Derby Day (1952 film)
Encyclopedia
Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film
directed by Herbert Wilcox
and starring Anna Neagle
, Michael Wilding
, Googie Withers
, John McCallum
and Alfie Bass
. An ensemble
piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day
races at Epsom Downs Racecourse
. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously had opposite each other, but it failed in this regard. In an effort to promote the film Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. In the United States it was released as Four against Fate.
While making the film Wilding began dating Elizabeth Taylor
, who was in London filming Ivanhoe
, and later became her second husband.
is planning to make the journey in spite of the disapproval of her social set who consider it unseemly to go while still in mourning. David Scott, a newspaper cartoonist
is ordered to go by his editor against his wishes. Meanwhile, as part of a charity
raffle
, a dissolute film star, Gerald Berkeley, is to escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom for the day something he is equally reluctant about. Happily she falls and injures her leg, and her crafty housekeeper
arranges for one of the young maids to go in her place. Meanwhile, in Battersea
, a lodger
kills a man whose wife he is having an affair with. They plan to flee the country, and also head to Epson where he knows a tipster
who can smuggle them out.
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 Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Sydney Wilcox was a British film producer and director.-Early life:Wilcox's mother was from County Cork, Ireland, but he was born in Norwood and attended school in Brighton...
and starring Anna Neagle
Anna Neagle
Forming a professional alliance with Wilcox, Neagle played her first starring film role in the musical Goodnight Vienna , again with Jack Buchanan. With this film Neagle became an overnight favourite...
, Michael Wilding
Michael Wilding (actor)
-Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...
, Googie Withers
Googie Withers
Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO was an English theatre, film and television actress. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.-Biography:...
, John McCallum
John McCallum (actor)
John Neil McCallum, AO, CBE was an Australian theatre and film actor. He was also a television producer.McCallum was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1918, son of theatre owner and entrepreneur John Neil McCallum Sr., who built and for many years ran the 2,000 seat Cremorne Theatre on the banks of...
and Alfie Bass
Alfie Bass
Alfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
. An ensemble
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...
piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
races at Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs Racecourse
Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse near Epsom, Surrey, England. The "downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course is best known for hosting the Epsom Derby, the United Kingdom's premier thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old colts and fillies, over a mile and a half...
. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously had opposite each other, but it failed in this regard. In an effort to promote the film Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. In the United States it was released as Four against Fate.
While making the film Wilding began dating Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, who was in London filming Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe (1952 film)
Ivanhoe is a 1952 historical film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The cast featured Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie and Felix Aylmer...
, and later became her second husband.
Plot
On the morning of the Epsom Derby, a disparate group of people prepare to go to the races. Lady Helen Forbes, a recently widowed aristocratAristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
is planning to make the journey in spite of the disapproval of her social set who consider it unseemly to go while still in mourning. David Scott, a newspaper cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
is ordered to go by his editor against his wishes. Meanwhile, as part of a charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
raffle
Raffle
A raffle is a competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each ticket having the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn from a container holding a copy of every number...
, a dissolute film star, Gerald Berkeley, is to escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom for the day something he is equally reluctant about. Happily she falls and injures her leg, and her crafty housekeeper
Housekeeper
Housekeeper may refer to:* Housekeeper , a woman heading up domestic maintenance* Maid, a female with various domestic duties* Janitor, a person responsible for institutional maintenance* A person engaged in housekeeping...
arranges for one of the young maids to go in her place. Meanwhile, in Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, a lodger
Lodger
Lodger may refer to:* Lodger , a 1979 art rock album by David Bowie* Lodger , a Finnish indie rock band* Lodger , a short-lived supergroup comprising members of Powder, Supergrass, and Delicatessen...
kills a man whose wife he is having an affair with. They plan to flee the country, and also head to Epson where he knows a tipster
Tipster
The term tipster refers to someone who on a regular basis provides information on likely winners in sporting events. In the past tips were bartered for and traded but in modern times, thanks largely to the Internet and premium rate telephone lines, it's increasingly likely that a tip will be...
who can smuggle them out.
Cast
- Anna NeagleAnna NeagleForming a professional alliance with Wilcox, Neagle played her first starring film role in the musical Goodnight Vienna , again with Jack Buchanan. With this film Neagle became an overnight favourite...
... Lady Helen Forbes - Michael WildingMichael Wilding (actor)-Early life:Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Wilding was a successful commercial artist when he joined the art department of a London film studio in 1933. He soon embarked on an acting career.-Career:...
... David Scott - the cartoonist - Googie WithersGoogie WithersGeorgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO was an English theatre, film and television actress. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.-Biography:...
... Betty Molloy - John McCallumJohn McCallum (actor)John Neil McCallum, AO, CBE was an Australian theatre and film actor. He was also a television producer.McCallum was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1918, son of theatre owner and entrepreneur John Neil McCallum Sr., who built and for many years ran the 2,000 seat Cremorne Theatre on the banks of...
... Tommy Dillon - Peter GravesPeter Graves, 8th Baron GravesPeter George Wellesley Graves, 8th Baron Graves , was a British actor.Born in London, Graves was the son of Henry Algernon Claude Graves, 7th Baron Graves. Admiral Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves, was his great-great-great-grandfather...
... Gerald Berkeley - film star - Suzanne CloutierSuzanne CloutierSuzanne Cloutier was a Canadian film actress.She was born in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1952 she appeared in the film Derby Day as a maid who wins a trip to the Epsom Derby in the company of a famous film star. She appeared as Desdemona in Orson Welles' 1952 film adaptation of Othello...
... Michele Jolivet - Gordon HarkerGordon HarkerGordon Harker was an English film actor. He appeared in 68 films between 1921 and 1959, including three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock and a cameo appearance in Elstree Calling , a revue film co-directed by Hitchcock...
... Joe Jenkins - Edwin StylesEdwin Styles-Filmography:* Hell Below * Road House * The Five Pound Man * Patricia Gets Her Man * Adam and Evelyne * The Lady with the Lamp * Top Secret * Derby Day...
... Sir George Forbes - Gladys HensonGladys HensonGladys Henson was a British actress whose career lasted from 1932 to 1976 and included roles on stage, radio, films and television series...
... Gladys Jenkins - Nigel Stock ... Jim Molloy
- Ralph ReaderRalph ReaderWilliam Henry Ralph Reader CBE , known as Ralph Reader, was a British actor, theatrical producer and songwriter, best known for staging the original Gang Show, a variety entertainment presented by members of the Scouting Movement.Reader was born in Crewkerne, Somerset, England, the son of a...
... Bill Hammond - Tom Walls Jr. ... Gilpin
- Josephine Fitzgerald ... O'Shaughnessy - the cook
- Alfie BassAlfie BassAlfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
... Spider Wilkes - Toni Edgar-BruceToni Edgar-Bruce-Selected filmography:* Tell England * Brother Alfred * The Broken Melody * Lilies of the Field * Captain Bill * Scruffy * The First of the Few * Heaven Is Round the Corner...
... Mrs. Harbottle-Smith - Ewan RobertsEwan Roberts-Selected filmography:* The Man in the White Suit * Angels One Five * Derby Day * The Titfield Thunderbolt * Night of the Demon * What a Whopper * The Day of the Triffids...
... Jock, the Studio driver - Leslie WestonLeslie Weston-Selected filmography:* Glamour Girl * They Drive by Night * Two for Danger * We Dive at Dawn * Send for Paul Temple * Green Fingers * My Brother Jonathan * Corridor of Mirrors...
... Capt. Goggs - Sam KyddSam KyddSam Kydd was an Ulster-born English actor. An army officer's son, he was born in Belfast, but moved to London, England when he was a child. He was educated at Dunstable Grammar School in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England....
... Harry Bunn - the bookie - Brian JohnstonBrian JohnstonBrian Alexander Johnston CBE, MC was a cricket commentator and presenter for the BBC from 1946 until his death.-Early life and education:...
... Interviewer - Richard WattisRichard WattisRichard Cameron Wattis , was an English character actor.He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the family electrical engineering firm before becoming a professional actor. After his debut with Croydon Repertory Theatre he made many stage...
... Newspaper editor - Frank Webster ... Taxi driver
- Gerald Anderson ... Police Sergeant (uncredited)
- Robert Brown ... Foster - Berkeley's Butler (uncredited)
- John ChandosJohn Chandos (actor)John Chandos was a British film and television actor.-Filmography:* 49th Parallel * The Next of Kin * The First of the Few...
... Man on Train (uncredited) - Cyril Conway ... Hinchcliffe - Coalman (uncredited)
- Mary Gillingham ... 2nd Maid (uncredited)
- Arthur HamblingArthur HamblingArthur Hambling was a British actor, he was best known for appearances in the films Henry V and The Lavender Hill Mob .-Selected filmography:* The Scoop * French Leave...
... Col. Tremaine (uncredited) - H.R. Hignett ... Lawson - Lady Forbes' Butler (uncredited)
- Prince MonoluluPrince MonoluluRas Prince Monolulu , whose real name was Peter Carl Mackay , was something of an institution on the British horse racing scene from the 1920s until the time of his death...
... Himself (uncredited) - Myrette Morven ... Mrs. Tremaine (uncredited)
- Hugh Moxey ... Police Constable (uncredited)
- Jan Pilbeam ... 1st Maid (uncredited)
- Derek Prentice ... Old Man (uncredited)
- Philip RayPhilip Ray-Selected filmography:* Head Office * The Perfect Crime * The Man Who Made Diamonds * Send for Paul Temple * Fame is the Spur * No Place for Jennifer * Derby Day * Before I Wake...
... 2nd Newspaper Reporter (uncredited) - Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
... 1st Newspaper Reporter (uncredited) - Cecily Walper ... Mrs. Wickham - Housekeeper