''Bank Holiday'' (also known as ''Three on a Weekend'') is a 1938 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Carol Reed and starring John Lodge,

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich' ...

Hugh Williams Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent. Early life and career Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Anth ...

and Kathleen Harrison.

Plot

On a 1930s

bank holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

weekend, a number of people rush for trains to head to the seaside. They include: *an unmarried couple, nurse Catherine Lawrence and her boyfriend Geoffrey. Catherine is distracted by thoughts of Stephen Howard, widower of a patient who died in childbirth; *May and Arthur and their working-class family; *two female friends, Doreen and Milly, looking for romance.

Cast

* John Lodge as Stephen Howard *

as Catherine Lawrence *

as Geoffrey *

Rene Ray Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist. Acting career Ray made her screen début ...

as Doreen Richards *

Merle Tottenham Merle Tottenham (22 January 1901 – 18 July 1958) was a British stage and film actress. Her stage work included the original West End production of Noël Coward's ''Cavalcade'' in 1931; and she reprised her role as Annie the servant in the su ...

as Milly * Linden Travers as Ann Howard *

Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages in ...

as Arthur * Kathleen Harrison as May * Garry Marsh as 'Follies' manager *

Jeanne Stuart Jeanne Stuart (13 August 1908 – 12 February 2003), born Ivy Sweet, was a British stage and film actress. Using the stage name Jeanne Stuart, she performed on the London stage, on Broadway, and in motion pictures. She made her motion pictur ...

as Miss Mayfair * Wilfrid Lawson as Police sergeant *

Felix Aylmer Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early ...

as Surgeon * Leonard Sharp as Jack, the petrol pump attendant * Michael Rennie as Guardsman (uncredited)

Production

It was the third collaboration between Reed and Lockwood. Actor Michael Rennie appeared (uncredited) as a Guardsman in the film.

Reception

The film was popular and helped establish Carol Reed's reputation. ''

The Sunday Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' called it "'one of the ablest pieces of picture-making to come out of a British studio." Lockwood was voted third best actress of 1938 by the readers of ''Film Weekly''.

References

External links

* *
''Bank Holiday''
at

BFI Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...

''Bank Holiday''
at Britmovie
Review of film
at ''Variety'' 1938 films 1938 drama films British drama films British black-and-white films Films about vacationing Films directed by Carol Reed Films set in Brighton and Hove Gainsborough Pictures films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-film-stub