The Crowded Day

This is a good film in which to play spot-the-cameo, with a host of 'borrowed' actors making appearances in a very crowded cast list; there are echoes of the 'Carry On' films, with Sid James and Joan Hickson turning up and Vera Day delivering a very Barbara Windsoresque piece of totty, not to mention Talbot Rothwell (regular 'Carry On' writer) providing the script, and shades of "Genevieve" in the casting of John Gregson as a vintage-car-obsessed male lead.

It is not, however, primarily a comedy, in the sense of those other films. It is a well-written ensemble piece that sets out to depict one (admittedly very crowded) day in the life of a department store in the run-up to Christmas. Most of the escapades are reasonably light-hearted, but some of the staff are concerned by deeper secrets, and at least one character isn't precisely who he pretends to be! The interweaving of the various different plot strands is done without any imbalance to the story, and the film manages to switch smoothly through a wide range of different moods. Acting is good from all concerned.

This was an ambitious attempt by the small independent Adelphi Films to break into the top league; and although it is perhaps a good film rather than a great one, it doesn't appear to have deserved its fate, to sink on release and be quickly forgotten.

For some reason in the 1950s films that were based on a day in the life of an institution were very popular.This allowed a number of stories to be crammed into 80 or so minutes.Most of this film could be described as romantic comedy with the exception of one story which quite frankly feels rather out of place.John Gregson is the main star and is quite good as the salesman who seems able to bluff his way to a good job.Vera Day seems to be a prototype Barbara Windsor.She is no great actress but has a winning way about her and her scenes with Sidney Tafler are quite funny.However a rather gloomy note is struck by the story of the shopgirl who is going to have a baby but cannot locate the father and who contemplates suicide.Shows how attitudes have changed.In the end she is literally chased into a church by a would be rapist.An interesting look at life in the fifties.

On tubi streaming, a crowded day, but in europe and imdb, it's shop spoiled. For those familiar, it runs like an episode of the british television series are you being served! The owners are pretty accessible, and even interact with the floor workers at the company events! Some fun with the social classes at the parties. A running gag where one boyfriend resists selling an old jalopy, which the girlfriend hates. The story has several concurrent storylines running. And on the more serious side, yvonne has a very serious personal issue that she's trying to resolve, but can't seem to locate her boyfriend. And the boyfriend's mother isn't helping. It's mostly fun, light and upbeat, with a more serious side to keep it balanced. It's fun and kind of a snapshot of the 1950s, with the young working class and what's going on in their daily lives. Directed by john guillermin. His big hits were towering inferno and the 1978 death on the nile, with so many huge stars of the day.

The lives of shop girls stripped bare. The Crowded Day (AKA: Shop Spoiled) is directed by John Guillermin and adapted to screenplay by Talbot Rothwell from a story by John Paddy Carstairs and Moie Charles. It stars John Gregson, Joan Rice, Freda Jackson, Patricia Marmont, Josephine Griffin, Sonia Holm, Patricia Plunket, Rachael Roberts and Vera Day. Music is by Edwin Astley and cinematography by Gordon Dines.

Bunting and Hobbs Department Store, Christmas week, and the shop girls deal with what life has to throw at them this yuletide season.

A rare British movie that if only for the fine ensemble cast of actors gathered, should see it more widely known. By definition it's a bitter- sweet picture, blending comedy with drama is never easy to do, but the makers here manage to pull it off with some skill. The focus is on the post-war working women of this particular department store, this provides the story with a number of different character threads, all intelligently scripted by Rothwell.

From the heavy duty angle of an unmarried pregnancy and the desperation that can cause, to more lighter themes of jealously as a weapon and getting one's own back on the supervisor, there's enough here to either tug the heart or put a smile on the face. Guillermin does a fine job with his direction, with his camera work very effective for each character strand.

When the story is of the dramatic kind, he (and Dines) brings noir visuals into play, with foreboding shadows reflecting the mood of the players and canted angles enhancing psychological discord. For the more fluffy aspects of plotting, the camera is mobile and breezy, the lighting perky as Christmas comes forth from the screen.

The Crowded Day is a twin axis thing at heart, it shows us all that the holiday season often works on different levels for many. Where some have the world at their feet, others are prone to misery. Food for thought. 8/10

Print I viewed was absolutely pristine, showed on the UK Sky Arts Channel. BFI have released it as part of their Adelphi Collection in a double Blu-ray and DVD package that also contains Guillermin's Song of Paris.

It's the holiday season at a busy London department store, and there are a number of stories, some sad, some funny, but most salacious, on view. A girl breaks up with her boyfriend; he goes away to look for work and she finds herself pregnant. Another girl finds her customers are being stolen by her supervisor. The man who dresses the mannequins keeps fouling up. And so forth.

There is such a welter of plots, some of them left dangling at the end, that this movie lacks focus and plot. As is typical for British movies, the acting is excellent. The direction seems competent, although trivial. The problem seems to lie in the editing, which, as noted above, leaves too many threads dangling.