The Happy Family

86 Mins
1952
en

star7.2/ 10

When the Government decide to build a Festival of Britain exhibition site, everything goes to plan, all except the fact that the main road and the pedestrian subway into the site, are blocked by a little corner shop, which is owned and run by a Mr. Lord and his family. When the Lords refuse to be bought off, and decline the compensation offered by the authorities. the police and the bailiffs try to evict them, only to come under fire from the family, who have barricaded themselves inside the shop.

Review

CinemaSerf

Stanley Holloway has his best "Passport to Pimlico" (1949) hat on here for his battle with HM Government. He runs his little family corner shop with wife "Lillian" (Kathleen Harrison), minding their own business and generally quite excited about the forthcoming Festival of Britain. Excited, that is, until they discover that their little home is slap bang in the middle of the plans for the site. Determined not to be bought off, they vow to stick it out as the Whitehall mandarins try just about everything from condemning their building to shutting off the power - to drive them out. What ensues now is a quickly paced, entertaining story of defiance well held together for 90 minutes by a stalwart cast of British favourites - Dandy Nichols, the aways reliable Naunton Wayne and a host of others led amiably from the front by the on-form Holloway and Harrison. It still resonates 70 years later, and is well worth a watch.