There is a hint of J. B. Priestley in Mr. George Bird. It was during the Great War that the future great writer felt a prompting to live beyond merely existing. "Last Holiday" endures as another of Mr. Priestley's gifts, this on celluloid. It is amusing how often the young are surprised when the past speaks to them with relevance. It has always been that the young believe everything changes and that generations grow wiser. "Last Holiday" does its small part in presenting a timeless theme and with the taste and simple earnestness lost on too many contemporary artists. The subject could easily have tipped toward farce or to maudlin sentimentality; and the denouement might well have presented today's filmmaker with another opportunity to preach a sermon to the wealthy. The characters portrayed in "Last Holiday" are not cut from one cloth, despite all but the help having the advantages secured by wealth and prestige. They run the gambit from the snob to the benevolent of spirit, just as do real people, as contrasted against the one-dimensionality of those portrayed in James Cameron's patently untrue and nasty "Titanic." The cast members of "Last Holiday" are giants in their skill, as are those who assembled this miniature masterwork. As if to leave one final trace of George Bird's creator, the cold irony of the ending seems to reflect a sentiment once expressed by J.B. Priestly: "Accidents, try to change them - it's impossible. The accidental reveals man."
Review of Last Holiday
