Boasting a cast of 78 movie stars, performers from every corner banded together for the troops in Forever and a Day, another "variety show" movie that was popular during WWII. Join Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gwenn, Arthur Treacher, Victor McLaglen, Herbert Marshall, C. Aubrey Smith, Buster Keaton, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Owen, Halliwell Hobbs, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Nigel Bruce, Una O'Connor, Richard Hayden, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, Ray Milland, Edward Everett Horton, Patric Knowles, June Duprez, Cecil Kellaway Ida Lupino, Eric Blore, Merle Oberon, Queenie Leopard, Jessie Matthews, Gladys Cooper, Robert Cummings, Donald Crisp as they act out a script contributed to by 22 writers, and directed and produced by seven skilled men.
In one of his earlier films, Kent Smith stars as a young man interested in the history of an old British house. Told through vignettes, the house's owners and ancestors are explained. This has an entirely different feel than the usual "variety show" movies from the time period. There isn't song after dance after skit; instead, it's dramatic British scene after mildly comical British scene after neutral British scene. Unless you can keep up with the different accents and class distinctions and tongue-in-cheek about modern conveniences like bathtubs and motor cars, you probably won't like this one. It is fun to see Charles Laughton playing a butler and Brian Aherne trying out for Cary Grant's part in None But the Lonely Heart, though.
In one of his earlier films, Kent Smith stars as a young man interested in the history of an old British house. Told through vignettes, the house's owners and ancestors are explained. This has an entirely different feel than the usual "variety show" movies from the time period. There isn't song after dance after skit; instead, it's dramatic British scene after mildly comical British scene after neutral British scene. Unless you can keep up with the different accents and class distinctions and tongue-in-cheek about modern conveniences like bathtubs and motor cars, you probably won't like this one. It is fun to see Charles Laughton playing a butler and Brian Aherne trying out for Cary Grant's part in None But the Lonely Heart, though.