A Day Out **** (1972, David Waller, James Cossins, John Normington) – Classic Movie Review 10,989

Alan Bennett in 1973.

Director Stephen Frears’s 1972 nostalgic drama A Day Out is Alan Bennett’s debut play for television – a lovely, gentle, idyllic film, shot in black and white, about a Yorkshire cycling club’s Sunday outing from Halifax to the ruins of Fountains Abbey (Ripon, North Yorkshire) for a countryside picnic in the hot summer of 1911.

Maybe not much actually happens but brilliant writer Alan Bennett is still able to convey a vivid portrait of a more innocent age of life in an Edwardian England soon to be shattered by the Great War of 1914-1918, and there is a lovely cast to bring the varied characters and the era to vibrant life.

The main cast are Anthony Andrews, James Cossins, Helen Fraser, Brian Glover, Fred Feast, David Waller, John Normington, Philip Locke, Dave Hill, Paul Shane, Don McKillop, Bernard Wrigley, Paul Greenwood, Paul Rosebury, Dorothy Reynolds, Helen Fraser, Maggie Jones, Virginia Nicholson [Virginia Bell], Anna Wing, Sharon Campbell, Rosalind Elliot, George Fenton, Jane Wood, Paul Luty and Alan Bennett (as Alan).

A Day Out is directed by Stephen Frears, runs 49 minutes, is made by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), is released by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1972) (UK) (TV) (BBC2), is written by Alan Bennett, is shot by Ray Henman (camera operator), is produced by Innes Lloyd and is scored by David Fanshawe, with Production Design by Jeremy Bear.

It is released by BBC Worldwide (2009) (UK) (DVD).

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,989

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