''The Last Journey'' is a 1936 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
Bernard Vorhaus
Bernard Vorhaus (December 25, 1904 – November 23, 2000) was an American film director of Austrian descent, born in New York City. His father was born in Krakow, then part of Austria-Hungary. Vorhaus spent many decades living in the UK. Eearly ...
and starring
Godfrey Tearle
Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle (12 October 1884 – 9 June 1953) was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential British gentleman on stage and in both British and US films.
Biography
Born in New York City and brought up in Britain, he was t ...
,
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
Judy Gunn
Judy Gunn, born Joan Winfindale (10 February 1915 – 19 April 1991) was a British stage and film actress.
When she was thirteen, she played a leading role in a local dramatic performance and the following year she went to RADA to study, where s ...
.
Synopsis
A train driver (Julien Mitchell) on his last journey before retirement thinks his fireman is having an affair with his wife. The driver intends to kill himself and his passengers by crashing the train. The train is filled with colourful characters, including a psychoanalyst who persuades the driver not to do it.
Cast
*
Godfrey Tearle
Sir Godfrey Seymour Tearle (12 October 1884 – 9 June 1953) was a British actor who portrayed the quintessential British gentleman on stage and in both British and US films.
Biography
Born in New York City and brought up in Britain, he was t ...
as Sir Wilfred Rhodes
*
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 ...
as Gerald Winter
*
Judy Gunn
Judy Gunn, born Joan Winfindale (10 February 1915 – 19 April 1991) was a British stage and film actress.
When she was thirteen, she played a leading role in a local dramatic performance and the following year she went to RADA to study, where s ...
as Diana Gregory
*
Mickey Brantford
Mickey Brantford (26 March 1911 – 18 October 1984) was an English actor and film production manager .
Mickey Brantford was born Michael Richard Henry Comerford into a theatrical family, in London. He began his career in the silent film era as ...
as Tom
*
Julien Mitchell
Julien Mitchell (13 November 1888 – 4 November 1954) was an English actor, in films from the mid-1930s. Mitchell supported comedians George Formby and Will Hay, and appeared in some Hollywood films in the early war years, but is perhaps ...
as Bob Holt
*
Olga Lindo
Olga Lindo (13 July 1899 – 7 May 1968) was an English actress. She was the daughter of Frank Lindo, a well-known actor, manager and author. She made her stage debut at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 26 December 1913. She later joined her ...
as Mrs. Holt
*
Michael Hogan as Charlie
*
Frank Pettingell
Frank Edmund George Pettingell (1 January 1891 – 17 February 1966) was an English actor.
Pettingell was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Manchester University. During the First World War he served with the King's Liverpool Re ...
as Goddard
*
Eliot Makeham
Harold Elliott Makeham (22 December 1882 – 8 February 1956) was an English film and television actor.
Career
Makeham was born in London, England. Between 1931 and 1956, Makeham appeared, primarily in character roles, in 115 films and in ...
as Pip
*
Eve Gray
Eve Gray (27 November 1900 – 23 May 1983) was an English film actress.
Born Fanny Evelyn Garrett, she was taken to Australia as a child and later had a stage career there. She returned to England in 1924 and within three days of arrival had ...
as Daisy
Production
The film was made at
Twickenham Studios
Twickenham Studios (formerly known as Twickenham Film Studios) is a film studio in St Margarets, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, that is used by various motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Ralph ...
and is considered a
quota quickie
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 ('' 17 & 18 Geo. V'') was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received Royal Assent on 20 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928.
D ...
.
Critical reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "there are some engaging directorial touches, and there is some excellent photography" ; and ''Britmovie'' noted a "gripping low-budget
b-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words[Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...](_blank)
."
References
Bibliography
* Richards, Jeffrey (ed.). ''The Unknown 1930s: An Alternative History of the British Cinema, 1929- 1939''. I.B. Tauris & Co, 1998.
External links
*
1936 films
British black-and-white films
1936 crime drama films
British crime drama films
Films directed by Bernard Vorhaus
Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios
Films set in London
Films set on trains
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
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