Call It a Day

{{short description|1937 film by Dodie Smith, Archie Mayo}} {{About|the 1937 film|the 1935 play on which it was based|Call It a Day (play)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = Call It a Day | image = Call It a Day 1937 Poster.jpg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[Archie Mayo]] | producer = [[Henry Blanke]] <br> [[Hal B. Wallis]] | screenplay = [[Casey Robinson]] <br> [[Sheridan Gibney]] | based_on = {{based on|''[[Call It a Day (play)|Call It a Day]]''|[[Dodie Smith]]}} | narrator = | starring = {{Plainlist| * [[Olivia de Havilland]] * [[Ian Hunter (actor)|Ian Hunter]] * [[Anita Louise]] * [[Alice Brady]] * [[Roland Young]] * [[Frieda Inescort]] }} | music = [[Heinz Roemheld]] | cinematography = [[Ernest Haller]] | editing = James Gibbon | studio = [[Cosmopolitan Productions]] | distributor = [[Warner Bros. Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1937|04|17}} | runtime = 90 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Call It a Day''''' is a 1937 American [[comedy film]] directed by [[Archie Mayo]] and starring [[Olivia de Havilland]], [[Ian Hunter (actor)|Ian Hunter]], [[Anita Louise]], [[Alice Brady]], [[Roland Young]], and [[Frieda Inescort]]. Based on the 1935 play ''[[Call It a Day (play)|Call It a Day]]'' by [[Dodie Smith]], the film is about a day in the life of a middle-class London family whose lives are complicated by the first romantic signs of spring.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Call It a Day (1937) - Overview - TCM.com|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3543/call-it-a-day|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101194624/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3543/Call-It-A-Day/|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 1, 2013|access-date=2020-07-04|website=Turner Classic Movies|language=en}}</ref>

==Plot== As the first day of spring arrives with unseasonably warm weather, the Hilton household is briefly turned upside down. Eldest daughter Cath has fallen hopelessly in love with the married artist painting her portrait, father Roger has his head turned by glamorous film star Beatrice Gwynn when he assists her with her taxes, wife Dorothy has an offer to elope to [[British India|India]] with her friend's brother shortly after meeting him and son Martin wants to go [[driving|motoring]] around the [[Continental Europe|Continent]] until he encounters the attractive girl next door. Even youngest daughter Ann has developed an obsession with the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] artist [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]]. By the end of the day all is righted and a semblance of normality has returned.

==Cast== {{Cast listing| * [[Olivia de Havilland]] as Catherine 'Cath' Hilton * [[Ian Hunter (actor)|Ian Hunter]] as Roger Hilton * [[Anita Louise]] as Joan Collett * [[Alice Brady]] as Muriel West * [[Roland Young]] as Frank Haines * [[Frieda Inescort]] as Dorothy Hilton * [[Bonita Granville]] as Ann Hilton * [[Peggy Wood]] as Ethel Francis * [[Marcia Ralston]] as Beatrice Gwynn * [[Walter Woolf King]] as Paul Francis * Peter Willes as Martin Hilton * [[Una O'Connor (actress)|Una O'Connor]] as Mrs. Milson, the Housekeeper * [[Beryl Mercer]] as Mrs. Elkins, the Cook * [[Elsa Buchanan]] as Vera, the Maid * [[Mary Field]] as Elsie Lester, Roger's Secretary * [[May Beatty]] as Frank's Landlady * [[Sidney Bracey]] as Flower Shop Owner * [[Leyland Hodgson]] as Sir Harold * [[Robert Adair (actor)|Robert Adair]] as Butler * [[Louise Stanley]] as Girl on Bus * [[Clarissa Selwynne]] as Annoyed Woman in Theater }}

==Production== ===Soundtrack=== * "[[I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles]]" (James Kendis, James Brockman, Nat Vincent, [[John Kellette|John W. Kellette]]) performed by Ian Hunter * "[[Isn't It Romantic?]]" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) performed by Marcia Ralston

==Reception== In his May 7, 1937, review, [[The New York Times]]' [[Frank Nugent]] said that he "enjoyed" the "tolerant and quietly humorous piece", and praised the ensemble cast.<ref>{{Cite news|title=THE SCREEN; One More Film of a Last Year's Play Comes to Town: This Being 'Call It a Day' at the Capitol| work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/05/07/94371941.html?pageNumber=29|access-date=2020-07-04|language=en}}</ref> Two months later, writing for ''[[Night and Day (magazine)|Night and Day]]'', [[Graham Greene]] gave the film a poor review and complained about the self-sanitized story of temptations rejected in the face of infidelity. Greene also complains of the use of clichéd dialogue, which includes the stale line, "Do you mind if I slip into something more comfortable?" which, Greene adds, "to our astonishment [leads to] the temptress reappear[ing] in just another evening dress."<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 22 July 1937|title= Parnell/Call it a Day|journal= [[Night and Day (magazine)|Night and Day]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book |editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell |editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= 155–156|isbn=0192812866}})</ref>

==See also== * ''[[The First Day of Spring]]'' (1956)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|0028679}} * {{TCMDb title|3543}} * {{AFI film|4262}} *[https://archive.org/download/TheaterGuildontheAir/Tgoa_46-06-02_ep039-Call_It_a_Day.mp3 1946 ''Theatre Guild on the Air'' radio adaptation of original play] at [[Internet Archive]]

[[Category:1937 films]] [[Category:1937 comedy films]] [[Category:American comedy films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:Films directed by Archie Mayo]] [[Category:Warner Bros. films]] [[Category:American films based on plays]] [[Category:Films set in London]] [[Category:Films based on works by Dodie Smith]] [[Category:1937 American films]] [[Category:Films scored by Heinz Roemheld]]