Film Club June 2017: Last Holiday (1950)

[Evan C]

As we discussed, here is the thread for June. I nominated Last Holiday for the films on Waking Up, which I would describe as Ikiru in the style of The Ladykillers. I enjoy it immensely, but it seems that very few people have seen it.

The Criterion essay is here.

YouTube link is here; it's also available on Amazon.

 

[Rob Z]

Well, I just found out that there is a 2006 Queen Latifah remake because I accidentally reserved it from my local library, which, I now see, does not have the original...

[NBooth]

I rented this yesterday, so I'll be getting to it tonight. 

[NBooth]

I found a lot to admire in this movie; Guinness is as good as might be expected, much of the dialogue is sharp, it looks good. And it's chock-a-block with all sorts of great character-actors. 

Now, the Criterion essay argues that the social and political stuff in the movie moves it away from being a sentimental flick about living-like-you're-dying, and I can see that. There's certainly commentary here on the ease with which the other characters turn against Bird once they think he's run off (and in the semiotics of names, which I'm sure would prove a fruitful vein of inquiry). 

The plotting here does seem creaky, though; the twist is far less brutally efficient than it could have been and it doesn't really land, for me.

Still. I liked it a lot and am interested to see what others made of it.

[Evan C]

Yeah, the ending and final twist really are kind of rushed; I think they could have worked better with just a little more time. But Guinness is wonderful.