The Huggetts Abroad

Last updated

The Huggetts Abroad
The Huggetts Abroad FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Ken Annakin
Written byGerard Bryant
Ted Willis
Story byKeith Campbell
Produced by Betty E. Box
Starring Jack Warner
Kathleen Harrison
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
  • May 1949 (1949-05)
Running time
89 mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£113,000 (by 1953) [1]

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. [2] It was the fourth and final film in The Huggetts series.

Contents

Plot

After Joe Huggett loses his job, the family decide to emigrate to South Africa, travelling via a land route that takes them across Africa. On their journey they become entangled with a diamond smuggler. Their truck breaks down in the desert and Joe and his son-in-law Jimmy have to trek across the sand to find help for the family.

Cast

Production

In his autobiography Ken Annakin says he was reluctant to make the Huggett films, wanting to work on more ambitious material, but did it as a favour to Sydney Box, head of Gainsborough Pictures, and that he enjoyed working with the cast. [3]

Because Jane Hylton was ill her part (Jane Huggett) was played by Dinah Sheridan, who was then married to Jimmy Hanley. [4]

The following statement appears after the opening credits:

The Huggett Family, which made its screen debut in Holiday Camp , appears again in this film. Since the name of the family was chosen it has been brought to our notice that a Mr and Mrs Huggett and their family made a trek across Africa, subsequently returning to England. This film does not relate to Mr and Mrs Vane Huggett and their family and is not in any way based on their experiences. On the contrary, all characters and events are fictitious. Any similarity to actual events, or persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Critical response

In a contemporary review, Kine Weekly wrote: "Domestic comedy drama, the latest addition and easily the most colourful of the deservedly popular “Huggett” series. ... The laughs are consistent, but the artfulness of the film lies in its friendly and extravagant fooling." [5]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as “average” and wrote: “Just a few smiles in this meandering Huggett film.'' [6]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "Having first encountered the Huggetts in Holiday Camp (1947), it's somewhat apt that we should bid them farewell at the end of another sojourn. However, it's with relief not regret that we part company with Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison et al, as this brief series that began in 1948 with Here Come the Huggetts had clearly run out of steam. Warner chucks his job and hauls the family off to South Africa. Unfunny and very dull." [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Harrison</span> English actress (1892–1995)

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).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Annakin</span> English film director (1914–2009)

Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE was an English film director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dinah Sheridan</span> British actress

Dinah Sheridan was an English actress with a career spanning seven decades. She was best known for the films Genevieve (1953) and The Railway Children (1970); the long-running BBC comedy series Don't Wait Up (1983–1990); and for her distinguished theatre career in London's West End.

<i>Monte Carlo or Bust!</i> 1969 film by Ken Annakin

Monte Carlo or Bust! is a 1969 epic Comedy film, also known by its American title, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies. A co-production of the United Kingdom, France and Italy, the story is based on the Monte Carlo Rally – first raced in 1911 – and the film, set in the 1920s, recalls this general era. A lavish all-star film, it is the story of an epic car rally across Europe that involves a lot of eccentric characters from all over the world who will stop at nothing to win.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Hanley</span> English actor (1918–1970)

Jimmy Hanley was an English actor who appeared in the popular Huggetts film series, and in ITV's most popular advertising magazine programme, Jim's Inn, from 1957 to 1963.

<i>Here Come the Huggetts</i> 1948 British film

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shaw</span> English actress (1929–1978)

Susan Shaw was an English actress.

<i>Vote for Huggett</i> 1949 British film

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.

<i>Holiday Camp</i> (film) 1947 British film

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.

<i>Train of Events</i> 1949 British film by Sidney Cole et al

Train of Events is a 1949 British portmanteau film made by Ealing Studios, directed by Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton and Basil Dearden and starring Jack Warner, Peter Finch and Valerie Hobson. The film premiered on 18 August 1949 at the Gaumont Haymarket in London. In the film, as a train is heading for a crash into a stalled petrol tanker at a level crossing, four different stories are told in flashback.

<i>Landfall</i> (1949 film) 1949 British film

Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on the 1940 novel Landfall: A Channel Story, written by Nevil Shute.

<i>Broken Journey</i> 1948 British film

Broken Journey is a 1948 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin and featuring Phyllis Calvert, James Donald, Margot Grahame, Raymond Huntley and Guy Rolfe. Passengers and crew strugge to survive after their airliner crashes on top of a mountain; based on a true-life accident in the Swiss Alps.

<i>Double Confession</i> 1950 British film by Ken Annakin

Double Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, William Hartnell and Peter Lorre. The screenplay by William Templeton is based on the novel All On A Summer's Day by H.L.V. Fletcher, written under the pen name John Garden.

<i>Home and Away</i> (film) 1956 British film by Vernon Sewell

Home and Away is a 1956 British drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison. 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.

<i>Those People Next Door</i> 1953 British film by John Harlow

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.

<i>Murder in Reverse</i> 1945 British film

Murder in Reverse is a 1945 British thriller film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley and Chili Bouchier. It is based on the story Query by "Seamark".

<i>The Gangs All Here</i> (1939 film) 1939 British film

The Gang's All Here is a 1939 British black-and-white comedy-mystery, directed by Thornton Freeland and starring Jack Buchanan and Googie Withers. It was produced by Associated British Picture Corporation and released in the U.S. in 1943 as The Amazing Mr. Forrest.

Landslide is a 1937 British drama film directed by Donovan Pedelty and starring Jimmy Hanley, Dinah Sheridan and Jimmy Mageean. It was made at Wembley Studios as a quota quickie for release by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Over the Garden Wall</i> (1950 film) 1950 British comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley

Over the Garden Wall is a 1950 British "B" comedy film directed by John E. Blakeley and starring Norman Evans, Jimmy James and Dan Young. Although made on a low budget, the film often topped double bills at cinemas in the North of England because of the popularity of the performers.

References

  1. ↑ Andrew Spicer, Sydney Box Manchester Uni Press 2006 p 211
  2. ↑ "The Huggetts Abroad". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Annakin, Ken (2001). So You Wanna be a Director?. Tomahawk Press. pp. 40–41. ISBN   978-0953192656.
  4. ↑ Coster, Ian (11 October 1948). "Barred the Course". The Daily Mail (16352): 3.
  5. ↑ "The Huggetts Abroad". Kine Weekly . 386 (2191): 22. 28 April 1949.
  6. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 218. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  7. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 439. ISBN   9780992936440.
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.