The Birthday Present

Last updated

The Birthday Present
The Birthday Present film Theatrical release poster (1957).jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Pat Jackson
Screenplay by Jack Whittingham
Produced byJack Whittingham
Starring Tony Britton
Sylvia Syms
Cinematography Ted Scaife
Edited byJocelyn Jackson
Music by Clifton Parker
Production
company
Distributed byBritish Lion Film Corporation (U.K.)
Release dates
  • 31 October 1957 (1957-10-31)(London)
  • UK (UK)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Birthday Present is a 1957 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Tony Britton and Sylvia Syms. [1] [2] The screenplay was by Jack Whittingham who also produced the film for British Lion Films.

Contents

Plot

Simon Scott, a top toy salesman, returns from a business trip to Germany with a watch hidden inside a toy intended as a birthday present for his wife Jean. He is caught by customs, arrested, and the following day sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for smuggling. He is taken to Wormwood Scrubs. He is not the normal type of prisoner, wearing a three-piece suit with a silk tie. He is taken to a spartan cell.

As he pleads guilty there is no right of appeal, other than against the length of sentence. He tells his wife an appeal is too costly and will take too long.

His wife tells his employer’s managing director, Colonel Wilson, that, contrary to earlier reports, Simon has not been sick but is serving a prison sentence. Wilson tries to keep the information to himself but colleagues eventually find out. Privately he decides he would allow Simon to return to work following his release.

However, when Simon does next meet him, the MD regretfully tells him that a board meeting has decided that he cannot continue to work for them (as marketing manager of their toy factory). An employment agency warns Scott that many professional people with a criminal record are forced back into crime due to the inability to find employment. His wife then takes a job (as a photographic model) in order to support them. Simon eventually has an offer of a similar job at another factory (without divulging his crime at the interview) but after saying he has the job they call his old employer for a reference, are told the truth and decide to withdraw the offer.

However, Wilson, who remains convinced he took the right decision at his earlier meeting with Simon, forcefully debates the issue with the directors and points out if he had been fined rather than going to prison they would have a different attitude.

The film ends with Simon receiving a letter from Wilson saying he can return after all.

Cast

Production

The film was the first production from Jack Whittingham Productions Ltd, a new company formed by Jack Whittingham and Pat Jackson. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios and released by British Lion. [3]

Pat Jackson considered it one of his favourite films, calling it "an honest piece of filmmaking, with a lovely performance from Sylvia Syms. It was a very interesting and well written script." [4]

Reception

Pat Jackson said "it got wonderful, wonderful notices... didn't do commercially well because Asian 'flu if you remember, hit London very badly, it was all sort of at that time." [5]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The intention of making a film about the problems of a man released from gaol is creditable enough, and the authors of the story evidently intended to bring home a serious point. Unfortunately, the good intentions are not entirely realised by the film. For a start, the treatment is novelettish, and the problem handled and solved at a purely sentimental level. Moreover, the direction so lacks real force and conviction, that the final impression is of a technically competent piece of commercial film-making – clean, smooth, hygienic and quite unpoetic. The morale and the way of life the film exposes seem too much inspired by Customs regulations and the travelling salesman's handbook." [6]

Kine Weekly wrote: "The acting is highly competent and the insight into human behaviour keen, but the prison sequences are somewhat protracted. ...Tony Britton contributes a smooth study as the immaculate and confident though foolish Simon, Sylvia Syms is most appealing as the loyal Jean, and Geoffrey Keen and Walter Fitzgerald impress as Wilson and Sir John. The supporting types, too, are accurately etched. The kaleidoscopic opening has colour and the concluding reels thrust home its stern moral, but during its middle stages a little too much attention is paid to prison detail." [7]

Variety called it "smooth but uninspired". [8]

The Radio Times wrote: "doleful, overlong slice of surburban life." [9]

Allmovie called it "a bitter half-hour anecdote stretched to 100 minutes... Intended as a slice of raw realism, Birthday Present plays more like a cautionary social studies film." [10]

TV Guide said, "All-around fine technical efforts add a sense of authenticity." [11]

Filmink called it "a hidden gem". [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Last Tycoon</i> 1941 unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Last Tycoon is an unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 1941, it was published posthumously under this title, as prepared by his friend Edmund Wilson, a critic and writer. According to Publishers Weekly, the novel is "generally considered a roman à clef", with its lead character, Monroe Stahr, modeled after film producer Irving Thalberg. The story follows Stahr's rise to power in Hollywood, and his conflicts with rival Pat Brady, a character based on MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.

<i>Ice Cold in Alex</i> 1958 British war film

Ice Cold in Alex is a 1958 British war film set during the Western Desert campaign of World War II based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Under the title Desert Attack, a shortened, 79-minute version of the film was released in the United States in 1961. Film critic Craig Butler later referred to the shortened versions as nonsensical.

Jack Whittingham was a British playwright and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sylvia Syms</span> English actress (1934–2023)

Sylvia May Laura Syms was an English stage and screen actress. Her best-known film roles include My Teenage Daughter (1956), Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), for which she was nominated for a BAFTA Award, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), No Trees in the Street (1959), Victim (1961), and The Tamarind Seed (1974).

<i>The Punch and Judy Man</i> 1963 British film

The Punch and Judy Man is a 1963 black and white British comedy film made by Elstree Studios directed by Jeremy Summers from a script by Philip Oakes and Tony Hancock for the Associated British Picture Corporation. It was Hancock's second and last starring role in a film, following The Rebel (1961).

<i>Ferry to Hong Kong</i> 1959 British film

Ferry to Hong Kong is a 1959 British melodrama/adventure film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Curt Jürgens, Sylvia Syms, Orson Welles and Jeremy Spenser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Keen</span> English actor (1916–2005)

Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the James Bond films.

<i>The Quare Fellow</i> 1954 play by Brendan Behan

The Quare Fellow is Brendan Behan's first play, first produced in 1954. The title is taken from a Hiberno-English pronunciation of queer.

<i>Conspiracy of Hearts</i> 1960 film

Conspiracy of Hearts is a 1960 British Second World War film, directed by Ralph Thomas, about nuns in Italy smuggling Jewish children out of an internment camp near their convent to save them from The Holocaust. It stars Lilli Palmer, Sylvia Syms, Yvonne Mitchell and Ronald Lewis, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Film Promoting International Understanding at the 18th Golden Globe Awards in 1961.

<i>Brandy for the Parson</i> 1952 film by John Eldridge

Brandy for the Parson is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Eldridge and starring Kenneth More, Charles Hawtrey, James Donald and Jean Lodge. It was based on a short story by Geoffrey Household from Tales of Adventurers (1952). The title is a reference to the refrain of the poem "A Smuggler's Song" by Rudyard Kipling.

<i>These Dangerous Years</i> 1957 British film by Herbert Wilcox

These Dangerous Years is a 1957 British drama musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring George Baker, Frankie Vaughan, Carole Lesley, Thora Hird, Kenneth Cope, David Lodge and John Le Mesurier. It was written by Jack Trevor Story,

<i>The Moonraker</i> 1958 film by David MacDonald

The Moonraker is a 1957 British swashbuckler film directed by David MacDonald and starring George Baker, Sylvia Syms, Marius Goring, Gary Raymond, Peter Arne, John Le Mesurier and Patrick Troughton. It was based on the 1952 play of the same title by Arthur Watkyn. It was released in 1958.

<i>Flame in the Streets</i> 1961 British film by Roy Ward Baker

Flame in the Streets is a 1961 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring John Mills and Sylvia Syms. The screenplay was by Ted Willis based on his 1958 play Hot Summer Night and was novelised by John Burke for Four Square Books. The film was made in CinemaScope.

<i>We Joined the Navy</i> 1962 British film by Wendy Toye

We Joined the Navy is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O'Brien, Derek Fowlds, Graham Crowden, Esma Cannon and John Le Mesurier. Produced by Daniel M. Angel, it was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by John Winton, a former Royal Navy lieutenant commander.

<i>No Trees in the Street</i> 1959 British film by J. Lee Thompson

No Trees in the Street is a 1959 British crime thriller directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Sylvia Syms, Herbert Lom and Melvyn Hayes. It was written by Ted Willis, from his 1948 stage play of the same name.

<i>The World Ten Times Over</i> 1963 British film by Wolf Rilla

The World Ten Times Over is a 1963 British drama film written and directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Sylvia Syms, June Ritchie, Edward Judd and William Hartnell. Donald Sutherland makes a brief appearance, in one of his earliest roles. The British Film Institute has described it as the first British film to deal with an implicitly lesbian relationship.

<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>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>Snowball</i> (1960 film) 1960 British film by Pat Jackson

Snowball is a 1960 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Gordon Jackson, Kenneth Griffith and Zena Walker. It is based on the 1958 novel of the same name by James Lake.

<i>Expresso Bongo</i> (film) 1959 British film by Val Guest

Expresso Bongo is a 1959 British drama musical film directed by Val Guest, shot in uncredited black & white Dyaliscope and starring Laurence Harvey, Cliff Richard, and Yolande Donlan. It is adapted from the stage musical of the same name, which was first produced on the stage at the Saville Theatre, London, on 23 April 1958.

References

  1. "The Birthday Present". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  2. "The Birthday Present (1957)". Archived from the original on 5 September 2018.
  3. "Form New British Pix Production Co". Variety. 15 January 1957. p. 12.
  4. McFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. Methuen. p. 325.
  5. "Pat Jackson interview" (PDF). British Entertainment History Project. 22 March 1991.
  6. "The Birthday Present". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 24 (276): 146. 1 January 1957 via ProQuest.
  7. "The Birthday Present". Kine Weekly . 486 (2618): 22. 17 October 1957 via ProQuest.
  8. "The Birthday Present". Variety. 13 November 1957. p. 6.
  9. "The Birthday Present - Film from RadioTimes".
  10. "The Birthday Present (1957) - Pat Jackson - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  11. "The Birthday Present".
  12. Vagg, Stephen (22 February 2023). "The Surprisingly Saucy Cinema of Sylvia Syms". Filmink. Retrieved 23 February 2023.