- Derby Day (1952 film)
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Derby Day 
Directed by Herbert Wilcox Produced by Maurice Cowan
Hebert WilcoxWritten by Arthur Austen
John Baines
Monckton Hoffe
Alan MelvilleNarrated by Raymond Glendenning Starring Anna Neagle
Michael Wilding
Googie WithersMusic by Anthony Collins Cinematography Mutz Greenbaum Editing by Bill Lewthwaite Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation Release date(s) 9 May 1952 Running time 84 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English Box office ₤150,010[1] Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum and Alfie Bass. 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 had opposite each other, but it failed in this regard.[2] In an effort to promote the film Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby.[3] In the United States it 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.[4]
Contents
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. Meanwhile, as part of a charity raffle, a dissolute film star, Gerald Berkeley, is to escort a wealthy grand dame to Epsom for the day something he is equally reluctant about. Happily she falls and injures her leg, and her crafty housekeeper arranges for one of the young maids to go in her place. Meanwhile, in Battersea, a lodger kills a man whose wife he is having an affair with. They plan to flee the country, and also head to Epson where he knows a tipster who can smuggle them out.
Cast
- Anna Neagle ... Lady Helen Forbes
- Michael Wilding ... David Scott - the cartoonist
- Googie Withers ... Betty Molloy
- John McCallum ... Tommy Dillon
- Peter Graves ... Gerald Berkeley - film star
- Suzanne Cloutier ... Michele Jolivet
- Gordon Harker ... Joe Jenkins
- Edwin Styles ... Sir George Forbes
- Gladys Henson ... Gladys Jenkins
- Nigel Stock ... Jim Molloy
- Ralph Reader ... Bill Hammond
- Tom Walls Jr. ... Gilpin
- Josephine Fitzgerald ... O'Shaughnessy - the cook
- Alfie Bass ... Spider Wilkes
- Toni Edgar-Bruce ... Mrs. Harbottle-Smith
- Ewan Roberts ... Jock, the Studio driver
- Leslie Weston ... Capt. Goggs
- Sam Kydd ... Harry Bunn - the bookie
- Brian Johnston ... Interviewer
- Richard Wattis ... Newspaper editor
- Frank Webster ... Taxi driver
- Gerald Anderson ... Police Sergeant (uncredited)
- Robert Brown ... Foster - Berkeley's Butler (uncredited)
- John Chandos ... Man on Train (uncredited)
- Cyril Conway ... Hinchcliffe - Coalman (uncredited)
- Mary Gillingham ... 2nd Maid (uncredited)
- Arthur Hambling ... Col. Tremaine (uncredited)
- H.R. Hignett ... Lawson - Lady Forbes' Butler (uncredited)
- Prince Monolulu ... Himself (uncredited)
- Myrette Morven ... Mrs. Tremaine (uncredited)
- Hugh Moxey ... Police Constable (uncredited)
- Jan Pilbeam ... 1st Maid (uncredited)
- Derek Prentice ... Old Man (uncredited)
- Philip Ray ... 2nd Newspaper Reporter (uncredited)
- Michael Ripper ... 1st Newspaper Reporter (uncredited)
- Cecily Walper ... Mrs. Wickham - Housekeeper
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.
References
- ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000
- ^ Mayer p.385
- ^ Harper & Porter p.156
- ^ Walker p.131-133
External links
The films of Herbert Wilcox 1920s Chu-Chin-Chow (1923) • Southern Love (1924) • Decameron Nights (1924) • Nell Gwyn (1926) • London (1926) • Mumsie (1927) • Tip Toes (1927) • Madame Pompadour (1927) • The Only Way (1927) • Dawn (1928) • The Bondman (1929) • The Woman in White (1929)1930s The Loves of Robert Burns (1930) • The Chance of a Night Time (1931) • Carnival (1931) • The Blue Danube (1932) • Goodnight, Vienna (1932) • Money Means Nothing (1932) • The King's Cup (1933) • The Little Damozel (1933) • Bitter Sweet (1933) • Yes, Mr. Brown (1933) • The Queen's Affair (1934) • Nell Gwyn (1934) • Peg of Old Drury (1935) • Three Maxims (1936) • London Melody (1937) • Limelight (1937) • Victoria the Great (1937) • Sixty Glorious Years (1938) • This'll Make You Whistle (1938) • Nurse Edith Cavell (1939)1940s Irene (1940) • No, No, Nanette (1940) • Sunny (1941) • They Flew Alone (1942) • Forever and a Day (1943) • Yellow Canary (1943) • I Live in Grosvenor Square (1945) • Piccadilly Incident (1946) • The Courtneys of Curzon Street (1947) • Spring in Park Lane (1948) • Elizabeth of Ladymead (1948) • Maytime in Mayfair (1949)1950s Odette (1950) • Into the Blue (1950) • The Lady with the Lamp (1951) • Derby Day (1952) • Trent's Last Case (1952) • Laughing Anne (1953) • Trouble in the Glen (1954) • Lilacs in the Spring (1954) • King's Rhapsody (1955) • My Teenage Daughter (1956) • These Dangerous Years (1957) • The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1958) Wonderful Things! (1958) • The Lady Is a Square (1959) • The Heart of a Man (1959)Categories:- British films
- English-language films
- 1952 films
- Black-and-white films
- British Lion Films films
- Films directed by Herbert Wilcox
- Sports films
- Horse racing films
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