The Last Holiday (1950)

Release date: May 15, 1950 Alec 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…

Scott Huston

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.

MovingPictures

“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 -…

Doctor_Doughnut

How do you keep smiling with a stiff upper lip? More a warning against complacency in all aspects than the sad-sack slog it could've been, Last Holiday feels sincere and moves confidently. Great ensemble cast

Andy Switch

Thank you, Sir Alec Guinness, now I have my own private pool of tears. And let it be tears of white sadness, but still.

St. Sebastian

Another Ealing stronghold. Bird, an ordinary and lonely man, is told that he is dying and decides to spend the rest of his life in a fancy place, spending all his money while he meets the most interesting people - and all of a sudden, he seems to attract luck. Strong film,…

Krommedijk

Last Holiday is a quiet, but dark, comedy. It is about George Bird (a wonderful performance from Alec Guinness), who visits a doctor for a routine check-up and is told he has Lampington's disease, a newly identified condition which allows him only a few weeks to live. He…

Wilson

Alec Guinness seems to have made a lot of films like this. Not classics but interesting and enjoyable little films that I've not heard of. As usual, he puts in an excellent performance and is also here joined by a fine cast of British character actors. I loved the central…

Niall Urquhart

I'm not sure what it is about Last Holiday but I absolutely love it! The last time I watched Last Holiday (March 2020, one of the first films I logged in my Letterboxd diary) I completely missed the opening credit of "Screenplay by J. B. Priestley". I've since seen a few…

Hattie