{"id":2952,"date":"2021-08-22T12:09:16","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T12:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=2952"},"modified":"2023-01-22T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T22:24:00","slug":"film-review-last-holiday-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=2952","title":{"rendered":"FiLM REViEW: Last Holiday, 1950"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"297\" height=\"451\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2953\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday.jpg 297w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday-198x300.jpg 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"155\" height=\"30\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Stars_09_FourHalf-12.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2954\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Stars_09_FourHalf-12.jpg 155w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Stars_09_FourHalf-12-150x30.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Alec Guinness\u2019 character, put upon farm machinery salesman Mr Bird, is told he\u2019s not got long to live, by a rather too cheery doctor. So he decides to spend all he has enjoying what time is left him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To that end he gets some new togs, and goes to stay in a swanky coastal hotel, in the fictional resort of Pinebourne (like <em>Fawlty Towers<\/em>, in Torquay). The combo\u2019 of his stiff upper lip &#8211; not telling anyone why he\u2019s carrying on as he is &#8211; and a comedic misapprehension of who he might be, by his fellow hotel guests and the staff, provides a great foundation for a comedy of errors\/manners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"422\" height=\"317\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_02.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2955\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_02.jpg 422w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_02-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 422px) 100vw, 422px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I won\u2019t synopsise the plot any further, as I don\u2019t want to spoil it for viewers coming to it fresh. Suffice it to say that it\u2019s beautifully written (J. B. Priestley), filmed and acted, and is both funny and ultimately very poignant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We love the black and white look, and the whole vintage British cinema vibe: from the genteelly posh establishment types, to Sid James as the nouveau riche cockney entrepreneur, the characters have a lot of charm; costumes, hairstyles, settings and \u2018tech\u2019 (as much horse and cart as motor vehicle), all evoke a vanished era. Wait till you see what \u00a365 gets you at the tailor&#8217;s!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_03.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2956\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_03.jpg 500w, http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/LastHoliday_03-300x240.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I absolutely loved this film. Guinness is, as so often, completely superb. And the film itself is both sweet and yet serious, cosy and yet a little shocking, gentle yet powerful. And ultimately, a bit different, yet reassuringly familiar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the themes touched upon are, wealth and class, living authentically, manners, and suchlike. It&#8217;s kind of an oddball movie, in ways. Hard to see anything like this being made nowadays, unless by an arty outsider <em>auteur<\/em>. But back in the &#8217;50s, such things were more normal in the mainstream. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Highly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alec Guinness\u2019 character, put upon farm machinery salesman Mr Bird, is told he\u2019s not got long to live, by a rather too cheery doctor. So he decides to spend all he has enjoying what time is left him. To that end he gets some new togs, and goes to stay in a swanky coastal hotel, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=2952\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;FiLM REViEW: Last Holiday, 1950&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-LC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8177,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions\/8177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}