J.B. Priestley was a novelist whose first book 'Benighted' was adapted by James Whale as The Old Dark House. That I did not know. His biggest success was 'The Good Companions' and he was later known as a playwright, notably for 'An Inspector Calls'. (Son Tom Priestly edited Deliverance.) Last Holiday was one of very few film projects. It's divine.
Thinking he's dying, Alec Guinness checks into a posh but stuffy hotel and transforms the lives of its guests and staff. They are Kay Walsh, femme fatale (of the English variety) Beatrice Campbell (Grand National Night) and no-good husband Brian Worth (who keeps uttering useful phrases like 'We've had it'), Wilfred Hyde-White, Sid James and Jean Colin, grand old dame Eva Kirkwood-Hackett (very few film appearances), receptionist Helen Cherry, Muriel George and Esma Cannon, 'Coco' aka Grégoire Aslan (Paris When It Sizzles, Our Man in Havana, The Criminal. The Rebel) Moultrie Kelsall (Scot), Campbell Cotts (politician), Heather Wilde (whispering maid), Ernest Thesiger, and... David McCallum as the 'blind' fiddler!
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