A Day to Remember 1953

The Hand & Flower darts team from a London pub heads off on a day trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. On the eve of departure, Percy [Peter Jones] Goodall, the travel agent among them, has organized the outing, and for some it’s their first voyage abroad while others return to France for the first time since the wars. Charley [Stanley Holloway] Porter is eager to meet some French mademoiselles, but the pub’s landlord, Fred Griffiths, warns there’ll be nothing of that sort.

Stan [Harry Fowler] Harvey already has a plan to buy watches in France and slip them back past customs, a scheme that sits at odds with Charley’s more innocent expectations. Jim [Donald Sinden] Carver is wrestling with a growing sense that his engagement back home might be dull and predictable, a tension he carries with him as the day unfolds.

The group gathers at London Victoria station, rides the boat train to Folkestone, and crosses the Channel to Boulogne. Once ashore, Fred’s attempt to keep everyone together frays when Jim slips away to revisit the region where he had seen heavy fighting years earlier. In a local florist, the shopkeepers refuse to take money for flowers intended for a fallen comrade, a small moment that deepens Jim’s memories. He then visits a nearby farm and meets Martine Berthier [Odile Versois], now a striking young woman who recognizes him and invites him to lunch with her family. The instant connection between Jim and Martine is clear, yet Martine is engaged to a local lawyer who is hoping for a prestigious partnership in Paris.

Back in town, the darts crew enjoys lunch at a cafe before fanning out to explore. Stan heads off to collect his watches, while Shorty Sharpe [Bill Owen] drinks too much and impulsively signs up with the French Foreign Legion, despite Charley’s attempts to intervene. Fred finds himself entangled with a young woman in a bar, bought champagne and dancing, only to be confronted by Charley later with a touch of embarrassment. Percy becomes violently homesick, yearning for a familiar cup of tea that seems out of reach in this unfamiliar country.

When they regroup, the plan to salvage Shorty from Foreign Legion service proves futile, and the friends drift toward the docks, awaiting the return voyage. Stan, suspicious of a police summons, hurls the watches into the water, thinking he’s protecting himself, only to realize the officer is after his passport left behind at the customs check.

Jim’s romance with Martine continues to bloom, but they clash over what the future can hold; she confesses she cannot marry him and speeds toward the docks to rejoin her fiancé. Meanwhile, Jim’s fiancée back in London has begun a relationship with an American serviceman. As her ship departs, Martine finally admits her true feelings for Jim, and they vow to meet again when he comes back to France.