''It Happened One Sunday'' is a 1944 British romantic comedy film directed by Karel Lamač and starring

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of ...

, Barbara White and

Marjorie Rhodes Marjorie Rhodes (9 April 1897 – 4 July 1979) was a British actress. She was born Millicent Wise in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. Career One of her better-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother in Bill Naughton's pl ...

. It was written by Paul Vincent Carroll, Frederic Gotfurt and Frank Harvey based on the play ''She Met Him One Sunday'' by Victor Skutezky. Produced and distributed by Associated British it was shot at Welwyn Studios with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

William C. Andrews.

Synopsis

In the film, an Irish servant girl working in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

mistakenly believes that she has a secret admirer working at a hospital, and while seeking him out accidentally meets and falls in love with a serviceman there. She spends the rest of the day around Liverpool with him and they eventually decide to marry.

Cast

as Tom Stevens * Barbara White as Moya Malone *

as Mrs. Buckland * Ernest Butcher as Mr. Buckland *

Kathryn Beaumont Kathryn Beaumont Levine (born 27 June 1938) is a British actress. She is best known for voicing Alice in ''Alice in Wonderland'' (1951) and Wendy Darling in ''Peter Pan'' (1953), for which she was named a Disney Legend in 1998. Early life Be ...

as Jill Buckland * Judy Kelly as Violet * Irene Vanbrugh as Mrs. Bellamy *

Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-cla ...

as Mrs. Purkiss *

Moore Marriott George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...

as porter * C. V. France as magistrate * Marie Ault as madame *

Brefni O'Rorke Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish actor, both on the stage and in movies. Early life O'Rorke was born as William Francis Breffni O'Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin on 26 June 1889, and b ...

as engineer *

Frederick Piper Frederick Piper (23 September 1902 – 22 September 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the ...

as Jake *

Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 2 ...

as bandleader

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Tortuous in construction and slow-moving in the telling, this piece tries to eke out some interest by digressions into fantasy in which the little servant girl queens it over fine ladies and princes in eighteenth-century costumes. Itis not a successful attempt. Despite poor material, however, Barbara White makes a success of her first screen appearance as the girl. Robert Beatty, as the rough Mr. Brown, gives the film its only contact with reality." ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' called the film an "intriguing, down-to-earth yet refreshingly sentimental romantic melodrama."

References

External links

* {{Karel Lamač 1944 films 1944 romantic comedy films British romantic comedy films Films set in Liverpool Films directed by Karel Lamač British seafaring films Films shot at Welwyn Studios British black-and-white films British films based on plays 1940s English-language films 1940s British films English-language romantic comedy films Films scored by Philip Green Films scored by Charles Williams (composer)