Touch and Go ** (1955, Jack Hawkins, Margaret Johnston, June Thorburn, John Fraser, Roland Culver, Alison Leggatt, James Hayter) – Classic Movie Review 2782

Director Michael Truman’s very minor 1955 Ealing Studios comedy Touch and Go is patchy but mildly funny and pleasant enough. The film failed to charm the critics or the public and is not regarded as one of the classic Ealing comedies. However, it was nominated for two BAFTA Film Awards: Best British Actress (Margaret Johnson) and Best British Screenplay (William Rose).

William Rose’s story (with Tanya Rose) and screenplay are all about an English family agonising over its decision to emigrate to Australia. Jack Hawkins stars as Jim Fletcher, a modish furniture designer who wants to uproot his family, after his boss (James Hayter) is nasty to him about his new furniture designs.

Jim quits his job in a fit of pique after the argument and wants to quit England too. But his family is less than enthusiastic about the move to the other side of the world. Jim’s wife is opposed to the idea and his daughter Peggy (June Thorburn) meets a young man Richard Kenyon (John Fraser) just two days before they are due to set off. She instantly falls in love with him after he rescues the family cat.

If the results are all very touch and go, it is certainly not because of main players Hawkins, Margaret Johnston, June Thorburn, John Fraser, Roland Culver, James Hayter and Alison Leggatt, who give fine performances, but more down to Rose’s unusually so-so script, which just cannot work the idea up into a consistently entertaining movie. You certainly expect much more from this fine writer, though it does have the usual appealing Ealing touch of anti-authority, anti-bureaucracy themes.

Douglas Slocombe’s Technicolor cinematography is a real asset and so is John Addison’s jaunty score. And it is handled with The Light Touch of the alternative title by director Truman.

Also in the hard-working, effective cast are Henry Longhurst, Margaret Halstan, Basil Dignam, Bessie Love, Gabrielle Brune, Heather Sears (in her film debut, as Student), Liz Fraser (billed under her real name of Elizabeth Winch, in her film debut as Girl on the Bridge), Arthur Howard, Dorothy White, Warwick Ashton, Alfred Burke and Margaret Courtenay.

RIP Liz Fraser (1930–2018).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2782

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