Last Holiday

Scott Huston3.5

Release date: May 15, 1950Alec Guinness is a ‘character’ actor; usually that is a limiting factor, but with Alec, he can play so many different characters that he is never limited. This time he is George Bird, a man who has just learned he has only weeks to live, so he decides to spend his savings and live a carefree life in a fancy resort town.Naturally, there is a little romance and a little comedy, but always behind the shield of honesty. George Bird needs no pretense to enjoy the sunset; it may be his last.I won’t give away the ending, but he does achieve the happiness that none of the wealthy patrons seem capable of.I have seen many celebrity impersonators; I don’t think anyone has ever copied Alec Guinness, and I don’t think anyone ever could. But we instantly know Sir Alec Guinness when we see him.

MovingPictures4.0

Superb!People are just human.That's life!The fact that many subdued older British films you almost never heard of are plain terrific, never ceases to amaze me.

Doctor_Doughnut4.0

“My landlady said it must have been the fish”George Bird gets a terminal diagnosis so, with nothing to lose, he goes to the seaside and stays at a fancy hotel a couple of social classes above him and finally starts to live.Great cast of 1950s British character actors - Hyde-White, Lee, Cannon, Thesiger, Sid James - interact with the great Guinness, who was incapable of giving a bad performance.The type of old British film where when your croquet game gets rained off you enjoy a nice cigarette under a pergola.