LAST HOLIDAY [1950 / 2020] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Loaded With Warm Hilarious Laughter!
‘LAST HOLIDAY’ is a 1950 black comedy starring Sir Alec Guinness in fine form as George Bird, a mild-mannered salesman, who's been told by his Doctor that he only has a short time left to live. Determined not to waste his final days, he decides to go on one last holiday to live the rest of his life to the full. Written by renowned novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley, ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ is a timeless parable on the notion that life is not just about how long you live, but how well.
FILM FACT: The film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ was produced at Welwyn Studios with location shots included Luton, Bedfordshire, shopping parade and “The Rosetor Hotel” (now sadly demolished) in Torquay, Devon. Novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley has sole screenwriting credit. However, some uncredited work was done on it by J. Lee Thompson. 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.” However, in Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939 – 1948, critic Robert Murphy asserted that ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ was not as good as it should have been, given the excellent performances by Sir Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh and Sidney James. In particular Robert Murphy described the film's production values as "shabby" and singled out J.B. Priestley's trick ending for even harsher criticism, calling it “disastrously inappropriate.” Well I say to that idiotic brain dead moron critic Robert Murphy, if you think you could do a much better job, then I suggest Robert Murphy have a go at directing a film, I rest my case.
Cast: Sir Alec Guinness, Beatrice Campbell, Kay Walsh, Grégoire Aslan, Jean Colin, Muriel George, Brian Worth, Esma Cannon, Bernard Lee, Sidney James, Campbell Cotts, Moultrie Kelsall, Eveline Kirkwood-Hackett, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Eric Maturin, Helen Cherry, Harry Hutchinson, Hal Osmond, Brian Oulton, Ernest Thesiger, Heather Wilde, Ronald Simpson, Arthur Howard, Meier Tzelniker, Leslie Weston, Lockwood West, David McCallum Sr., John Charlesworth (uncredited), Alexander Field (uncredited), Peter Jones (uncredited), Charles Lloyd Pack (uncredited) and Raymond Rollett (uncredited)
Director: Henry Cass
Producers: A.D. Peters, J.B. Priestley and Stephen Mitchell
Screenplay: J.B. Priestley (screenplay) and J. Lee Thompson (uncredited)
Composer: Francis Chagrin
Cinematography: Ray Elton (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 88 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Associated British Picture Corporation Limited / A Watergate Production / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ [1950] was based on a screenplay by the great J.B. Priestley, and sees Sir Alec Guinness play George Bird, a lonely fellow who sells agricultural equipment for a living. On a visit to his doctor, he learns he has a rare condition known as Lampington’s disease, meaning he has only weeks to live. With no close living relatives or good friends, George Bird decides to cash in his life savings and blow it all on one last holiday at a posh resort he’d not normally be able to afford.
At the resort, aided by the purchase of some finely tailored suits, he attracts the attention of the wealthy residents. Not being a familiar face and keeping quiet about his background, there’s an air of mystery about him. Due to his impending demise, George Bird is quite frank to everyone he meets there when they chat to him. Though this might normally offend, it actually helps better the lives of these rich socialites and everyone grows very fond of George Bird. This popularity, on top of some good luck, causes this final jaunt to give George Bird the sort of breaks he’d longed for all his life, including finding love and being offered ideal and very well-paid employment. However, due to the circumstances, he finds it deeply frustrating and painfully ironic rather than joyful. As he changes the lives of those around him, perhaps it might all be worthwhile in the end though.
Like the best of the classic Ealing Comedies, ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ is a wry and charming black comedy. There’s a touch more melancholy here though, due to the subject matter, and it actually has some thoughtful things to say about humanity. Its key message is that people should fill the time rather than idly pass it. If something isn’t working then you should fix it yourself rather than wallow in misery over your predicament, expect someone else to sort it out or wait for a bit of luck to change your fortunes. Perhaps this theme comes from post-war attitudes of the time, calling people to “pull themselves together,” but it still feels relevant and the film is surprisingly affecting.
It’s not a drab philosophical treatise though; it’s still a comedy of sorts, if not a particularly raucous one. Keeping the humour buoyant, among the occasionally bleak subject matter, is J.B. Priestley’s wonderful script, which is filled with witticisms. For example, on asking to keep both a smile and a stiff upper lip by his doctor, George Bird replies “how do you keep smiling if you’ve got a stiff upper lip?” Another good one comes in the exchange; “what a horrible cigarette case,” “I’m a horrible man.”
Helping these sharp lines hit their mark is a fine cast of British character actors, most notably Sir Alec Guinness of course. Around the time, he was known for some quite showy performances, particularly his 9-role pièce de résistance in Kind Hearts and Coronets, but here Guinness is understated and restrained. As such, I feel it might be among the finest, or at least most underrated, performances of his great career. There’s a lot for the character to deal with and Sir Alec Guinness keeps it lying just behind his eyes, avoiding overdramatising or fully hiding his predicament. Elsewhere, you’ve got legends like Bernard Lee, Sidney James and Ernest Thesiger providing enjoyable side characters, so the cast as a whole is very strong.
Sir Alec Guinness is brilliant as George Bird, timid at first, but gaining stature with his new clothes, and asserting himself once he gets to the resort. It's a beautifully layered performance and is an excellent story of a man who learns life's lessons in a narrow space of time.
This is a brilliant screenplay and it has superb directing, editing and technical aspects. All of the cast in this wonderful British film are really excellent and what a diverse bunch of character actors. Sir Alec Guinness plays George Bird, around whom the entire story unfolds. Although Sir Alec Guinness was 36 years-old when he made this film, who was fairly new to the silver screen.
Director Henry Cass does a fine job of keeping an even tone and a gentle but engrossing flow. There’s a small fantastical touch too, with the recurring fiddler/violinist figure appearing at key points during the film. It’s never referred to in the dialogue but made quietly clear through editing and reaction shots, allowing for a very moving but enigmatic air to the final end of the film.
WORD OF WARNING: Do not under any circumstances attempt to watch the 2006 ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ film, which is promoted as a so called American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Wayne Wang and starring Queen Latifah and LL Cool J and it is the biggest load of crap you will ever get to view and the film was a massive box-office bomb, having grossed $43.3 million against a budget of $45 million, I rest my case.
LAST HOLIDAY MUSIC TRACK LIST
The Beggar's Theme (uncredited) (Composed by Francis Chagrin) [played on violin by busker]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – British Picture Corporation Limited, A Watergate Production and STUDIOCANAL presents us the film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ with a wonderful Black-and-White 1080p image and is of course enhanced with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. It is lean and free of damage and sits steadily in frame without any errant jitter. The contrast is reasonably well balanced; especially the black-and-white images and is very watchable and definitely superior to what you would get from view an inferior DVD. So all in all, STUDIOCANAL has done a really good job with its restoration and makes watching this hilarious funny film even more enjoyable. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – British Picture Corporation Limited, A Watergate Production and STUDIOCANAL brings us the film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ with one standard 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio and really enhances this totally British classic film and is definitely free of any background hiss, fluff or damage and you hear the dialogue by the actors very clear.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Interview with Cultural Historian Matthew Sweet [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [24:02] Here we get to meet Matthew Sweet [Author and Film Critic] in what looks like a private viewing theatre who Matthew Sweet is very enthusiastically chatty and explores the work and politics of J.B. Priestley, whom he neatly describes as “a poet of the welfare state” and some of the things that make ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ a really special experience. Matthew Sweet also talks about J.B. Priestley who was an enormous figure in the mid-century culture and also mentions that even if you have never read any of his masterpiece novels or even if you have never been to any of his well-known plays, but you probably have heard that J.B. Priestley was known as one of our cultural commentator, and especially of his famous BBC broadcasts during the Second World War under the title of “Post Script” because of his way of speaking to the nation with his usual honesty and clarity and lyricism, especially when hearing his Bradford accent, because he stands for intellectual honesty and no nonsense approach to things in general and also the rights and wrongs of British society at the time of his broadcasts. The work of J.B. Priestley is most strongly identified in this period of the 1950’s and also modern society at the time, especially like the film ‘The Inspector Calls,’ and J.B. Priestley wanted the film to reflect on the negative attitude of the Upper Middle Class who is to blame for the death of a young woman and is supposed to be a cry for help and the reforming of the British society so it does not produce victims, like the death of the young woman. The film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ got a big Premiere in Russia where it was a huge box office hit, but here in the United Kingdom it got very mixed reviews, but at least it caught the mood of the British people at the time of the film’s release. On top of all that Sir Alec Guinness ironically appeared in the J.B. Priestley play “An Inspector Calls” as the spoilt young son and of course appearing in the J.B. Priestley film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ where he plays a character whose nature is somehow a kind of catalyst in the changing British society, like the inspector in the film ‘The Inspector Calls.’ Matthew Sweet praises Sir Alec Guinness's performances in the ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ as one of his best and definitely no argument here, and Matthew Sweet suggests some very interesting sub textual readings of the George Bird character as it relates to the scenario of the film, and reveals that of all the films that J.B. Priestley was involved in, this was the one that he was the most fond of. Matthew Sweet informs us that J.B. Priestley was not very enamoured, ambivalent or enthusiastic towards the film industry and hated Hollywood and once went to visit that part of Los Angeles and also hated the American films and thought they were polluting the British culture somehow and also agreed with George Orwell’s comments on his negative attitude towards the Hollywood system of producing films. J.B. Priestley tried his hand and writing an opera entitled “The Olympians” with his friend and neighbour Arthur Bliss the English composer and is an opera in three acts by Arthur Bliss to a libretto by J. B. Priestley, first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on the 29th September, 1949 and conducted by Karl Rankl in a production by Peter Brook, but sadly was not a big success. Matthew Sweet feels the hotel in ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ is like a “Ship of Fools” that requires the honesty of George Bird who has this gift of telling the truth because he thinks he has not long to live for this world, and the hotel is supposed to represent Britain, that Britain also needs energy from somewhere. Matthew Sweet talks about the actor Sir Alec Guinness, who usually in other films, especially Ealing comedy films, like ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ where he wears different prosthetics for each of his characters and also in the David Lean film ‘Oliver Twist’ where the American critics really slammed his performance as Fagin in that film. But in the film ‘LAST HOLIDAY,’ we see Sir Alec Guinness not wearing a false nose and also without a bald wig, but actually seeing the real Sir Alec Guinness in just basic make-up. Matthew Sweet thinks the last scene with Sir Alec Guinness on his death bed in a hospital as a totally brilliant performance and reflecting on George Bird’s life up to that point, and also reflects on the critics who responded 100% on Sir Alec Guinness performance as George Bird in the final moments in the film and Matthew Sweet feels films like ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ will never goes out of fashion. This is a really enjoyable and informative piece by Matthew Sweet, but one Matthew Sweet warns that you must watch the film first as there is a plethora of spoilers in this special feature and especially for those newcomers who have not viewed the film LAST HOLIDAY’ before. You also get to view lots of clips from the film LAST HOLIDAY.’
Special Feature: Personalities: J.B. Priestley [1944] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:27] Here we get to view a very short rare and very interesting black-and-white British Pathé film and takes an in-depth look at J.B. Priestly at work, with a posh-voiced narrator observing that the author always has a pipe in his mouth when writing and that he types with two fingers like the majority of people do, and all set to a lush romantic composed film score. Concludes with J.B. Priestley himself addressing the camera to talk about his work and what a budding writer should focus on to pursue their career. Sadly near the end the sound starts to break up very badly
Special Feature: Behind The Scenes Stills Gallery [1950] [1080p] [1.78:1] [0:26] Here we get to view two publicity portraits and seven behind-the-scenes publicity of stunning black-and-white photos from the film ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ in a rolling gallery that only gives you roughly three seconds to appreciate each image before moving on to the next image, so keep your finger hovering over the pause button if you want to take a longer look at each image. The behind-the-scenes images are definitely of some interest.
Finally, ‘LAST HOLIDAY’ is a really beautiful British classic comedy film that gently examines what it means to be alive and given a second chance in life. It asks the audience not to merely sit back and enjoy themselves but dig in and work for what they want. It’s about the strength of a satisfied feeling that you’ve done your bit by the end of what you set out to achieve in life. With a sharp wit and a touch of very tongue in cheek hilarious comedy, but never saccharine tone, it’s a real gem of a film that deserves to stand tall and Sir Alec Guinness performance is totally brilliant. Sir Alex Guinness always holds centre stage, as a stuffed shirt who, having been diagnosed with a fatal illness and discovers all-too-late that he's been missing out on the finer things in life. It's the supporting cast, however, that gives the film the gentility that is so achingly British. Kay Walsh, Wilfrid Hyde White, Sidney James and Ernest Thesiger stand out among the eccentrics and everyday folk who populate J.B. Priestley's heart-warming script. To some people it might be a slightly corny film, perhaps, but for all that, it is still rather very nice entertaining British comedy film. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
