Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

My favourite scenes? At their Brighton hotel (Joyce Grenfell is wonderful) and when Rosalind plays her two numbers on the trumpet! One solitary scene adds so much to this movie, and that is towards the end when the elderly man who loves Darracqs speaks to Alan (without first having been introduced!).

A delight from start to finish, this film is about an annual car club's trip from London to Brighton. The cars in question are vintage. Alan and Wendy (John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan) travel in their 1904 model, affectionately named Genevieve. Ambrose and Rosilund (Kenneth More and Kay Kendall) have their own vehicle and it soon becomes a rivalry about which car is better. It eventually turns into a race on the way home, in which they have to outsmart each other to win 100 pounds. This is a great film because it relies on the richness of its characters and is filled with scenes that are both amusing and relevant. There is a great scene in which a drunken Rosilund plays trumpet with the band and another when Wendy and Alan have to check into a down market hotel next to a train and a giant clock (watch what happens when the clock strikes nine). In a brief but fun role, the always engaging Joyce Grenfell plays a hotel concierge, but this film is all about Alan, Wendy, Ambrose & Rosilund. The acting is superb. Buy or rent the DVD, since it has an interview with Dinah Sheridan, biographies of the main characters and location shoots. This film is from 1953, but it is completely fresh today and even makes you a bit sad to know this world doesn't exist anymore. Oh well, at least you have this completely wonderful film to watch.

Alan & Wendy McKim, Ambrose Claverhouse & Rosalind Peters are two classic car enthusiast couples taking part in the annual London to Brighton car rally. For the return trip the gentlemen enter into a friendly wager to see who can reach Westminster Bridge first, but what started out as friendly rivalry turns into a very intense contest indeed.I think what stands out the most in Genevieve {Genevieve being the name of the McKim's car} is the wonderful screenplay from William Rose. Full of British sensibilities and sexual tension, Genevieve ranks as one of the best British films from the 50s. Both couples seem poles apart but the men are bound by a machismo sensibility, whilst the women are both astutely charming in loyalty with a bullish awareness of the situation. John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and Kay Kendall are all excellent in the lead roles, the colour booms out from the screen, and Larry Adler's harmonica backed score is a perfect musical delight.Charming, breezy, and a British comedy classic, Genevieve really is a spiffing film for any day of the week. 9/10

Beyond the marvelous cars, the jokes and banter between the couples and the quirky soundtrack, it's the moment of genuine and somewhat surprising kindness of the lead actor in the story which really sets this gentle comedy apart. Without Allan's reaction to the old gentleman who admires his car, the movie would otherwise be a one note comedy with jokes and rather nice scenery. The poignancy of the gesture however, allows Allan to quietly and magnificently overcome his obsessiveness, which though amusing at times is also wearing. This, along with the beauty of the English countryside, a component as important as the characters themselves, makes this movie an absolute charmer. The final shot replete with damp mist and fog added the ultimate British ambiance to its delightful conclusion.