Movies:
Bank Holiday
- Rating:
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Movie Type: Comedy of Manners, Ensemble Film
- Themes: Looking For Love, Vacation Romances, Class Differences
- Director: Carol Reed
- Main Cast: John Lodge, Margaret Lockwood, Hugh Williams, Renee Ray, Linden Travers, Merle Tottenham
- Release Year: 1938
- Country: UK
- Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
A minor effort from a major director, Bank Holiday is little more than a series of anecdotes involving middle-class Brightoners on holiday. Margaret Lockwood and Hugh Williams played the largest roles, as a couple who find love during their one-day respite from work. Comic relief (which in this film is superior to the straight plotting) is provided by several reliable character actors, notably Wilfred Lawson as an officious constable. The film's major purpose is to poke gentle fun at the foibles of the working class, and as such it doesn't amuse as much as it did back in 1938. Bank Holiday was released in the U.S. as Three on a Weekend. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideReview
Something of a British working class Grand Hotel, Bank Holiday is generally lighter and less ambitious than the MGM all-star classic, although it does feature a very soapy central story involving Margaret Lockwood and John Lodge. Lockwood and Lodge, along with Hugh Williams, who completes the triangle of the main story, do their best -- and Lockwood manages to come off very well, making even the weepiest of her scenes convincing. But the material conspires against them. Much better are the many other characters in the ensemble piece. They are not necessarily drawn with a great deal of depth, but their brief stories and scenes are punctuated with just enough telling detailed or carefully observed nuances to make them live and breathe as characters instead of caricatures. Although director Carol Reed is not able to fully reconcile the film's uneasy mix of dramatic styles, he does handle the actors with becoming sensitivity in this early work, and is quite good at creating the hustle-and-bustle atmosphere of a London working day. Reed's occasionally surprising directorial touches and the fine cast keep Bank Holiday pleasantly entertaining. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie GuideCast
- John Lodge - Stephen Howard
- Margaret Lockwood - Catherine Lawrence
- Hugh Williams - Geoffrey
- Renee Ray - Doreen Richards
- Linden Travers - Ann Howard
- Merle Tottenham - Milly
Wally Patch - Arthur; Kathleen Harrison - May; Jeanne Stuart - Miss Mayfair; Wilfred Lawson - Police sergeant; John Barbosa - Hector; Felix Aylmer - Surgeon; Angela Glynne - Marina; Alf Goddard; Garry Marsh - "Follies" Manager; Michael Rennie; Arthur West Payne
