Essential Art House: Last Holiday

[Jeff]

Last Holiday

[img]http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2317/EAH3_LastHoliday_new_w128.jpg[/img]

Told by his doctor he has no more than a few months to live, drab British workingman George Bird (Alec Guinness) decides to spend his savings on lodging at a seaside resort. Once there, however, he finds his identity caught between upstairs and downstairs, the guests and the “help.” A droll social commentary as well as an unpredictable dark comedy about life, death, and luck, Last Holiday is one of Guinness’s finest moments.

[Perkins Cobb]

Beaver says this basically looks like used toilet paper. (Paraphrasing slightly.)

[FerdinandGriffon]

There are examples where brightness appears blown-out and it may be the weakest looking DVD image I've ever seen relating to a 'Criterion' distribution.

Having just rewatched Tokyo Drifter,
no.

[dad1153]

Going Out of Print by the End of March.

[Antares]

Beaver says this basically looks like used toilet paper. (Paraphrasing slightly.)

Actually, aside from the film appearing a little on the dark side, it looked pretty good to me.

[triodelover]

Beaver says this basically looks like used toilet paper. (Paraphrasing slightly.)

Actually, aside from the film appearing a little on the dark side, it looked pretty good to me.

I'll second Antares here. It's far from perfect ("toilet paper" is not only not what Beaver said, it's unhelpful hyperbole ), but it is eminently watchable. I watched it on a 50" plasma and had no problems. I will say the audio is a bit rough in spots, so you may find the subs useful.

[Svevan]

I'm sorry there's so few appreciations of the film in this thread. With it going out of print, those who are interested should be encouraged to pick up a copy (especially if it's as cheap as $8). Minor spoilers ahead, especially in my second paragraph.

The film's premise gives one the impression that Last Holiday is some sort of post-war British version of The Bucket List, and this it most assuredly isn't. The movie does not beatify the dying lead character, Alec Guinness, and instead practically mocks him! He leaves his job and ends up in a posh and comic world where his death is repeatedly foretold, as if he stepped into a Monty Python sketch where everyone is talking about death without realizing they're with a dying man; yet these moments manage to be both comedic and psychologically resonant, rather than one at the exclusion of the other. The movie undercuts Guinness's moments of despair by either layering insult upon injury (prevalent violins), or distracting him with the problems of the hotel's residents. Despite all this, whether Guinness is mopey, witty, disarming, or speechless, his performance is so straight-faced as to be immediately identifiable.

Even more than the life/death story, as the liner notes say, this movie is much more about the upstairs/downstairs British class system (though the two themes sometimes parallel each other as when Guinness runs to Mrs. Poole to avoid the upper-crusts), dipping into politics and British manners along the way. For a while it seems Guinness's character is going to be able to reform the minds of the rich and give motivation and opportunity to the working class, but it all comes to naught. This pessimism is politically informed (the writer was apparently a socialist), but has a philosophical twinge: the two people who care the most about Guinness are the two who were mildly in love with him. The rest have managed to forget his good deeds or marginalize him in their minds as working-class, a liar, etc. The film's dark and inevitable ending points towards a cynical worldview, where a single person, no matter how honest, has very little impact on the world.

This movie is funny and moving at the same time, and totally worth your time.

[zedz]

Heartily seconded. I was very pleasantly surprised by the film, having expected either sub-Ealing comedy or weepy melodrama, but the film manages to sustain an interesting breezy tone midway between flippant and maudlin. Guinness' character seems almost exasperated by how his life's turning out just before it's supposed to end. Lots of great character turns by reliable actors.

And the problems with the print have been well exaggerated. It's a little murky and dupey, but it's nowhere near Criterion's worst transfer - it's not even the worst transfer Criterion have released in the last year.

[triodelover]

I'm sorry there's so few appreciations of the film in this thread. With it going out of print, those who are interested should be encouraged to pick up a copy (especially if it's as cheap as $8). Minor spoilers ahead, especially in my second paragraph.

The film's premise gives one the impression that Last Holiday is some sort of post-war British version of The Bucket List, and this it most assuredly isn't. The movie does not beatify the dying lead character, Alec Guinness, and instead practically mocks him! He leaves his job and ends up in a posh and comic world where his death is repeatedly foretold, as if he stepped into a Monty Python sketch where everyone is talking about death without realizing they're with a dying man; yet these moments manage to be both comedic and psychologically resonant, rather than one at the exclusion of the other. The movie undercuts Guinness's moments of despair by either layering insult upon injury (prevalent violins), or distracting him with the problems of the hotel's residence. Despite all this, whether Guinness is mopey, witty, disarming, or speechless, his performance is so straight-faced as to be immediately identifiable.

Even more than the life/death story, as the liner notes say, this movie is much more about the upstairs/downstairs British class system (though the two themes sometimes parallel each other when Guinness runs to Mrs. Poole to avoid the upper-crusts), dipping into politics and British manners along the way. For a while it seems Guinness's character is going to be able to reform the minds of the rich and give motivation and opportunity to the working class, but it all comes to naught. This pessimism is politically informed (the writer was apparently a socialist), but has a philosophical twinge: the two people who care the most about Guinness are the two who were mildly in love with him. The rest have managed to forget his good deeds or marginalize him in their minds as working-class, a liar, etc. The film's dark and inevitable ending points towards a cynical worldview, where a single person, no matter how honest, has very little impact on the world.

This movie is funny and moving at the same time, and totally worth your time.

I agree with all you say. It's a considerably more complex film that it appears at first blush. I'm a huge Alec Guinness fan and was very grateful to discover this little treasure. As zedz says, lots of great turns from a reliable stable of British character actors, especially Kay Walsh.

[johnny carson]

I would go as far as labeling this movie as my favourite featuring Alec Guinness, the second one being Man in the White Suit. As for the picture quality, as far as i remember it varied- some parts/ scenes looked quite good, while the others really lacked sharpness of the image.

Btw., can somebody help with the (supposedly) a little bit similar film,- read a short synopsis of it long time ago and can't find it since then. The movie must be b & w and from the 40's or 50's (i think) about a dying man who remembers his life and all the women that he loved,- the only problem to be that it never really happened. (and, no, it's not Cranes Are Flying or Heaven Can Wait)

Thanks

[knives]

I knew I was in for a great time when the movie decided to show the scorer. This hit my comedy pulse tremendously well. Add into that the class bickering, a brutal and effective ending, and an other genius performance by Guinness and I couldn't be happier. It's too bad the disc was pulled before it's reputation could rightly be established.