Chance of a Lifetime
The workers in a small plough factory take over the firm, but when a large order falls through, the old management come back to help out.
The workers in a small plough factory take over the firm, but when a large order falls through, the old management come back to help out.
Basil Radford
Dickinson
Niall MacGinnis
Baxter
Bernard Miles
Stevens
Julien Mitchell
Morris
Kenneth More
Adam
Geoffrey Keen
Bolger
Patrick Troughton
Kettle
Hattie Jacques
Alice
Eric Pohlmann
Xenobian
The workers in a small plough factory take over the firm, but when a large order falls through, the old management come back to help out.
"Dickinson" (Basil Radford) runs a small foundry that makes farming implements in post-war Britain that has it's fair share of disgruntled employees. When they threaten a walk out after the stroppy "Bolger" (Geoffrey Keen) gets the push, he offers to let them try their hand at running the business instead. What ensues is a depiction of their valiant attempt to make a go of it, and what makes it interesting - aside from some characterful performances from Radford, Niall MacGinnis, Kenneth More and a smartly paced dialogue - is that Bernard Miles doesn't present us with a rose-coloured "co-op" success story. They have plenty of glitches, contretemps and the ending is clever and fulfilling, without being cloyingly sentimental. It's emblematic of the start of a new post-war era of industrial relations peppered with some good comedic lines and a genuinely plausible, collaborative, perspective. Definitely worth watching.
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