HOLIDAY FILMOGRAPHY PART 4 (1931 - 1946)

1931:

No Lady, Reissue: 1943. Gaumont. Directed by Lupino Lane. Cast: Lupino Lane. Comedy. Blackpool.

Hindle Wakes, Gaumont. (Adapted from Stanley Houghton’s 1912 play). Produced by Michael Balcon, Directed by Victor Saville. Cast: Sybil Thorndike. Drama. Blackpool.

The sinister song plugger in Hindle Wakes (1931)

1932:

Hotel Splendide, Film Engineering (Ideal). Directed by Michael Powell. Cast: Jerry Verno, Vera Sherburne. Comedy. Clerk inherits seaside hotel built on field where ex-convict buried loot.

Strip, Strip Hooray! BIP (Pathe). Directed by Norman Lee. Cast: Ken Douglas, Betty Norton. Comedy. Photographer blackmails fiancee’s father with sunbathing snaps.

Old Spanish Customers, BIP (Wardour). Directed by Lupino Lane. Cast: Leslie Fuller, Drusilla Wills, Binnie Barnes. Comedy. Spain. Henpeck on prize holiday mistaken for toreador.

Holiday Lovers, Harry Cohen (Fox). Directed by Jack Harrison. Cast: Marjorie Pickard, George Vollaire. Romance. Couple meet on holiday and each pretend to be rich.

1933:

To Brighton With Gladys, George King (Fox). Directed by George King. Cast: Harry Milton, Constance Shotter. Comedy. Man must take rich uncle’s pet penguin from London to seaside.

Three Men in a Boat, ATP (ABFD). Directed by Graham Cutts. (Novel Jerome K. Jerome). Cast: William Austin, Edmond Breon, Billy Milton. Comedy. Boating holiday.

1934:

On the Air, Reissue: 1939. (EB) British Lion. Directed by Herbert Smith. Cast: Davy Burnaby, Anona Winn, Max Wall. Musical. Radio stars on holiday help village vicar stage concert.

Boots! Boots! Reissue: 1938. (Amb; 25 mins cut). Blakely (Butcher). Directed by Bert Tracey. Cast: George Formby. Musical. Hotel ‘Boots; and scullery maid star in cabaret.

Autumn Crocus, ATP (ABFD). Producer/Directed Basil Dean. Cast: Ivor Novello. Romance. Teacher on holiday falls in love with married innkeeper.

Seeing is Believing, B & D Paramount British. Directed by Redd Davis. Cast: Billy Hartnell. Comedy. Police recruit mistakes girl for thief and trails her aboard father’s cruise ship.

Gracie Fields sings as the lights go down over Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Sing As We Go (1934)

Sing As We Go, Reissue: 1953. (EB). ATP (ABFD). Producer/Director Basil Dean. Cast: Gracie Fields, John Loder, Stanley Holloway. Comedy. Blackpool.

1935:

All At Sea, Fox British. Directed by Anthony Kimmins. Cast: Tyrell Davis, Googie Withers. Comedy. Timid clerk spends legacy on sea cruise and poses as author.

Florrie and George arrive at the hotel at Douglas...

...and George is offered a room with a sea view in No Limit (1935)

No Limit, Reissue: 1946. ATP (ABFD). Produced by Basil Dean, Directed by Monty Banks. Cast: George Formby. Comedy. Isle of Man.

Little Paper People, (ABFD). Producer/Director Margaret Hoyland. Trick. Paper marionettes: Victorian foibles and seaside characters.

1936:

Love At Sea, B & D/ Paramount British. Directed by Adrian Brunel. Cast: Rosalyn Boulter. Comedy. Girl on cruise loves reporter accused of robbing her elderly suitor.

Unlucky Jim, Master (RKO). Directed by Harry S. Marks. Cast: Bob Stevens, Agnes Lenton. Comedy. Adventures of two boys on half-day’s holiday.

1937:

Not Wanted On Voyage, USA: Treachery on the High Seas. Dela Films (BL). Directed by Emil E. Reinert. (Based on play by Maurice Messenger Murder in the Stalls). Cast: Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon. Comedy. Singer and crooks seek ruby necklace during transatlantic voyage.

Ship’s Concert, WB-FN (Warner). Directed by Leslie Hiscott. Cast: Claude Hulbert, Joyce Kirby. Musical. Luxury cruise passengers put on show to aid stowaway actors.

Catch As Catch Can, Reissue: 1943 (200 ft cut); 1947 Atlantic Episode (Stah) Fox British. Directed by Roy Kellino. Cast: James Mason. Crime. Girl smuggles diamond aboard transatlantic liner and crooks try to steal it.

Change For a Sovereign, WB-FN (FN). Directed by Maurice Elvey. Cast: Seymour Hicks, Chili Bouchier. Comedy. Ruritania. Drunken double takes place of king on holiday.

Transatlantic Trouble, Retitled: Take it From Me, WB-FN (FN) Directed by William Beaudine. Cast: Max Miller. Comedy. Dud boxer elopes on liner with lady and his pursuing manager is mistaken for millionaire.

Non-Stop New York, Reissue: 1947 (NR) Gaumont (GFD). Directed by Robert Stevenson. S (Novel) Ken Attiwell (Sky Steward). Cast: John Loder, Anna Lee. Crime. 1940. Gangsters try to kill chorus-girl witness who stows away in transatlantic airliner.

The Live Wire, Reissue: 1946 (NR) Tudor/Olympic (BL), Directed by Hernert Brenon. S (Play) Stafford Dickens (Plunder in the Air). Cast: Bernard Nedell. Comedy. Yankee trickster reforms and turns worthless land into spa.

Sam Small Leaves Town, Reissue: 1942, It’s Sam Small Again (Fed; 9 mins cut) British Screen Service. Directed by Alfred Goulding. Cast: Stanley Holloway. Comedy. Butlin’s, Skegness.

1938:

Bank Holiday, USA: Three on a Weekend. Reissue: 1951 (GFD; 18 mins cut), Gainsborough (GFD). Directed by Carol Reed. Cast: John Lodge, Margaret Lockwood, Wally Patch, Kathleen Harrison. Drama. Brighton.

Kathleen Harrison and children on the pier in Bank Holiday (1938)

 

John Lodge and Margaret Lockwood try to sleep on the beach in Bank Holiday

It’s In The Blood, WB-FN (FN). Directed by Gene Gerrard. S (Novel) David Whitelaw (The Big Picture). Cast: Claude Hulbert. Comedy. Film fan on day trip to Bologne catches jewel thieves.

Double or Quits, WB-FN (Warner). Directed by Roy William Neill. Cast: Frank Fox. Crime. Reporter is double of thief who steals rare stamps on transatlantic liner.

Hey! Hey! USA! Reissue: 1951 (17 mins cut) Gainsborough (GFD), Directed by Marcel Varnel. Cast: Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy Comedy. Tutor on transatlantic liner mistaken by gangster saves millionaire’s son from kidnappers.

1939:

Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday, 20th. Century Productions (20^th). Directed by Walter Forde. Cast: Gordon Harker, Alistair Sim. Crime.

The Middle Watch, ABPC. (Based on play by Ian King and Stephen King-Hall) Directed by Thomas Bentley. Cast: Jack Buchanan, Greta Gynt. Comedy. Girls accidentally taken to sea aboard battleship must be hidden from admiral.

1940:

Return to Yesterday, Reissue: 1944 (Renown), Ealing/CAPAD (ABFD). Directed by Robert Stevenson, Screenplay (Play) Robert Morley (Goodness, How Sad). Cast: Clive Brook, Anna Lee. Romance. Hollywood star posing as actor joins seaside repertory company and falls for affianced leading lady.

1941:

Gert and Daisy’s Weekend, Reissue: 1945 (Sherwood; 10 mins cut), Butcher. Cast: Elsie Waters, Doris Waters. Comedy. Cockney sisters take evacuees on a trip to the countryside.

1943:

Millions Like Us, Reissue: 1947 (ABFD; cut), Gainsborough (GFD). Cast: Eric Portman, Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson. War. Family spends peacetime holiday at the seaside prior to Second World War.

1944:

Hotel Reserve, RKO. Directed by Lance Comfort, Max Greene. Cast: James Mason. Crime. France, 1938. Hotel guest unmasks spy who used his camera by mistake

Chaps on the beach in Hotel Reserve (1944)

1945:

Here We Come Gathering, Wallace (GFD). Produced and Directed by Barry Delmaine. Children, Kent. Unpopular boy on fruit-picking holiday rescues girl from sandpit.

1946:

Hands Across The Ocean, Gordon (BL). Directed by Harry Gordon. Cast: Pearl Cameron, Sgt Bill Swyre. Romance. GI and English girl fall in love and tour England.

Under New Management, Reissue: 1948 Honeymoon Hotel (cut). Mancunian (Butcher). Producer and Director John E. Blakeley. Cast: Nat Jackley, Norman Evans. Comedy. Sweep inherits hotel and staffs it with army pals.

Quiet Weekend, ABPC (Pathe). Directed by Harold French. Cast: Derek Farr, Barbara White. Comedy. Family spend hectic weekend of romance and poaching at country cottage.



Bibliography:
Gifford, 2001, Catalogue of British Film