Now and Forever [1956] [DVD]

Set initially in a small fictitious market town called Mellingham, this starts off as a frightfully innocent tale of puppy love given clout by the usual good-natured acerbity of producer-director Mario Zampi's regular scriptwriter Michael Pertwee (who has a brief bit as a cynical reporter), since Janette Scott's self-centred mother Pamela Brown is plainly carrying on with Guy Middleton while hypocritically determined to break up her daughter's own burgeoning romance with Vernon Grey.

Under Zampi's benign tutelage they then set off for Gretna Green on a sort of rural remake of 'It Happened One Night' enhanced by rich Technicolor photography by Erwin Hillier and the usual assortment of familiar faces in fleeting cameos. ~ imdb

This is one of the most underrated films I've ever seen. The bulk of it is charming and romantic, with two very good leads (Janette Scott, of course, went on to be one of Britain's top female film stars for the next decade; very oddly, Vernon Grey never made it as a star). The story is engagingly told, and the viewer is really rooting for the young couple. Very effectively, however, the film changes into a kind of black comedy thriller in the latter stages, as the couple flee to try to elope to Scotland. Various mishaps hinder both the couple and the pursuing police. Among other witty moments, policeman Brian Wilde is exasperatedly telling an impatient colleague over the radio that 'It is not as if they are going to drive past me right now!' - just as the couple's car zooms by in the background; and Wilde again, stopping a car which is identical to the couple's one, only to find a very angry woman (Hattie Jacques) in the driver's seat with a very large dog next to her in the passenger seat. 'How dare you accuse us of being an eloping couple!' thunders Jacques. It is also moving how a series of people the couple encounter help them on their way rather than shop them, including a waiter (Ronald Squire), a lorry driver (Harold Goodwin) and a farmer (Charles Victor). Throw in very good cinematography, excellent location shots, and a really well done ending, and what's not to like? In fact, if it was not for one very stupid hole in the plot, I would have given it a 10.