The Big Day

Three men at a small firm are in competition for rise to a directorship of the firm: Donald Pleasence, a meek man carrying on an affair with Andree Melly, a nineteen-year-old typist; Harry Corbett, who is married to the managing director's sister and who runs the shipping department; and William Franklyn, who is in charge of orders and contracts.

To the audience, they all three seem like small-minded men, with little to recommend them, although much of the movie is devoted to following Pleasence. The managing director, Colin Gordon, seems likewise a small-minded man, who maintains his control of the staff by finding fault; it seems likely that anyone of ability has left the place for better prospects and management. It seems, therefore, that this movie is intended as an indictment of British industry in general at the time, which would explain why whatever they manufacture is not specified, and why the score, when it appears, is in a minor key. A depressing, well acted, and potentially interesting movie is reduced in effectiveness by the fact there is not one of the executives to root for, and the entire firm runs on gossip and toadying.

An incisive, economy-sized British version of 'Executive Suite' with an extraordinary cast, most of them better known for comedy and here much younger than we're accustomed to seeing them, which vouchsafes such cynical insights into office politics as "I find mediocrity around me less trouble."

In addition to the men the film also boasts a strong female lineup with radio comediennes Andree Melly and Betty Marsden as Lola to Donald Pleasance's Emil Jannings and William Franklyn's nagging wife respectively.

It is no exaggeration to say that if Shakespeare had been around in 1960 this is the type of thing he would have written. Not for him the then popular Angry Young Man - he'd already done that.

This terrific tragi-comedy follows the story of 3 very different men as they vie for a vacant managerial post on the board of the small factory in which they work.

The always wonderful Donald Pleasance gives probably his best ever performance ever as a flawed, timid accountant.

Harry H Corbett, as a ne'er-do-well who has managed to marry his boss's sister, has a chance to show what a great actor he was and how much he deserves to be remembered for far more than just Harold Steptoe.

While the always excellent William Franklin, as an ambitious salesman, is allowed to give his familiar suave persona much depth than normal.

Though made on a B movie budget its acting, script, witty dialogue and location filming are all spot on. When the film was first shown post war austerity was just coming to an end and the swinging 60's were yet to arrive. A previous reviewer has mentioned the frank treatment of sex for the time and I will add to that its giving substantial roles to women - which also made it a forerunner of things to come.

This greatly underrated film would have been misunderstood when it came out and sadly fell into oblivion. It now well deserves to be rediscovered and really is a must see. Oh, and do laugh at the funny bits, they are meant to be there!

This film was shown as part of the NFT season featuring B films of the 50s and 60s as a companion piece to the recently published book on the subject.There has not been one clinker in the 8 films which were shown to packed audiences.According to the programme notes this film did not achieve a circuit release because it could not easily be pigeon holed into one category.Essentially it is about 3 men competing to become the new director of a small engineering company.We see the contrasting work and home life of the three candidates.Donald Pleasance is the lead.The cast is full of well known TV faces such as Harry H Corbett and William Franklyn and that immortal radio comedienne Betty(Round The Horne)MarsdenGiven that the film was made in the early 60s it is extremely frank about sex.The ending is ironic and rather sad.If it is ever released on DVD i would certainly recommend it.

Made just before the dynamic, diametric shift of the more confrontational kitchen sink dramas like 'Poor Cow', and 'Darling', 'The Big Day' is a little more stolidly fashioned B-feature, while considerably less showy, Peter Graham Scott's compact, well acted drama about the the sly, internecine machinations of 3 disparate employees of a busy, mid-sized firm up for a directorship has much to recommend it to fans of vintage British melodrama. What might have been a somewhat glum, downbeat drama was vividly coloured by some robust acting from a capable cast with notably strong, well nuanced performances by future Hammer Horror scream queen Andree Melly as the immature, trampy, greatly manipulative teenage mistress Nina Wentworth, and terror titan Donald Pleasence is simply terrific as the melancholy, self-doubting accountant Victor Partridge whose somewhat sordid extra marital affair dramatically threatens both his mental equilibrium and his diminishing chances of promotion. 'The Big Day' is an engrossing study of toxic office politics, while not often mentioned, it remains a fascinating document, a fine, dramatically sound feature that proves once again what sublime acting range Harry H. Corbett revealed when playing straight, darker-edged roles, effortlessly oozing underhanded sleaze as the bone idol, money-grubbing schnook Harry Jackson.