The Huggetts Abroad ** (1949, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Susan Shaw, Petula Clark, Dinah Sheridan, Hugh McDermott, Jimmy Hanley, Peter Hammond, Amy Veness) – Classic Movie Review 6983

Ken Annaklin’s spirited 1949 British comedy The Huggetts Abroad is the third in the film trilogy spun off from the popular characters in 1947’s Holiday Camp. 

Director Ken Annaklin’s 1949 British comedy The Huggetts Abroad follows the further cosy sitcom adventures of cheery cockneys Joe and Ethel Huggett (Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison), who decide to emigrate to South Africa, with their daughters Susan, Pet and Jane (Susan Shaw, Petula Clark and Dinah Sheridan).

Dad has lost his job, but Jimmy (Jimmy Hanley) has a new job in South Africa. The Huggetts go by truck by a land route across Africa and get involved with diamond smugglers.

The Huggetts Abroad is the third and last in the series (after Here Come the Huggetts and Vote for Huggett) spun off from the popular characters appearing in 1947’s Holiday Camp.

Nobody is going to quarrel with the spirited, lovely vintage cast, who partly make up for the obviously low budget and the slightly lacklustre comic proceedings in Gerard Bryant’s screenplay based on a story by Keith Campbell.

Also in the cast are Hugh McDermott as Bob McCoy, Jimmy Hanley as Jimmy Gardner, Peter Hammond as Peter Hawtrey, Amy Veness as Grandma Huggett, John Blythe as Gowan, Esma Cannon as Brown Owl, Ferdy Mayne, Frith Banbury as French doctor, Marcel Poncin, Marvin Miller, Peter Illing as Algerian detective, Olaf Pooley as Straker, Sheila Raynor as woman with Straker, Philo Hauser, Meinhart Maur, Everley Gregg and Brian Oulton.

The Huggetts Abroad is directed by Ken Annaklin, runs 89 minutes, is made by Gainsborough Pictures, is released by General Film Distributors, is written by Mabel Constandouros, Denis Constandouros, and Gerard Bryant (screenplay) in collaboration with Ted Willis, based on a story by Keith Campbell, is shot in black and white by Reginald H Wyer, is produced by Betty E Box, is scored by Antony Hopkins and is designed by Norman G Arnold.

Released in May 1949 perhaps too soon after the second film, The Huggetts Abroad was less successful than the first two, so Gainsborough Pictures got cold feet and a planned sequel, Christmas with the Huggetts, was never made. It took only £113,000 at the box office, whereas Vote for Huggett, released in February 1949, took a creditable £143,000, spelling doom for the series.

However, a radio series, Meet the Huggetts, ran from 1953 to 1961 and was one of the most popular programmes of its day.

Kathleen Harrison made 103.

Kathleen Harrison, who pretended to be six years younger than her age, owned up to reaching 100 in 1992 and received her telegram from the Queen. Harrison died on 7 December 1995 at the age of 103.

Dinah Sheridan was married from 1942 to 1952 to Jimmy Hanley, with whom she had three children, including Jeremy Hanley and Jenny Hanley. Sheridan’s second husband, film executive John Davis, whom she married in 1954, insisted she quit acting and stay at home with her children. She resumed her career after their 1965 divorce, granted to Sheridan on the ground of cruelty.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6983

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com