Home and Away | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vernon Sewell |
Written by | Vernon Sewell (play adaptation) R. F. Delderfield (additional dialogue) |
Based on | the play Treble Trouble by Heather McIntyre |
Produced by | George Maynard |
Starring | Jack Warner Kathleen Harrison Charles Victor Thora Hird Leslie Henson |
Cinematography | Basil Emmott |
Edited by | Peter Rolfe Johnson |
Music by | Robert Sharples |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Eros Films (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Home and Away is a 1956 British drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison. [1] It depicts the life of an ordinary working-class man after he wins the football pools. The film reunited Warner and Harrison who had previously appeared together in the Huggetts series of films. [2]
After years of doing the football pools every week George Knowles is stunned to find that all his score draws have come up and he's won the "Treble Chance" jackpot. As George and his family celebrate with an impromptu party, his son Johnnie arrives home and drops a bombshell: the coupon belongs, not to George, but to Johnnie and his workmate Syd Jarvis. But when Syd's gold-digging and wanton mother finds out about the windfall she decides to lock her son up in order to keep him away from his share of the fortune.
The Hyams also produced the play in the West End which Vernon Sewell said was a disaster. [3]
Monthly Film Bulletin said "An innocuous British comedy which makes little attempt to hide its stage origins (most of the action is confined to the family’s living-room) and includes a liberal helping of the genial vulgarity usually associated with such material. An experienced cast works its way through some predictable situations, with Charles Victor contributing an amusing cameo as the next door neighbour whose ambition is to perfect a gas-driven television set." [4]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "The Huggets live again in this comedy from the archives; some fun though." [5]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This is a non-Huggett reunion for Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison. Written and directed by Vernon Sewell, this contrived tale of a widow trying to cheat a fortune out of the pools is meant to be whimsical and slightly wicked. However, it ends up merely frantic and unfunny, with the Warner-Harrison partnership having one of its few off-days." [6]
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).
The Silver Fleet is a 1943 British World War II film written and directed by Vernon Sewell and Gordon Wellesley and produced by Powell and Pressburger under the banner of "The Archers".
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.
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 comedy drama film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the fourth and final film in The Huggetts series.
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.
Strongroom is a 1962 British 'B' crime drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt, Colin Gordon and Ann Lynn. A group of criminals lock two bank employees in a safe during a robbery.
Vernon Campbell Sewell was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor.
As Long as They're Happy is a 1955 British musical comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Jack Buchanan, Susan Stephen and Diana Dors. It is based on the 1953 play of the same name by Vernon Sylvaine. It was shot in Eastmancolor at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Michael Stringer.
Where There's a Will is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Kathleen Harrison, George Cole and Leslie Dwyer. The screenplay was by R. F. Delderfield who adapted one of his own plays.
Waterfront is a 1950 British black and white drama film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Robert Newton, Kathleen Harrison and Avis Scott. It was written by John Brophy and Paul Soskin based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Brophy.
I Believe in You is a 1952 British drama film directed by Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, starring Celia Johnson and Cecil Parker and is based on the book Court Circular by Sewell Stokes. Inspired by the recently successful The Blue Lamp (1950), Relph and Dearden used a semi-documentary approach in telling the story of the lives of probation officers and their charges.
The Heart of a Man is a 1959 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Frankie Vaughan, Anne Heywood and Tony Britton. A millionaire in disguise gives a young man money to help him pursue his singing career.
Penny Paradise is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Carol Reed and starring Edmund Gwenn, Betty Driver and Jimmy O'Dea.
Those People Next Door is a 1953 British comedy film directed by John Harlow and starring Jack Warner, Charles Victor and Marjorie Rhodes. It was based on the play Wearing the Pants by Zelda Davees.
House of Mystery is a 1961 British supernatural mystery film direcred by Vernon Sewell and starring Jane Hylton, Peter Dyneley and Nanette Newman. It was based on the play The Medium which Sewell had filmed three times before. It aired in the U.S. as an episode of the TV series Kraft Mystery Theatre.
The Dark Light is a 1951 British second feature thriller film directed and written by Vernon Sewell and starring Albert Lieven, David Greene and Norman Macowan.
Dangerous Voyage is a 1954 British crime thriller B film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring William Lundigan, Naomi Chance and Vincent Ball. It was distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK, and in the United States by Lippert Pictures.
Rogue's Yarn is a 1957 British second feature crime drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Nicole Maurey, Derek Bond and Elwyn Brook-Jones. It was written by Sewell and Ernle Bradford, and distributed by the independent Eros Films.