Just William's Luck | |
Director: | Val Guest |
Producer: | James A. Carter (as James Carter) |
Starring: | William Graham Garry Marsh |
Music: | Robert Farnon |
Cinematography: | Leslie Rowson (uncredited) |
Editing: | Anne Barker |
Distributor: | United Artists Corporation |
Runtime: | 92 minutes |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Language: | English |
Just William's Luck is a 1947 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring William Graham, Garry Marsh and Jane Welsh.[1] The film was based on the Just William series of books by Richmal Crompton. Crompton was impressed with the film and wrote a novel Just William's Luck based on the events of the film. The following year a second film William Comes to Town was made.[2]
William Brown, leader of his gang, "The Outlaws", while exploring/playing in a "haunted house", stumble across a gang of fur thieves. The children are kidnapped and are bundled into the back of a lorry which drives off. Spotting a large bag of flour, the boys proceed to kick it open. Its contents spill through a gap in the floorboards of the truck's cargo bay. This leaves a trail on the road for the police to follow who ultimately catch and foil the gang of fur robbers.[3]
Val Guest had some troubles working with children but said otherwise production went smoothly and both William films were "very successful."[2]
Radio Times wrote, "while William Graham captures something of the scruffy boisterousness of Richmal Crompton's timeless comic creation, director Val Guest's screenplay smoothes away the rougher edges to produce a sanitised tale of childhood mayhem, suitable for young eyes. The same paternalism dogged the sequel, William at the Circus";[4] while Sky Movies wrote, "it's a lively romp with a jolly knockabout climax in a house that William and his gang of `outlaws' are trying to haunt."[5]