Sunday, June 05, 2016

Movie review - "Traveller's Joy" (1949) **

Arthur Macrae's comedy play ran for two years on the West End; based on this it's hard to see why but the subject matter - currency restrictions for English travelling in Europe - no doubt had enormous appeal for it's target market i.e. West End theatre audiences. Today its fairly hard to watch with a bunch of Poms stuck at a hotel in Stockholm. Googie Withers wants cash, runs into her ex John McCallum, who flirts with American Yolande Donlan.

There is some interest watching Withers act with McCallum (the two had just gotten married) and the topic matter has some social history value. McCallum is wooden and Withers seems a bit old - sorry if that's mean, it's just how I feel. I get they were going for light comic touch but it defeated people. The cast try, Ralph Thomas' direction is workmanlike. There aren't a lot of laughts. The Swedish setting really isn't used well - needed to be in a country that had more of a history with England eg France, Italy.


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