The Happy Family

Stanley Holloway has his best "Passport to Pimlico" (1949) hat on here for his battle with HM Government. He runs his little family corner shop with wife "Lillian" (Kathleen Harrison), minding their own business and generally quite excited about the forthcoming Festival of Britain. Excited, that is, until they discover that their little home is slap bang in the middle of the plans for the site. Determined not to be bought off, they vow to stick it out as the Whitehall mandarins try just about everything from condemning their building to shutting off the power - to drive them out. What ensues now is a quickly paced, entertaining story of defiance well held together for 90 minutes by a stalwart cast of British favourites - Dandy Nichols, the aways reliable Naunton Wayne and a host of others led amiably from the front by the on-form Holloway and Harrison. It still resonates 70 years later, and is well worth a watch.