''Harmony Row'' is a 1933 Australian musical comedy directed by

F. W. Thring Francis William Thring (2 December 1882 – 1 July 1936), better known as F. W. Thring, was an Australian film director, film producer, producer, and film exhibitor, exhibitor. He has been credited with the invention of the clapperboard. Early ...

and

Raymond Longford Raymond Longford (born John Walter Hollis Longford, 23 September 18782 April 1959) was a prolific Australian film director, writer, producer and actor during the silent era. Longford was a major director of the silent film era of the Australian ...

and starring popular stage comedian

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...

. It marked the film debut of

Bill Kerr William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian, and vaudevillian. Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second Worl ...

Plot

George enlists in the police force and is assigned to Harmony Row, a haunt of criminals such as Slogger Lee. He makes several friends, including the pretty street musician Molly, and boy soprano Leonard. He is persuaded to fight Slogger Lee in a boxing tournament. He manages to defeat Slogger and win, and is united with Molly.

Cast

as Contable Dreadnought *Phyllis Baker as Molly *

Marshall Crosby Marshall Crosby (18 February 1882 – 1 January 1954) was a popular Australian actor and singer of film, theatre, radio and TV. He appeared in a number of shows for J. C. Williamson Ltd and was a leading radio actor, remembered for his role ...

as the sergeant * John Dobbie as Slogger Lee *

as Leonard *Bill Innes as Detective Brooks *Edwin Brett as the father *Norman Shepherd as the butler *Norman French as the husband * Bebe Scott as the wife *Gertrude Boswell as the housekeeper *Leonard Stephens as the Ferrett *Dan Thomas *Nell Fleming *Nell Crane *Elza Stenning *Thelma Scott *Dorothy Weeks *Johnny Marks *

Campbell Copelin Campbell Copelin (1901–1988) was an English actor, who moved to Australia in the 1920s and worked extensively in film, theatre, radio and television. He had a notable association with J.C. Williamson Ltd and frequently collaborated with F. W. ...

Original play

The film was based on a revue Wallace had performed in the 1920s. It was one of a series of "revusicals" written by Wallace during this period.

Production

The film marked the feature film debut of

who had been cast by Thring in a proposed movie called ''Pick and the Duffers''. That movie was not made but he was then cast in ''Harmony Row''. The full version of the film features a haunted house sequence where George unravels a mystery in a mansion. In some versions of the film this sequence was cut and replaced with one where George arrests a high society gentlemen (

), thinking he's a thief.

Reception

The film was released on a double bill with '' Diggers in Blighty'' and was a success at the box office. The two films grossed £8000 in Melbourne and £3070 in two weeks in Sydney. The critic from ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' called it "the first really successful picture that Efftee Films have produced." The film was released in England.

References

*Fitzpatrick, Peter, 'The Two Frank Thrings'', Monash University, 2012

External links

''Harmony Row''
in the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Harmony Row''
at

Australian Screen Online The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

''Harmony Row''
at Oz Movies
''Harmony Row''
at Australian Variety Theatre Archive
Copyright information
at

National Archives of Australia The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that serves as the national archives of the nation. It collects, preserves and encourages ...

{{F.W. Thring 1933 films Australian musical comedy films 1933 musical comedy films Films directed by F. W. Thring Films directed by Raymond Longford Australian black-and-white films