Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageBank Holiday (1938)
Director: Carol Reed
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Comedy-drama about an August bank holiday at the seaside. Though it lacks the guts and vitality of Millions Like Us and Holiday Camp as similarly populist epics, Reed's film, in its gentle mockery of the hopes and dreams of its 'ordinary' protagonists, is unique. Lockwood, not yet a wicked lady, needs an alibi of conscientious do-gooding to mask her desire, but at least it enables her to refuse to fulfil the fantasies of her office-boy fiancé. The film's real delights, though, come from the superb working-class character acting, particularly Kathleen Harrison, resplendent in beach pyjamas, defying her Cockney caricature of a husband by dancing with a college boy, and Wilfrid Lawson, lighting up the whole film with his suggestion of undreamed of worlds of eccentricity within a sleepy Sussex station sergeant.Author: RMy
Cast & crew
Director: Carol Reed
Producer: Edward Black
Cast: Margaret Lockwood, Hugh Williams, John Lodge, Kathleen Harrison, Wally Patch, Wilfrid Lawson, Felix Aylmer full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 86 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now