The film's narrative revolves around salesman George Bird. During a routine visit to his physician, he is told that he has a terminal disease and only a short time to live. He decides to spend his final days in an expensive hotel. Once there, he acquires friends and a love interest who eventually learn of his plight.
Synopsis
George Bird, an unassuming salesman of agricultural implements, visits a physician for a routine check-up and is told he has Lampington's disease, a recently identified condition which allows him only a few weeks to live. He accepts the doctor's advice to take his savings and enjoy himself in the little time left to him.
A bachelor with no family or friends, Bird decides to spend his last days among the elite clientele of an upmarket residential hotel at the fictional seaside resort of Pinebourne. By chance, a salesman in a used clothing store has acquired two suitcases, covered with international labels. The cases are full of a deceased Lord's bespoke tailored wardrobe that perfectly fits Bird. Bird acquires the wardrobe and luggage and takes the salesman's advice to shave off his moustache to give him the appearance of a wealthy gentleman.
Bird's unassuming attitude generates a great deal of interest among the hotel's residents. He is seen as an enigma to be solved, with wild speculations offered as to his identity and possible noble lineage. The hotel's housekeeper, Mrs. Poole, guesses the truth, and Bird confides his secret to her. Bird quickly acquires friends and influence, falls in love (possibly for the first time in his life), sets wrongs to right, and is offered lucrative business opportunities. But these successes only serve to make him reflect on the irony that he will have no time to enjoy them.
During a strike by the hotel's staff, Bird comes into contact with Sir Trevor Lampington, the doctor after whom Lampington's disease was named. He insists that Bird cannot possibly have the disease as he has no symptoms, and contacts the clinic to ask it to check. Just as the hospital discovers its error, Bird enters and it is confirmed that he indeed was given the wrong diagnosis. Overjoyed, he is ready to begin life afresh with his new sweetheart, friends and business opportunities.
In a twist ending, however, he is killed in a car accident on the way back to the hotel. He takes a shortcut through the sleepy village of Fallow End, where a man has just set his sick old dog down on the road to have a "last sniff round" before taking him to be put to sleep. Swerving to avoid the dog, Bird runs head-on into a lorry. Meanwhile, the hotel guests, having learned the truth about Bird's identity and misdiagnosis, are irritated that he has not appeared for a dinner celebrating his good news. As the evening wears on, most of them express their doubts about him, and one of them, Bellinghurst, concludes the meal with an arrogant, long-winded "toast" to Bird, who is presumably back in his place.
In hospital, resigned to his fate, Bird tells a nurse to "give his love" to all his friends at the hotel. Mrs. Poole silences Bellinghurst and shames the rest with the news that Mr. Bird is dead.
The film was produced at Welwyn Studios with location shots at Luton, Bedfordshire, shopping parade, and The Rosetor Hotel (now demolished), in Torquay, Devon.[4]
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "In the principal part Alec Guinness gives an extremely clever performance; the other acting varies from rather good (Kay Walsh) to very bad (Wilfred Hyde White). The shortcomings of the script are emphasised, and its virtues minimised by Henry Cass' direction, which is slow and unimaginative."[5]
Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture is immenselys readable fiction picturised with showmanship and intelligence. J. B. Priestley not only knows how to draw characters that live and breathe, but, even more important, the way to manipudate them on paper, on the stage and on the screen. The 'doomed' George is the central figure here, and the others waltz around the 'maypole' in circumstances that enable the author to make relevant cracks at all sections of society. Observant, humorous and human, its colourful and novel mosaic is first-class entertainment, even though it ends on a slightly forced note of tragedy."[6]
Variety wrote: "In the main, dialog is snappy and pungent and despite the impending tragedy, there is a nice light-heartedness of treatment....The principal part is a field day for Guinness, who turns in another sure, polished performance. Chief femme characters are warmly played by Kay Walsh and Beatrice Campbell... Many of the hotel residents are more caricatures than characters, but together they make a contribution to the comedy and drama of the story."[7]
Upon its release in New York City in November 1950, Bosley Crowther called it an "amusing and poignant little picture" that is "simple and modest in structure but delightfully rich in character."[8]
Iin Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939–48, critic Robert Murphy asserted that Last Holiday was not as good as it should have been, given the excellent performances by Guinness, Walsh and James. In particular he described the film's production values as "shabby" and singled out Priestley's trick ending for even harsher criticism, calling it "disastrously inappropriate."[9]
In The Radio Times Guide to Films David Parkinson gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Alec Guinness holds centre stage in this amiable ensemble affair... It's the supporting cast, however, that gives the film the animated gentility that is so achingly British. Kay Walsh, Wilfrid Hyde White, Sid James and Ernest Thesiger stand out among the eccentrics and everyday folk who populate J B Priestley's heart-warming script. Corny, perhaps, but nice."[10]
Other releases and versions
The film was released on VHS in 1994, and again in 2000, by Homevision. It was released in DVD format by Janus Films and The Criterion Collection under licence from Studio Canal in June 2009, but was dropped from their catalogues in 2011.[11][12]
↑Vincent Porter, "The Robert Clark Account", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 20 No. 4, 2000 p. 492
↑"Last Holiday". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
↑Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. New York: Oxford University Press. p.76. ISBN9780198159346.
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.
