Name: The Huggetts Abroad
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1949-03-21
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 6.8
Cast: Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Dinah Sheridan, Susan Shaw, Petula Clark

The Huggetts Abroad

Life is not going well for the Huggetts. Father has lost his job. Jimmy and his wife cannot get to South Africa where he has a new job. So the family decide that they should go to South Africa by truck. With their travelling companion they travel across the desert which includes a brush with the law.

Comedy

DirectorKen Annakin

WritersTed Willis, Gerard Bryant, Denis Constanduros, Mabel Constanduros

StatusReleased

LanguageEnglish

Release DateMarch 21, 1949

Runtime1h 29m

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

July 9, 20225/10

Easily the most far-fetched outing for our stoical post-war British family, this one sees them embark on a trans-African trip after "Father" (Jack Warner) loses his job and "Jimmy" (Jimmy Hanley) manages to get himself one - in Johannesburg. Needless to say, they haven't two farthings to rub together, and when poor old daughter "Jane" (Dinah Sheridan) can't get a visa to accompany her husband the whole family (with varying degrees of willingness) decide to decamp - by truck - and drive the 4,000-odd miles. Luckily (or not) they have the slightly iffy character of "Bob" (Hugh McDermott) to help (?) them so off they go. It's preposterous, from start to finish - even if back then, Britain still controlled great chunks of Africa. The comedy is absurd and the normally reliable leadership of Warner and on-screen wife Kathleen Harrison is subsumed into an almost episodic lesson in rather poorly written and executed slapstick. The charm and cheeriness of these films was always their selling point. This has neither, really, and at 90 minutes is far too long, too.