Customer Reviews

Essential Art: Last Holiday

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Alec Guinness is in top form in this dark comedy about an unexceptional, practically invisible salaryman who decides to take one last vacation upon learning that he only has a short time to live. The seemingly innocuous, inauspicious George Bird is exactly the kind of role that Sir Alec was born to play. Bird goes through some big changes throughout this seemingly slight entertainment, but Guinness makes every one of them believable and consistently goes for more than the easy laugh.

Be forewarned that the film does not end on a happy note. I was expecting to be entertained--and I was--but I was surprised at how moved I was by the ending (which is both sudden and ironic). Although Last Holiday isn't as well known as many of Guinness' Ealing-era comedies (most notably 1948's Kind Hearts and Coronets), it should be. It really isn't a slight entertainment at all. On the contrary, it's more substantial than most, dealing as successfully as it does with the notion that it isn't how long you live but how well, and features one of this great actor's finest, most indelible performances. The colorful supporting cast (including the ubiquitous Wildrid Hyde-White and Bernard Lee of James Bond's "M" fame) is with him all the way. A keeper.

A young Alec Guinness stars in this clever story of a mild-mannered, average sort of fellow who is told by his doctor that he has only days, perhaps weeks left to life. On medical advice, Guinness quits his job, liquidates his life savings, and goes off to a posh country resort on one last, luxuriously bittersweet holiday. Naturally, once he's given up all hope, everything in his life starts coming up roses: mistaken as a man of means by the hotel's inquisitive clientele, Guinness finds all sorts of new creative, financial and romantic opportunities arising out of nowhere. J. B. Priestley's script is in part a wry, piercing comment on Great Britain's class-bound society, where initiative and imagination were stifled by prejudice and regimentation... Only because he feels he has nothing left to lose does Guinness's George Bird work up the nerve to give business tycoons and Lords of Parliament a piece of his mind; once he does they recognize him as a man of great standing. Politics aside, though, this is also a very entertaining and somewhat sad little comedy, with an twist ending that happy, happy Hollywood wouldnt touch with a ten-foot pole. Recommended.

George Bird is an unimportant cog in the merchant machine when he learns that he has Lampington's Disease--invariably fatal. Through luck--meeting a beneficent salesman looking for the perfect man for an estate-sale bounty--and fatalism--losing any inhibition against speaking his true thoughts--the down-to-earth, plain-spoken words of Bird strike a spark in a broad range of characters at a posh resort and change the course of more than a few lives. Guinness is real, honest, and touching in his best role ever, in my mind. If the ending is sentimental and cutting at the same time, well, good for these old black-and-white movies. Bird is a prince among men in his triumph of substance over style and appearance.

I have yet to see the DVD of this splendid Guinness film, but it is most certainly one of his very best. I do happen to have it on VHS and am thrilled it will soon be available on DVD. My only hope is that the transfer has been remastered and will be worthy of this exceptional film. If you are a Guinness fan, or a fan of intellignet, older British films, then don't miss this one.

The film itself is enjoyable; however, the video quality of this particular transfer (Essential Art House, released by Janus Films -- sister company of Criterion) leaves much to be desired. This is certainly watchable, but the blacks are muddy, detail is lacking, and there is just that overall "late-night rerun" look about the whole thing that tends to turn the uninitiated away from older films.

All of the black and white Essential Art House and Criterion titles I have seen in the past were all of excellent-to-breathtaking quality (just watch Antonioni's "L'eclisse" or any of the Bergman Trilogy of Faith), and that is why this release has me a little worried... guys, please stay on your game. We're counting on you!

When I think about films that have mattered in my life, "Last Holiday" is on the short list -- an ironic British comedy written by J.B. Priestly and released in 1950. Alec Guinness plays George Bird, a salesman as cautious as a civil servant. One guesses he has never married because what women see in his face is dread of life, not an attractive quality. A persistent headache has made him consult a doctor. After medical tests, Bird has been told to come back the next day for the diagnosis, but by the time he returns the files have been mixed up. The doctor has someone else's results in Bird's folder and so informs him that he has an untreatable illness and will be dead in six weeks. In fact, all Bird needs is an aspirin and perhaps a pint of beer.
The doctor's clerical error transforms Bird's life. He quits his job, empties his bank account (no need to save for old age), and books a room in a coastal resort for the affluent. He had never imagined setting foot in such a place until he spotted the graveyard racing toward him. A day later he begins his last holiday. No longer needing to play it safe, Bird can say and do things he previously would never have dared -- there is nothing left to fear. For the first time in his life women find him attractive. Bankers, corporate executives, and government ministers are soon lining up for his advice, offering partnerships and vice-presidencies. Everyone senses in him a mysterious quality, a detachment and freedom that make him a figure to be reckoned with. The viewer alone knows just what that mysterious quality is: Bird's death sentence has been his liberation. He is no longer a prisoner of the terrifying future.
The people in the hotel are far from a happy group. In many ways their holiday hotel is a well-appointed purgatory. George Bird becomes something of a Saint Francis in his efforts to help his fellow guests become less selfish people.
The J.B. Priestly script includes a surprise ending -- probably not the one Hollywood in the 50s would have allowed....

Dare I say it? This is just a sweet, sweet movie. Alec Guinness' character is reminiscent of Peter Sellers' Chance the gardener in Being There (Deluxe Edition), as well as the movie personna of Forrest Gump (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition) , in that he is many different things to many different people. But he is by no means an idiot or a dimwit. He is simply a quiet man who mistakenly is given just a short time to live, and who wants to have a wonderful time in the short time he has left. Thank God my Mom brought me up dragging me kicking & screaming to Alec Guinness & Peter Sellers movies.
And of course, this is yet another great British film ripped off by Hollyweird, like The Ladykillers.....I believe Mike Meyers might be doing a remake of Holy Grail. I'm sure he & the paint chip eaters who run Hollywood think they could do it better.

Poignant and meditative story about a failed salesman plans to quietly live the last months of his life in a resort. And this unexpected place will ironically become of special significance for all the guests who spent their holydays there.

Alec Guiness is superb in this role. Beatrice Campbell is lovable to watch.

We are expecting its next release on DVD format.

In some ways this is one of my favorite movies. It's a subtle comedy but it is a classic in it's own right. Alec Guinness, as always, does a great job portraying George Bird. If you like British comedies of the 1950s then you might like this one.

Delightful movie about class in England near the start of Alec Guinness' career.

I would have preferred Blu-ray, but quality was good nevertheless.