Last Holiday (1950)

 Henry Cass' "Last Holiday"


In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Alec Guinness was on a roll of hits in the United Kingdom. He had already worked twice with the iconic David Lean in his two adaptations of Charles Dickens novels. In 1950, he worked with director Henry Cass on "Last Holiday," a film penned by black comedy writer J.B. Priestley. The film centers on an unassuming agricultural implements salesman who is told he has a terminal illness. He then spends his final days at an expensive hotel, where he becomes acquainted with a various cast of characters. 

I did enjoy the film very mildly and felt that its central theme revolves around the class system, as a micro-class system can be seen in the hotel. Many thematic comments are made on the subject, as the Guinness character starts to learn how to fit in with the upper-class and how easy it actually is, along with how easy it is to attain a high-paying job and make good with wealthy people when it is believed that you are 'part of the club.' 



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