Last Holiday (1950 film)

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Last Holiday

Directed by	Henry Cass
Produced by	Stephen Mitchell, A. D. Peters, J.B. Priestley
Written by	J. B. Priestley
Starring	Alec Guinness Beatrice Campbell Kay Walsh Gregoire Aslan Jean Colin Muriel George
Release date(s)	1950
Running time	88 minutes
Country	UK
Language	English

Last Holiday is a 1950 British film featuring Alec Guinness in his sixth starring role.

[edit] Synopsis

Humble salesman George Bird (Guinness) visits a physician for a routine checkup and is told he has a rare terminal illness and less than a year to live. Originally dismayed and unaccepting of the news, he eventually becomes resigned to accept the physician’s advice: To take all of his life’s savings and enjoy himself in the time he has left. Being a lifelong bachelor with no immediate family to leave his modest earnings with, Bird decides to spend his last days at an upscale residential hotel with many British elite.

Bird’s generosity and unassuming attitude generate a great deal of interest among residents at the hotel. With an odd clarity of focus as his end draws near, he soon becomes an enigma, with aristocrats speculating about his lineage and possible nobility. Bird soon falls in love (possibly for the first time in his life) and is offered a fruitful business opportunity, but these events only serve to make him reflect on what he had not achieved in life.

Finally, Bird speaks to a hotel guest who is the namesake of the disease he was diagnosed with. The physician assures him there must be a mistake and that Bird does not have the disease. After a trip back to the city, Bird confirms the mistake, and is ready to begin life anew with his sweetheart and his business opportunity. The twist is that he never makes it back to the hotel. He ends up in a car accident on the way.