The Extra Day

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The Extra Day
The Extra Day film Theatrical release poster (1956).png
Theatrical release poster
Directed by William Fairchild
Written byWilliam Fairchild
Produced by E.M. Smedley Aston
(as Smedley Aston)
Starring Richard Basehart
Simone Simon
George Baker
Cinematography Arthur Grant
Edited by Bernard Gribble
Music by Philip Green
Color processColour
Production
company
William Fairchild Productions
Distributed by British Lion Films
Release date
  • 25 June 1956 (1956-06-25)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£83,383 (UK) [1]

The Extra Day (also known as Twelve Desperate Hours and 12 Desperate Hours) is a 1956 British comedy-drama film directed by William Fairchild and starring Richard Basehart, Simone Simon and George Baker. [2]

Contents

Plot

After the final scene of a film is lost by the driver taking it to the printing lab, the cast and extras have to be rounded up for it to be re-shot. This proves to be quite an endeavour. The director, German exile Kurt Vorn, sends several people out to gather the required actors, who are mainly in theatres.

Meanwhile Ronnie, a new Sinatra-style crooner, sings to crowds of adoring girls. His girlfriend Toni struggles to cope with this, until he announces to his adoring fans that he is going to marry her. The public proposal pushes Joe into also proposing, which is met with a slap on the face.

However, once all are assembled, the driver Harry returns with a battered film canister, saying the reshoot is not needed after all.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The episodes here are casually linked together, and the film rejects what might have been a promising subject – a film extra's real experiences – unambitiously to pursue its series of comic and sentimental anecdotes. The script leans heavily on situation 'gimmicks', few of them unfamiliar, the social placing of the characters is somewhat shaky, and an experienced cast is given little room to manoeuvre. It seems an odd, and perhaps unconscious, comment on the British film scene that the film within a film should employ a European director, American assistant director and French star." [3]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Nice idea; entertaining though very fragmented." [4]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Thin excuse for portmanteau drama, only amusing in its depiction of a British movie being made with mostly foreign talent." [5]

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References

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p508
  2. ↑ "The Extra Day". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  3. ↑ "The Extra Day". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 23 (264): 61. 1 January 1956 – via ProQuest.
  4. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 307. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  5. ↑ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 328. ISBN   0586088946.


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