Joy Ride is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Harry Hughes and starring Gene Gerrard, Zelma O'Neal and Betty Ann Davies. The film was made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton.
, 1h35 Directed byAnthony Pelissier OriginUnited-kingdom GenresDrama ActorsJohn Mills, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins, Finlay Currie, Diana Churchill, Shelagh Fraser Rating65% Following his dismissal from a draper's shop, where his father had placed him as an apprentice, protagonist Alfred Polly (John Mills) finds it hard to find another position. When a telegram arrives informing him of his father's death, he returns to the family home. With a bequest of £500, Polly starts to consider his future; and a friend of his father's, Mr Johnsen (Edward Chapman), urges him to invest it in a shop - an idea that Polly hates. Whilst dawdling in the country on a newly-bought bicycle, Polly has a brief dalliance with a schoolgirl, Christabel (Sally Ann Howes); but later marries a cousin, Miriam Larkins (Betty Ann Davies). 15 years later, Polly and his wife are running a drapery in Fishbourne, and the marriage has descended to incessant arguments and bickering. Whilst walking in the country, Polly decides to commit suicide but also sets his shop ablaze in the hope the insurance will assure Miriam's prosperity; but botches the arson job and instead of killing himself, rescues an elderly neighbour and becomes a minor local celebrity. Still unhappy, Polly leaves Miriam and is hired by a rural innkeeper (Megs Jenkins) as handyman and ferryman; but soon realises that the position was open because the innkeeper's brother-in-law Jim (Finlay Currie) is a drunkard who chases any other man away from the inn. Polly clashes with Jim until the latter accidentally drowns in a weir when he is chasing Polly. Several years later, Polly returns to Fishbourne to find Miriam operating a tea-shop with her sister, in the belief that Polly had drowned, and returns to his happier life at the inn.
A womanising playboy becomes tired of his philandering lifestyle and asks his current girlfriend to marry him. At the wedding reception, his best man makes a speech treating the entire gathering to the finer details of the bridegroom's chequered romantic history. The bride becomes upset, and her new husband is furious with his best friend for being so indiscreet. He whisks her straight out of the wedding hall and they set off on honeymoon.