John and Julie

Just months later Katie Johnson (whose resemblance here to a statue of Queen Victoria is explicitly remarked upon) was sharing a much darker film with Peter Sellars (presently fifteenth in the cast list), this time recalling the Old Queen's death; at that time a more recent memory than the present Queen's coronation in 1953 is today.

This long-forgotten Group Three production follows the same narrative arc of the same year's 'The Night of the Hunter' of a small boy and an even smaller girl journeying across a landscape peopled by adults whose world they only dimly comprehend (or not at all, such as Moira Lister's profession) and occasionally frightens them.

While Laughton's film was deliberately stylised - shot largely on sound stages in gothic black & white - and this makes extensive use of locations and actuality footage of the Coronation parade itself, the fifties Eastmancolor in which it is bathed creates an experience in many ways just as strange to experience when seen today.

"John and Julie" evokes memories of my own childhood, seeing this sweet, wonderful comedy on TV in the sixties. A simple story, of two British children, separated from their families while en route to London to see Elizabeth crowned, the film offers a wide variety of British performers (including Wilfrid Hyde-White and a young Peter Sellers), as 'typical', if often eccentric, countrymen who aid the children on their way. Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley, as the children, are completely natural, and captivating (Dudley pouts so wistfully that you want to hug her!)

With a beautiful score (highlighted by a trumpet solo), stock footage of the actual event blended in with the story, and a joyous finale that could turn the most dedicated 'Yank' into an Anglophile, "John and Julie" is a small gem, something the entire family will love!

This was a most enjoyable film, using the coronation of a year or so before as a backdrop for the story. Lots of very familiar British actors, many of whom became well-known in later years, were in the film and Eddie Calvert's theme became a hit in those less beat-conscious years.

This is one of those films that brings out my nostalgic tendencies. John and julie is a simple story of a little girl called Julie who decides to run away to london with her best friend John to see the Queens coronation. The film was made just a couple of years after the events the film depicts. It's a simple story, its told with total charm and warmth. The two young actors playing John and Julie are totally believable natural. They are surrounded by cameos of the cream of 50s acting talent from Wilfred Hyde White to Peter Sellers... Although this is obviously a celebration of the event of 1953. The film trys to represent all walks of life. There is a very early attempt to show a multi cultural uk along with Londons slightly seedy night life. John and Julie works because it just so cosy. It show a bygone age that we could learn alot from.. It might not have the prestige of an Eailing Comedy but deserves to be shown more.

John and Julie is written directed by William Fairchild. It stars Colin Gibson, Lesley Dudley, Noelle Middleton, Moira Lister, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Sid James and Megs Jenkins. Out of Beaconsfield Studios, film is shot in Eastman Color with music by Philip Green (trumpet solo's Eddie Calvert) and cinematography by Arthur Grant.

John (Gibson) and Julie (Dudley), two young children in 1953, set off on their own from Dorset to see The Queen's Coronation in London....

Utterly charming picture full of youthful bluster and eccentric adults. Film is very much of its time, it harks back to a time when kids were safe on the streets, people were only too glad to help and you could drink water from the local stream! In essence it's a road movie, one that is powered by two youngsters who by hook or by crook, want to see the Queen get crowned. Story shows how these two young kiddies use initiative and naivety to get to their destination, how they affect everyone who comes into contact with them, and finally how such an historical event brought about a joy and community spirit that is sadly all too lacking in today's modern British society. All of which is deftly flecked by Eddie Calvert's beautiful trumpet.

God bless her!

Is it contrived? And do you have to be a fan of the British Royals to get the most out of it? Not at all. Yes you need a modicum of disbelief suspension to accept that the kids could make it all that way without getting nabbed by the police, the latter of which hardly come off as sharp coppers here, but Fairchild is all about youthful determination and how young cherubs can often beguile us adults. Fairchild also knits it all together with ease, even managing to unobtrusively insert actual footage of the Coronation parade into the joyous climax. The child actors are thankfully, very likable, especially Dudley who is simply adorable, and the cast is a roll call of British film treasures. Stand outs are Sid James at his grumpy best as John's father, Hyde-White is classy and correct, Jenkins as usual delivers a memorable female touch and Lister scores high as a tart with a heart. Peter Sellers fans should note he has only a small role, that of a good old British Bobby.

Of its time for sure, but that is a good thing here. A true spirit lifting film and a beacon of unadulterated joy for the child in all of us. 8/10