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It's a Great Day
It's a Great Day
	Film poster
Directed by	John Warrington
Screenplay by	Roland Pertwee; Michael Pertwee
Produced by	Victor Lyndon
Starring	Ruth Dunning ; Edward Evans ; Sid James
Cinematography	Cedric Williams
Music by	Eric Spear
Production; company	Grove Films
Release date	1955;
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

It's a Great Day is a 1955 British comedy film directed by John Warrington and starring Ruth Dunning, Edward Evans and Sid James.^[1] It was written by Roland Pertwee and Michael Pertwee. It is a spin-off from the BBC TV soap The Grove Family.

Plot

Local builder Bob Grove has some temperamental differences with his Council Manager leaving him without materials to finish a housing estate. His son Jack recruits the services of Harry Mason of dubious character, to help him get hold of the materials he needs. Things turn sour when Bob and Jack are suspected of stealing, leading to a police investigation. All this takes place around a planned Royal Visit to the new housing estate.

Cast

Ruth Dunning as Gladys Grove
Edward Evans as Bob Grove
Sid James as Harry Mason
Vera Day as Blondie
Sheila Sweet as Pat Grove
Peter Bryant as Jack Grove
Nancy Roberts as Gran (Roberts played the same role in the TV series)
Margaret Downs as Daphne Grove
Christopher Beeny as Lennie Grove
Victor Maddern as Charlie Mead
John Stuart as Detective Inspector Marker
Henry Oscar as surveyor
Marjorie Rhodes as landlady
Nan Braunton as Miss Jones

Critical reception

In discussing the original TV show, the Radio Times praised "The excellent Ruth Dunning and Edward Evans," but "the acting honours, and the popularity stakes, were hijacked by formidable Nancy Roberts as Gran. This cheaply made feature version of the show, produced quickly and efficiently by Butcher's Films with the original cast, now looks like a perfect period artefact. The plot is wonderfully naive, casting doubt on upright Mr Grove's integrity, and the cast is studded with marvellous 1950s faces such as Sid James, Victor Maddern, Michael Balfour and Vera Day. It's a treat for nostalgists and those who cherish that period of postwar austerity, when such a cosy family unit was perceived as the ideal."^[2]

Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture, or rather chapter of incidents, has variety – there is bathroom slapstick, a fierce fight between Mead and Jack, the rescue of the Groves’s younger son from a scaffold and squabbles between the Groves’s daughter and her beau – and the titbits not only register on their own, but blend into a laughable mosaic."^[3]

In British Sound Films David Quinlan said: "Harmless comedy from a monumentally successful TV show; certainly there’s a lot going on."^[4]