Holiday Camp (1947) Movie Review

Holiday Camp (1947)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Holiday Camp (1947)

A Bit of a Carry on Campers

The Huggett family are on their annual vacation to a holiday camp and they are not the only ones as gamblers, a man hungry spinster, a man on the run from the police, a young couple who have run away together and a sailor disappointed by his girlfriend dumping him are just some of the guests there who find themselves partaking in the hokey cokey and some knees up mother brown.

"Holiday Camp" is another one of those movies which you needed to be there to appreciate in all its different ways. Those different ways range from capturing the holiday camp atmosphere of the 1940s to the appeal of some of the stars such as Jimmy Hanley and Jack Warner although Esma Cannon as the man hungry spinster is timeless. But it is very much a movie which is all about the era and the attitudes, including a pool side beauty competition where we have the men ogling the women in their swim costumes. Don't get me wrong as there is some thing still entertaining about it but there is little which makes it work now, some 70 years later.

But there are parts of "Holiday Camp" which are mildly entertaining from the relationship between Mr. & Mrs. Huggett who are dealing with their marriage now the kids have grown up. There is also a couple of devious gamblers as well as a womanising cad who feeds various women a line when in truth he is a criminal on the run. But like everything about the movie these storylines are only moderately entertaining although there is one story thread involving an older woman who has a touch of mystery about her which gives this an extra touch of depth.

What this all boils down to is that "Holiday Camp" is the sort of movie which might appeal to those who were around when it came out an can connect with the whole holiday campy scene from back then. But this is a movie which beyond a few twists has little in the way of entertainment for audiences who discover it now.


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