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Derby Day (1952 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Derby Day' is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier and Gordon Harker. An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously enjoyed on screen together.Mayer p.385 To promote the film, Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby.Harper & Porter p.156 In the United States, the film was released as 'Four Against Fate'.
While making the film, Wilding began dating Elizabeth Taylor, who was in London filming 'Ivanhoe', and later became her second husband.Walker p.131-133
Plot
On the morning of the Epsom Derby, a disparate group of people prepare to go to the races. Lady Helen Forbes, a recently widowed aristocrat, is planning to make the journey in spite of the disapproval of her social set who consider it unseemly to go while still in mourning. David Scott, a newspaper cartoonist, is ordered to go by his editor against his wishes. As part of a charity raffle, dissolute film star Gerald Berkeley must reluctantly escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom. When the woman falls and injures her leg, her crafty housekeeper arranges for one of the young French maids to go in her place.
In Hackney, a lodger kills a man with whom his wife is having an affair. The lodger and his wife plan to flee the country and travel to Epsom, where he knows a tipster who may be able to smuggle them out.
Helen and David meet and find themselves sharing confidences, as they were both bereaved in the same air crash. It seems likely that they will meet again. The lodger and the wife are spotted and arrested. A taxi driver's wife fulfils her life ambition to see the races.
Cast
* Anna Neagle as Lady Helen Forbes
* Michael Wilding as David Scott - the cartoonist
* Googie Withers as Betty Molloy
* John McCallum as Tommy Dillon
* Peter Graves as Gerald Berkeley - film star
* Suzanne Cloutier as Michele Jolivet
* Gordon Harker as Joe Jenkins
* Edwin Styles as Sir George Forbes
* Gladys Henson as Gladys Jenkins
* Nigel Stock as Jim Molloy
* Ralph Reader as Bill Hammond
* Tom Walls Jr. as Gilpin
* Josephine Fitzgerald as O'Shaughnessy - the cook
* Alfie Bass as Spider Wilkes
* Toni Edgar-Bruce as Mrs. Harbottle-Smith
* Ewan Roberts as Jock, the Studio driver
* Leslie Weston as Capt. Goggs
* Sam Kydd as Harry Bunn - the bookie
* Brian Johnston as Interviewer
* Richard Wattis as Newspaper editor
* Frank Webster as Taxi driver
* Gerald Anderson as Police Sergeant
* Robert Brown as Foster - Berkeley's Butler
* John Chandos as Man on Train
* Cyril Conway as Hinchcliffe - Coalman
* Arthur Hambling as Col. Tremaine
* H.R. Hignett as Lawson - Lady Forbes' Butler
* Prince Monolulu as Himself
* Myrette Morven as Mrs. Tremaine
* Hugh Moxey as Police Constable
* Jan Pilbeam as 1st Maid
* Mary Gillingham as 2nd Maid
* Derek Prentice as Old Man
* Michael Ripper as 1st Newspaper Reporter
* Philip Ray as 2nd Newspaper Reporter
* Cecily Walper as Mrs. Wickham - Housekeeper
References
Bibliography
* Harper, Sue & Porter, Vincent. 'British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference'. Oxford University Press, 2007.* Mayer, Geoff. 'Guide to British cinema'. Greenwood Publishing, 2003.
* Walker, Alexander. 'Elizabeth'. Orion, 1997.
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