It's a Great Day!

Builder Edward Evans can't get the tiles to finish his assignment for the new housing that's going up, even though they're sitting in the Council's warehouses. He tells his son Peter Bryant to buy some, someplace; Bryant gets them from a shady character, Evans finishes his work, and discovers that he, alone of all the people who worked on the project, is not invited to the opening by a Princess. Furthermore, he's being investigated. Meanwhile, his family is dealing with the disappointment.

It's a movie based on the BBC TV soap opera The Grove Family, which ran from 1954-1957, filled with pawky humor, Sid James as a used car salesman, and a very aerodynamic Vera Day as a girl who knows something but won't tell. Michael and Roland Pertwee get the writing credits -- they created the TV series -- and series producer and occasional director John Warrington is in charge of the shoot, in which the TV family repeats their roles. It's light and harmless, and probably intended for people who didn't own their own TV set, but had heard of the series.

This was the first soap to appear on the BBC.One can see in this film all the conventions,albeit rather more genteel,that would be seen in modern day soaps.Though I do not think that the visit by a princess would involve so much genuflecting.The father is always the sensible one.The elder son is always getting into dodgy deals and hoping his father will get him out of trouble.There is the teenage daughter,this time without much of a romantic interest,and the young son,always managing to get into scrapes,this time running up scaffolding to get a better view.We are never told which princess is attending.If it was Princess Margaret she would have wanted something rather stronger than tea!

'It's a Great Day' is a spin off from the BBC's first soap opera, 'The Grove Family' a very popular 1950's TV sitcom about a typical lower middle class family in suburbia designed to present a safe and comfortable image of family life. The film is essentially a snapshot of life in mid 50's Britain. There are lots of gentle misunderstandings between certain family members, but it's all very harmless and disputes are rapidly smoothed over. Lots of smiling add to the benign and sanitised view of how a typical family are coping with post war Britain. The Grove 'family' represent traditional middle class values, where manners are still of paramount importance. The family itself live in a reasonably large suburban house (unlike most folk at the time who lived in small cramped flats or new council houses, no bigger than a shoe box) which accommodates several members of the family, including the stereotypical 'grumpy' gran who trots in and out of rooms, perpetually frowning and criticising all and sundry, which wears thin by the end of the film. The film presents solid stereotypes like Mr Groves, pipe smoking, respected father, hard working breadwinner and a reliable and upright member of the community. His wife, daughter and 'live in gran' are all dutiful, rather scatty and gossip about trivia. The film about the son, Jack Groves, (Peter Bryant) obtaining building materials for his builder father, Bill Groves (Edward Evans) from 'a dodgy bloke, (Charlie Mead, played by Victor Madden) in a pub, meaning they were stolen, lands not only the son in a spot of bother with the police for receiving stolen goods, but also his father. But like all 50's sit coms, it all ends happily, with the family name being left untarnished. There's a sub plot about a visit by a 'Princess' (Presumably Margaret) to the local housing estate which features the work of Mr Groves, but essentially, that's a side show, except at the end when you see the 'Princess' arrive, with lots of genuflecting by the cast. Otherwise, this film is a historical curiosity to historians, wanting to know how television presented images of lower middle class family life. By today's standards it's a whimsical, but tedious film, as the director is so anxious to present a 'sanitised' image of family life, that it drains any sense of realism as to what life was really like in the mid 1950's.

"It's A Great Day" was based on an early British television series, "The Grove Family", first transmitted in 1954 and apparently named after the BBC's Lime Grove Studio where it was filmed. The script for the film was written by Roland and Michael Pertwee, father and brother of Jon Pertwee, a stalwart of British cinema, television and radio, now best remembered as one of the many incarnations of Dr. Who. The film features all the original television cast members.

The film is a typical quota quickie spin-off from a television series. For those of you unfamiliar with the term "quota quickie", a word of explanation. After the War, Britain was an economic mess. In order to stem the flow of box office takings to Hollywood and to encourage the production of home-made pictures, a quota system was introduced under which a fixed percentage of footage shown in every cinema had to be British. Unfortunately, this rather backfired and the market was flooded with cheap and poorly made films which, despite being frequently unwatchable, were virtually guaranteed a showing. The quota was strictly enforced and many cinemas ended up in court for failure to meet its requirements. It is reported that some of the more prestigious cinemas partly fulfilled the requirements by showing these films to the cleaners first thing in the morning! Despite its humble origins and low budget, an effort was made to instil some drama, suspense and humour into the film and it would no doubt have appealed to that quarter of the British population, who regularly watched the series on television.

The story revolves around the patriarch of the family, building contractor Bob Grove, who is desperately trying to find floor tiles to complete the council housing estate, which is shortly to be opened by Princess Margaret. He is particularly keen to finish the job, as he and his family are on the guest list to meet the Princess. Although the film was made a decade after the war finished, it was only in that year that all restrictions on building materials were finally lifted and many materials were still in short supply. In his innocence Bob buys stolen tiles from crook Charlie Mead, an acquaintance of his son Jack.

The Borough Surveyor does not like Bob and, when he suspects that the tiles were stolen, he sets the police on Bob and rescinds the invitation to meet the Princess. Although Bob is finally exonerated, it is too late to get back on the guest list – but then – guess whose house Princess Margaret's representative has chosen for her to visit for afternoon tea? So, all ends well.

Along the way, we are treated to son Jack's and daughter Pat's romantic interludes, young Lennie's dangerous escapade on some unstable scaffolding and numerous acerbic, and very humorous, asides from Gran, played admirably by Nancy Roberts.

Nowadays, the film is of more interest as a nostalgic piece of 1950's family life – the extended family with the crotchety old granny sitting in the corner making critical comments; the parents in their forties, who look a ten years older; the somewhat stiff and respectful relationship between parents and children; the reverence in which the royal family was held; and, of course, the décor, furnishings, clothes, cars etc.

This film is one for the nostalgia buffs and those interested in early British television. Like many of the quota quickies, it is very parochial, and would be unlikely to travel well. It turns up from time to time in one of the lesser satellite channels and is certainly much more entertaining than the majority of the other quota quickies shown.