by 
My Movie Review of Holiday Camp, film year 1947
“Bright Lights and Lovely Grub! ….. Rub the sleep out of your eyes and get ready for another grand session of fun and games!”
PLOT SUMMARY:
— Following the goings-on at “Farleigh Holiday Camp”, an English summer resort at the seaside that is fully packed with holiday “campers” out for a week of fun. The campers arrive by bus and are put in a camp “chalet” for two (a stranger assigned as a roommate for those arriving alone or single). We meet the “Huggett family”, a middle-aged couple and their two adult children. Pretty daughter Joan (played by Hazel Court) is a widow with baby boy in tow (the parents take care of him while she’s allowed to have fun at the camp). She’s rooming with her gal pal, Angela, “engaged” but still on the prowl. Son Harry is roomed up with Jimmy, a sailor who brought piles of chocolate bars for his “girl”. Angela is seen putting lotion on her legs as “wolf bait” for an RAF officer/big braggart/cad she met on the bus in. Jimmy is sent a “Dear John” break-up letter by his girlfriend which makes him, first, eat up all the chocolate he brought for her, then ready to go home – until he is befriended by Joan, and starts doing camp “activities” with her. And, oh, the activities – there’s a giant pool, a couple of big ballrooms, dances (with everyone doin’ the Hokey Pokey), roller skating, “goofy” bike riding, concerts, a big ‘ol dining hall that fills up with hungry folks for every meal – and an announcer who not only makes the “cattle call” for dinner but spends the day making announcements of upcoming activities over a loudspeaker that even broadcasts inside the cabins (try getting a nap during the day at this place – um, not). There’s even a “beauty competition” in which all the young women are pushed into participating in, whether they want to or not (Joan wins and is named “Holiday Queen”). More stories include two middle-aged females who are put in a chalet together – one is a major “plain jane” (Esma Cannon) on the hunt for a man, any man! The other, Esther (Flora Robson), is a lonely spinster who still pines for the man she loved that left during WWI and “never came back”. But at camp, she thinks the announcer’s voice on the loudspeaker sounds oh so familiar (could it maybe be?). Then there’s a pair of crooked “card sharks” out to find a sucker and make a little money (unfortunately, young Harry is their first target for a shady game of “Pontoon”). And it’s not all just summertime fun at this holiday camp as there are two much darker stories featured. One, a young couple in hiding, in love but the young lady’s auntie forbids their marriage (for some strange reason – or is it ’cause he’s a struggling pianist?!). The young woman finds out she’s pregnant, right here at the holiday camp, and Esther (the spinster lady) kindly offers help to the young couple. The darkest story involves this news headline “Mannequin Murderer Still at Large” – seems he’s hiding at the camp and is one of our featured characters!
FILM REVIEW:
— This film is a light comedy-drama that I found to be pretty entertaining. A little slice of British life with lots of different character’s stories touched on – some humorous, some romantic, a few quite serious, one quite dark, all quite interesting. This whole concept of adults and families spending a week at a very crowded “summer camp” seems rather odd (reminded me of the summer resort place that is the setting for the film “Dirty Dancing”), but perhaps it was a way for the working class to simply have a fun, relaxing holiday without much expense or worry or planning or extensive travel or anything like that. Just arrive and start having a good time. Of course, it sure seems like it was set up to be a place to meet “the opposite sex” too. The Huggett family in this film is featured in three more films after this one (“Holiday Camp” being the first). I particularly enjoyed the performance of Esma Cannon in this film – a plain woman, but with a lot of charm. She pretty much steals the picture. Flora Robson, of course, is excellent (as always) and is perfect in this role. Actress Kathleen Harrison, as the Huggett mother, is also memorable here. Really, quite good performances all around. Filmed at a real “holiday camp” in Yorkshire, UK. Cool glimpse at an interesting vacation experience of yesteryear. These holidays camps were very popular in Great Britain at the time this was filmed (see newspaper snippet below).
To Note: Hmm, those “chalet” cabins where they stay, rows and rows of them, seen in a black and white film look weirdly like these people are staying at a prison camp (and, in fact, the concept of a prison or prison camp is actually mentioned a couple of times in the film).
Also To Note: There is a performer in one scene in this film named “Cheerful Charlie Chester”, a real-life performer from the day that was known for his radio shows. He performs on-stage in the film, doing an interactive singalong with the audience of “Bobbing Up and Down Like This” – entertaining to see.
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I recommend this film for a nostalgic look at a bit of summer fun in 40’s Britain — as the announcer tells us over the loudspeaker at one spot in the film “Rub the sleep out of your eyes and get ready for another grand session of fun and games”. Count me in.
MY RATING (on a 1 to 10 star scale, 10 being tops):
8.5/10 stars
FILM DETAILS:
DIRECTED BY: Kenneth Annakin
FILM GENRE: Comedy, Drama
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
FILM RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
Holiday Camp (1947) IMDb listing, for cast and crew, trivia, goofs, quotes
Wiki for Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Filey, North Yorkshire, England filming location used in this film.
This is a film review as part of my “New Old Movie Viewing Review” category – see a film I have never seen before, watch, enjoy (hopefully), and write about it.
