SYNOPSIS: The Huggetts decide to travel overland from Algiers to Johannesburg where Jimmy has the offer of a job. They need one extra passenger to help pay expenses. Naturally, they UNWITTINGLY settle on a diamond smuggler.
NOTES: Fourth and last of the Huggett series. The others: Holiday Camp, Vote for Huggett and Here Come the Huggetts. In this one Jane Hylton was unable to take up her usual part because of illness. She was replaced by Jimmy Hanley's real-life wife at that time, Dinah Sheridan. Yes, Dinah Sheridan who finally broke through into the big-time with Genevieve (1953) which didn't do her any good because her new husband forced her to give up her career. She never forgave him, although she did re-surface in "The Railway Children" (1971).
In an elaborate Foreword, the producers are at pains to point out that the Huggetts in the movie bear no relationship to Mr. Vane Huggett and his family who made a similar trek across Africa. The credits are also remarkably precise about the script. All four writers apparently worked in tandem.
COMMENT: This final sequel to "Holiday Camp" is better than you might expect. Some of the dialogue is genuinely amusing and as it springs from and aids characterization, it fits snugly into what is on the whole a dramatic context. Actual locations were directed by a film editor so that they fit with extraordinary smoothness and aptness into the studio-shot scenes which are betrayed only by the use of a process screen.
The cast, led by Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison, is for the most part very capable. Susan Shaw makes a satisfactory heroine, though her clothes do little for her. Petula Clark provides a couple of pleasant songs. Ken Annakin's direction is professionally competent. Reginald Wyer's photography tends to be flat and dim, but production values generally are for a "B"-feature, surprisingly high. (Needless to say, the film was released as an "A" production in the U.K.)
AN UPDATED VIEW: Despite their solid family values and working class virtues, it's hard to beam up a lot of enthusiasm for the Huggetts. They're just too realistic, far too acutely accurate reflections of your average suburban picture-goers. Why pay good money to see yourself and your neighbors on the screen? Nonetheless, people did. The movie returned its production costs – but it was a narrow squeak. Very credibly acted too, in sets and surroundings that are only too familiar. Doubtless that's why the decision was taken to send these characters abroad. But they're still the self-same Huggetts, their British ideals painted in even sharper and firmer colors against these more exotic backgrounds.
Very little time for foolery in this one, though Pet Clark does take a few minutes out for a couple of songs. Otherwise the emphasis is more on drama than comedy as our adventurers battle against all the traditional perils of the desert, including sandstorms, thirst, corrupt and ignorant officialdom, lack of petrol, a faulty compass, sabotage, thieves, traitors in the midst, romance, rescue — and the French.
NOTES: Fourth and last of the Huggett series. The others: Holiday Camp, Vote for Huggett and Here Come the Huggetts. In this one Jane Hylton was unable to take up her usual part because of illness. She was replaced by Jimmy Hanley's real-life wife at that time, Dinah Sheridan. Yes, Dinah Sheridan who finally broke through into the big-time with Genevieve (1953) which didn't do her any good because her new husband forced her to give up her career. She never forgave him, although she did re-surface in "The Railway Children" (1971).
In an elaborate Foreword, the producers are at pains to point out that the Huggetts in the movie bear no relationship to Mr. Vane Huggett and his family who made a similar trek across Africa. The credits are also remarkably precise about the script. All four writers apparently worked in tandem.
COMMENT: This final sequel to "Holiday Camp" is better than you might expect. Some of the dialogue is genuinely amusing and as it springs from and aids characterization, it fits snugly into what is on the whole a dramatic context. Actual locations were directed by a film editor so that they fit with extraordinary smoothness and aptness into the studio-shot scenes which are betrayed only by the use of a process screen.
The cast, led by Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison, is for the most part very capable. Susan Shaw makes a satisfactory heroine, though her clothes do little for her. Petula Clark provides a couple of pleasant songs. Ken Annakin's direction is professionally competent. Reginald Wyer's photography tends to be flat and dim, but production values generally are for a "B"-feature, surprisingly high. (Needless to say, the film was released as an "A" production in the U.K.)
AN UPDATED VIEW: Despite their solid family values and working class virtues, it's hard to beam up a lot of enthusiasm for the Huggetts. They're just too realistic, far too acutely accurate reflections of your average suburban picture-goers. Why pay good money to see yourself and your neighbors on the screen? Nonetheless, people did. The movie returned its production costs – but it was a narrow squeak. Very credibly acted too, in sets and surroundings that are only too familiar. Doubtless that's why the decision was taken to send these characters abroad. But they're still the self-same Huggetts, their British ideals painted in even sharper and firmer colors against these more exotic backgrounds.
Very little time for foolery in this one, though Pet Clark does take a few minutes out for a couple of songs. Otherwise the emphasis is more on drama than comedy as our adventurers battle against all the traditional perils of the desert, including sandstorms, thirst, corrupt and ignorant officialdom, lack of petrol, a faulty compass, sabotage, thieves, traitors in the midst, romance, rescue — and the French.