Synopsis
A pair of twin girls are separated when their parents divorce. They meet again by accident when they are both sent to the same Summer camp and they start to hatch a plot to get back together. - Steve Crook
Twice Upon a Time
Director
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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UK
Releases by Country
UK
06 Jul 1953
- Theatrical
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A nice little trifle, I like this best of the films based on this story that I've seen. Mostly of interest to Emeric Pressburger fans, lots of pleasant humor, the twins are likeable and there's a fun performance by Jack Hawkins as the family doctor with a dog. This is nowhere near Archers territory but it knows what it is and plays out with at least some of Pressburger's sense of fun on display. (There's actually a voiceover that provides some humorous commentary on the twins...something I enjoyed but might not be appreciated by everyone. These scenes reminded me of the opening of I Know Where I'm Going and also of Dr. Reeves in A Matter of Life and death as he views the town with his camera obscura. Pressburger had a special voice and it was nice to hear it come through this film in places.)
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If someone asked me to name my most longed for rarity, it would be this. I remember many years ago reading but a couple of lines about a solo Pressburger directorial feature, dismissed, as per its limited notice, as poor. Thanks to James Bell and the wonderful people at the BFI National Archive, today I was able to see it—screened for the first time since release. It has been digitised from the colour positive in the archive, and sound from the sound negative. There is a shrunken print that sadly can never be shown, but my goodness what a transfer.
It starts off, quite remarkably, at the ROH, with Jack Hawkins saying that he doesn’t like ballet. The performance, set…
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Very enjoyable, and frequently laugh-out-loud, version of the oft-adapted Erich Kastner story (probably best known as the basis of The Parent Trap). Good performances all around (although one does suppose a child born in Birmingham and brought up in Glasgow would have a somewhat different accent!) Pressburger may not show notable flair as a director but the script is fantastic and the production solid. Probably my favourite amongst adaptations of this story.
Screening introduced by James Bell and Andrew Macdonald.
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clunky but almost (almost) too charmed to care — it’s just the perfect story, sorry! more men should offer their dogs heartfelt apologies after saying something slightly damning about them that they could never understand one time
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NFT3 with intro from Andrew Macdonald (Pressburger’s grandson)
Charming, funny and worth a watch if you ever can do so easily.