The Happy Family (1952 film)
| The Happy Family | |
|---|---|
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U.S. lobby card
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| Directed by | Muriel Box |
| Produced by |
Sydney Box William MacQuitty |
| Written by |
Muriel Box Sydney Box |
| Based on | the play by Michael Clayton Hutton |
| Starring |
Stanley Holloway Kathleen Harrison Naunton Wayne Eileen Moore |
| Music by | Francis Chagrin |
| Cinematography | Reginald H. Wyer |
| Edited by | Jean Barker |
|
Production
company |
London Independent Producers
|
| Distributed by | Apex Film Distributors Souvaine Selective Pictures |
|
Release date
|
31 March 1952 |
|
Running time
|
86 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Happy Family is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Stanley Holloway, Kathleen Harrison and Naunton Wayne. The plot of the film centres on resistance by a family to the disruption caused by the construction of the Festival of Britain. It is also known in the U.S. by the alternative title Mr. Lord Says No. It was an adaptation of a play The Happy Family by Michael Clayton Hutton.
The House of Lords is a grocery shop that sits on the South Bank of the river Thames close to the site of Festival Hall which is noisily under construction. It is owned by the Lord family, a husband and wife with several children. Lillian Lord runs the shop, while Henry is a British Railways train driver, who has worked on the railways for over 30 years and who is just about to retire. He is looking forward to enjoying a quiet retirement at the family shop looking after his pet hare, Winston, though his spiritualist sister in law Ada has had supernatural visions of "men in black" bringing discord.
Their plans are disrupted by the arrival of Filch, a senior civil servant dressed in a black suit. He announces that he is overseeing work on the Festival of Britain, due to begin in just six weeks. He explains that, due to an error by one of the planners, the Lords' shop and house will have to be demolished to allow an entrance route to be built assuring them that they will be financially compensated and will be moved to a new house in South Harrow. He expects this to settle the matter. However, the Lords show reluctance to leave their house with Henry demanding £6 million if he is to move; an amount he calculates by Mr Filch's account of the estimate of the monetary value the Festival of Britain will bring. Filch goes away hoping either to buy them off eventually or to forcibly evict them.
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Wikipedia