Kathleen Harrison and Jimmy Hanley. It is set at one of the then-popular holiday camps. It resonated with post-war audiences and was very successful. It was the first film to feature the Huggett family, who went on to star in "The Huggetts" film series.
Value for Money is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, based on the novel of the same name by Derrick Boothroyd. It stars John Gregson, Diana Dors, Susan Stephen and Derek Farr.
Peter Charles Hammond Hill was an English actor and television director.
Code of Scotland Yard is a 1947 British crime film directed by George King and starring Oskar Homolka, Muriel Pavlow and Derek Farr. It was originally released as The Shop at Sly Corner, being based on the popular stage play of that title by Edward Percy.
A Gentleman After Dark is a 1942 crime/drama film starring Brian Donlevy and Miriam Hopkins.
Amy Veness was an English film actress. She played the role of Grandma Huggett in The Huggetts Trilogy and was sometimes credited as Amy Van Ness.
Jane Hylton was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Company of Youth was an acting school for young contract players for the Rank Organisation who were being groomed for stardom. It was commonly known as the Rank Charm School.
John Blythe was an English character actor.