A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.
Stephen Howard
Catherine Lawrence
Geoffrey
Doreen Richards
Milly
Ann Howard
Arthur
May
Follies Manager
I wasn't around in 1938 (neither were my folks), but I can still recognise much of the sentiment of this film as the British obsession with the seaside is demonstrated, warts and all, in this lightly comedic assessment of our buckets and spade escapades at the weekend (sun shining or not!). Carol Reed has a couple of different familial examples for us to follow, the principals being the gorgeous Margaret Lockwood ("Catherine") and her beau "Geoffrey" (Hugh Williams), but we also have a young girl traveling to be in a beauty contest, and a family with three kids and a dad who just wants to find...