A Day to Remember (1953 film)
Encyclopedia
A Day to Remember is a 1953 British comedy
drama film
directed by Ralph Thomas
and starring an ensemble cast
including Stanley Holloway
, Donald Sinden
and Bill Owen. The darts
team of a London
public house
go on a day trip
to Boulogne-sur-Mer
in France
.
The following day the group meet at London Victoria and catch the boat train to Boulogne. Once they have landed in France, despite the insistence of their unofficial leader the pub's landlord that they stick together, Jim Carver departs to visit a farm where he had been involved in heavy fighting during 1944 when British troops had arrived to liberate France. He takes some flowers to the cemetery where his comrade is buried. He then meets a young woman, Martine, who he first met eight years before, who invites him to have lunch with her family on the farm. They immediately strike up a chemistry, which his relationship with his fiancee in England lacks. However his newfound friend is also engaged to a local lawyer.
Back in the town, the rest of the group enjoy a lunch in a cafe and then break up into smaller groups to tour round the town. One goes to try and pick up his black market watches, another gets drunk and joins the foreign legion
in spite of their efforts to stop him. One of the group becomes violent homesick despite having left England only hours before. After attempting to, and failing to retrieve their friend from service in the foreign legion the group behgins to drift towards the docks and the ship that will carry them on their voyage home - and wonder what has happened to Carver who has been missing all day.
Carver has fallen in love with Martine, and she has broken up with Henri. However they argue and he heads for his ship without her. Unbeknownst to him, his fiancee in London has met and struck up a relationship with an American servicemen during a visit to Hampton Court. Carver seems to realise he is far better suited to Martine, and after he boards the ferry she drives hurriedly to dockside and shouts her true feelings for him. They agree to meet again soon when he returns to France.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....
and starring an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
including Stanley Holloway
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
, Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
and Bill Owen. The darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
team of a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
go on a day trip
Day Trip
Day Trip is the studio album of jazz guitarist Pat Metheny along with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez.It was released by Nonesuch Records on January 29, 2008.-Track listing:-Personnel:* Pat Metheny - Guitar* Christian McBride - Bass...
to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Plot
On the eve of their visit to France the members of the Hand & Flower pub darts team gather for a drink. The day trip is being organised by one of their regulars who is a travel agent. For some of the team it is their first ever trip abroad, while for others it is the first time they have returned to France since the war. One of the team has developed a plan to buy watches in France and smuggle them back into Britain to sell at a profit. Another, Jim Carver, is going through a rocky patch with his fiancee, who he suspects condsiders him to be boring and plain.The following day the group meet at London Victoria and catch the boat train to Boulogne. Once they have landed in France, despite the insistence of their unofficial leader the pub's landlord that they stick together, Jim Carver departs to visit a farm where he had been involved in heavy fighting during 1944 when British troops had arrived to liberate France. He takes some flowers to the cemetery where his comrade is buried. He then meets a young woman, Martine, who he first met eight years before, who invites him to have lunch with her family on the farm. They immediately strike up a chemistry, which his relationship with his fiancee in England lacks. However his newfound friend is also engaged to a local lawyer.
Back in the town, the rest of the group enjoy a lunch in a cafe and then break up into smaller groups to tour round the town. One goes to try and pick up his black market watches, another gets drunk and joins the foreign legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
in spite of their efforts to stop him. One of the group becomes violent homesick despite having left England only hours before. After attempting to, and failing to retrieve their friend from service in the foreign legion the group behgins to drift towards the docks and the ship that will carry them on their voyage home - and wonder what has happened to Carver who has been missing all day.
Carver has fallen in love with Martine, and she has broken up with Henri. However they argue and he heads for his ship without her. Unbeknownst to him, his fiancee in London has met and struck up a relationship with an American servicemen during a visit to Hampton Court. Carver seems to realise he is far better suited to Martine, and after he boards the ferry she drives hurriedly to dockside and shouts her true feelings for him. They agree to meet again soon when he returns to France.
Cast
- Stanley HollowayStanley HollowayStanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
as Charley Porter - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
as Jim Carver - Joan RiceJoan RiceJoan Rice was a British film actress.Rice is best known for her role as Dalabo in the film His Majesty O'Keefe which co-started Burt Lancaster...
as Vera Mitchell - Odile Versois as Martine Berthier
- James Hayter as Fred Collins
- Harry FowlerHarry FowlerHarry James Fowler, MBE is an English actor in film and TV. He started in juvenile roles, most notably in the first recognised Ealing Comedy Hue and Cry, made in 1947...
as Stan Harvey - Edward ChapmanEdward Chapman (actor)Edward Chapman was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s.Chapman was born in...
as Mr. Robinson - Peter JonesPeter Jones (actor)Peter Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.-Early life and career:Jones was born in Wem, Shropshire and he was educated at the Wem Grammar School and Ellesmere College. He made his first appearance as an actor in Wolverhampton at the age of 16 and then appeared in repertory...
as Percy Goodall - Bill Owen as Shorty Sharpe
- Meredith EdwardsMeredith Edwards (actor)Gwilym Meredith Edwards was a Welsh character actor and writer.He was born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a collier. He became an actor in 1938, first with the Welsh National Theatre Company, then the Liverpool Playhouse...
as Bert Tripp - George CoulourisGeorge CoulourisGeorge Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...
as Foreign Legion Captain. - Vernon Gray as Marvin
- Thora HirdThora HirdDame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
as Mrs. Trott - Theodore BikelTheodore BikelTheodore Meir Bikel is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones ....
as Henri Dubot - Brenda De BanzieBrenda De BanzieBrenda D. M. De Banzie was a British actress of stage and screen.She was the daughter of Edward De Banzie and his second wife Dorothy, whom he married in 1908. In 1911, the family lived in Salford....
as Mrs. Collins