AllMovie

The Extra Day is a portmanteau film in the tradition of the earlier Derby Day. The ball gets rolling when Joe Blake (Richard Basehart), the assistant to film director Kurt Vorn (Laurence Naismith), routinely summons a group of movie extras for a few necessary retakes. The audience then learns the "backstories" of the various extras. Starving artist Steven Marlow (George Baker), who has been doing crowd work to pay the bills, is the object of movie star Michele Blanchard's (Simone Simon) affections, even though he doesn't know it. Prizefighter Barney West (Sidney James) worries that he'll lose his extra job if his face is messed up in the ring. Socialite Toni Howard (Josephine Griffin) works in films to get away from the social whirl; her callback to Vorn's set nearly scotches her impending marriage to a famous singing star. And so it goes until the extras are assembled and Vorn yells "action." Future pop star Shani Wallis makes her screen debut in The Extra Day in a minor role.