Next to No Time

David Webb is a mild-mannered British planning engineer sent across the Atlantic by his firm to negotiate a deal, a task for which he feels hugely out of his depth. However, a friendly barman, with the aid of a special cocktail, convinces Webb that his personality changes during the hour when the clocks on the ship are stopped as it enters a new time zone.

{{Cast listing|

• Kenneth More as David Webb
• Betsy Drake as Georgia Brent
• Roland Culver as Sir Godfrey Cowan
• Harry Green as Saul Wiener
• Patrick Barr as Jerry Lane
• Maureen Connell as Mary
• Reginald Beckwith as Warren, Sir Godfrey's secretary
• John Welsh as Steve, the barman
• Bessie Love as Becky Wiener
• Howard Marion-Crawford as Hobbs
• Clive Morton as Wallis
• John Laurie as Abercrombie, Scottish Director
• Raymond Huntley as Factory supervisor
• Eleanor Bryan as Susie
• Irene Handl as Greengrocer
• Sidney James as Cabin Steward
• Ferdy Mayne as Mario
• Rupert Davies as Auction organiser
• Sandra Walden as Hester
• Fred Griffiths as Customer
• Yvonne Buckingham as Mario's girlfriend
• Valerie Buckley as American girl
• Paul Cole as American boy

}}

In March 1957, Cornelius travelled to the United States to find an American co-star to appear opposite Kenneth More.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety206-1957-03/page/n125/mode/1up?q=%22kenneth+more%22+%22enchanted+hour%22|date=13 March 1957|magazine=Variety|title=London}}

The film was shot at Shepperton Studios.

Cinematographer Freddie Francis described the film as "a bit of a mess" and said Cornelius was "a lovely man but a bit of a muddler." He suggested that Kenneth More had become somewhat of a "law unto himself" by this time, which may have contributed to the lack of strong direction.{{cite web|title=Interview with Freddie Francis|website=British Entertainment History Project|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/freddie-francis|date=1993–1994}}

The film premiered at a cinema aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth, on which some of the film was shot, while the ship was docked at Southampton.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety213-1959-01/page/177/mode/1up?q=%22next+to+no+time%22+%22kenneth+more%22|date=7 January 1959|page=177|first=Dick|last=Richards|title=Beacoup British Showmanship in Selling Yank and Anglo Pix}} It was released in the United States by Rank Distributors of America, marking the first time that company distributed a non-Rank production.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=Rank to Handle Outside British Film in U.S.|page=12|date=19 November 1958}}

Variety called the film "a flimsy comedy" with "impeccable casting".{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety211-1958-08/page/n139/mode/1up?q=%22next+to+no+time%22+%22kenneth+more%22|page=10|date=20 August 1958|title=Next to No Time}}

The New York Times described it as "thin, transparent and bouncy," likening it to the bubbles cascading around the opening credits.{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Howard|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/05/28/archives/screen-breezy-charade-next-to-no-time-bows-at-little-carnegie.html|title=Movie Review – Next to No Time – Screen: Breezy Charade: 'Next to No Time' Bows at Little Carnegie|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 May 1960|access-date=26 June 2014}}

FilmInk argued that Kenneth More was miscast in a role that would have suited Alec Guinness or Norman Wisdom better, stating that More's natural confidence undermined the "worm turning" device.{{cite magazine|magazine=FilmInk|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/surviving-cold-streaks-kenneth-more/|title=Surviving Cold Streaks: Kenneth More|date=16 April 2023}}

Leslie Halliwell called it a "whimsical comedy which never gains momentum."{{cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0-586-08894-6 |edition=7th |location=London |page=724}}

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This whimsical comedy was something of a disappointment considering it marked the reunion of director Henry Cornelius with his Genevieve star Kenneth More. Sadly, it proved to be Cornelius's last picture before his tragically early death the same year during the production of Law and Disorder. More is curiously out of sorts as an engineer who uses a voyage on the Queen Elizabeth to persuade wealthy Roland Culver to back his latest project. His romantic interest is provided by Betsy Drake, who was then married to Cary Grant."{{cite book|title=Radio Times Guide to Films|publisher=Immediate Media Company|year=2017|isbn=978-0-9929364-4-0|edition=18th|location=London|page=656}}

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959, David Quinlan rated the film as "good," writing: "Pleasant, if uneasy mixture of genres. Smiles rather than guffaws."{{cite book|last=Quinlan|first=David|title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959|publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd.|year=1984|isbn=0-7134-1874-5|location=London|page=352}}

After Cornelius' death, Monja Danischewsky reflected on how "intensely personal" the film was to the writer-director, stating:

A man of acute introspection and self-examination, he identified himself closely with The Little Guy in the story... The character in the film, played by Kenneth More, is a planning engineer in a large factory who finds a difficulty in convincing his employers of his ability. "I know I've got it in me," the character says in effect, "but when it comes to putting myself over to people, I don't know how to do it." In the course of the story, The Little Guy learns how to do it, and becomes a Big Guy. Remembering his own early struggles to convince people of his ability, studying his own development as a man, ever grateful for the success which his ability and determination attained, Cornelius had a passionate belief that his new film, for all its trappings of comedy, would give help and encouragement to the millions of Little Guys who would be given an opportunity to see it. This perhaps serves best to illustrate his overall attitude towards film-making. From boyhood, he saw the medium as a means of disseminating ideas. And the idea that seemed most to excite him is that in our world, The Big Guy is only The Little Guy who has crossed the rubicon by his belief in himself. His death robs the British cinema of its most serious comedy maker.

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0054117}}
• [https://letterboxd.com/film/next-to-no-time/ Next to No Time] at Letterboxd
• [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/next-to-no-time/ Next to No Time] at ReelStreets

{{Henry Cornelius}}

Category:1958 films

Category:1958 comedy films

Category:Films directed by Henry Cornelius

Category:Films based on short fiction

Category:British comedy films

Category:Films scored by Georges Auric

Category:Films shot at Shepperton Studios

Category:Films set in London

Category:Seafaring films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:1950s British films