''Jumping for Joy'' is a 1956 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

John Paddy Carstairs John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys; 11 May 1910, in London – 12 December 1970, in London) was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and ...

and starring

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in ''My F ...

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...

and

Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and received a Golden Globe Award nomination during his acting career. Early life Jeffries was born in ...

Plot

Willie Joy (

) works at a

greyhound track Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

as a cleaner, which involves his picking up droppings from the dog track between races. He is tricked into standing in the line of the lure and falls on it as it speeds passed with the dogs chasing it. He gets fired. This times itself with a useless dog also being let go by an owner (Bert Benton) and Joy plays a small sum and takes it home. His landlady is less than pleased at a dog in his room and evicts him. He meets Captain Montague (

) and together they hatch a plan to make money from the dog. They give it the name of "Lindy Lou". To play the part Joy steals a top hat and tails to wear to the races at

White City Stadium White City Stadium was a stadium located in White City, London, England. Built for the 1908 Summer Olympics, it hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and other sports like swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock ...

(

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

). When Lindy starts to prove herself at the trials Benton wants to buy her back. Wandering around the East End he foolishly enters a snooker hall and flashes £20 around. A pretty girl tries to hustle him out of the money by playing a snooker set. Various crooks use Joy as an unwitting collaborator in fixing races and placing large bets. The crooks pass doped meat to be given to the dog but Joy and Montague eat it themselves. The crooks find them asleep but cannot find the dog. They detach the Captain's railway carriage home and move it onto an active railway line. When they awake they are told by a local that they are near

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. The dog is rescued just before the carriage is hit by a train. They re-encounter Lord and Lady Cranfield (from whom he earlier stole the suit) and they give him a lift to the White City. Lindy Lou wins the Gold Cup but only due to a distraction in crowd as Joy hits a policeman to ensue a whistle is blown. He is arrested and recognises the distinctive shoes of Haines of Scotland Yard as the ringleader of the crooks. He also gets mixed up with criminals who want to fix the race by doping dogs. The greyhound in the film called Lindy Lou was actually a racing greyhound called Moyshna Queen from

Wandsworth Stadium Wandsworth Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Wandsworth. Origins The stadium was constructed on an area of unused land south of the Wandsworth reservoir between Garratt Lane (formerly South Street) and Buckhold Road. Just to the sou ...

Cast

as Willie Joy *

as Captain Jack Montague *

A. E. Matthews Alfred Edward Matthews (22 November 186925 July 1960), known as A. E. Matthews, was an English actor who played numerous character roles on the stage and in film for eight decades. Already middle-aged when films began production, he enjoyed inc ...

as Lord Reginald Cranfield * Tony Wright as Vincent *

Alfie Bass Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...

as Mr Blagg *

as Lady Emily Cranfield *

as Bert Benton * Susan Beaumont as Susan Storer *

Terence Longdon Terence Longdon (14 May 1922 – 23 April 2011) was an English actor. Biography Born Hubert Tuelly Longdon in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, England. During World War II, Longdon was a pilot with the Fleet Air Arm, protecting Atlantic conv ...

as John Wyndham *

Colin Gordon Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor born in Ceylon. Biography He was educated at Marlborough College and Christ Church, Oxford. He made his first West End appearance in 1934 as the hind legs of a horse in a ...

as Max, the commentator *

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

as Carruthers * Danny Green as Plug Ugly *

Barbara Archer Barbara Janet Archer (born in London in 1933) is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her appearance in the 1958 film ''Dracula'', starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Selected filmography * '' A Kid for Two Farthings'' (1955 ...

as Marlene * William Kendall as Blenkinsop *

Ewen Solon Peter Ewen Solon (7 September 1917 – 7 July 1985) was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia. At the outbreak of World War II, Solon became a member of the First Echelon, 2nd NZEF that sa ...

as Haines * Reginald Beckwith as Smithers * Charles Hawtrey as Man at Bar (uncredited) *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

as drunk in snooker hall (uncredited) *

George A. Cooper George Alphonsus Cooper (7 March 1925 – 16 November 2018) was an English actor and voice artist. He died in November 2018 at the age of 93. Early life Cooper was born in Leeds, the son of William and Eleanor (née Dobson) Cooper. His father ...

as farmer who tells them they are near Doncaster (uncredited) * Andrew Faulds as friend of drunk man (uncredited) * Richard Dunn as policeman (uncredited) *

Joyce Gardner Joyce Gardner (1910–1981) was an English professional English billiards player. She was the Women's Professional Billiards Champion from 1931 to 1933, and from 1935 to 1938. Early life Joyce Winifred Frances Gardner was born on 24 August 191 ...

as the pool room hustler (uncredited) - Joyce was a well known professional pool player at the time, not an actress *

Beatrice Varley Beatrice Evelyn Varley (11 July 1896 – 4 July 1964) was an English actress who appeared in television and film roles between 1936 and 1964. She made her screen debut in the 1936 film ''Tomorrow We Live'' and began to portray a variety of ch ...

as Joy's landlady (uncredited) *

John Warren John Warren may refer to: Medicine * John Warren (surgeon) (1753–1815), American surgeon during the Revolutionary War * John Collins Warren (1778–1856), American surgeon * John Collins Warren Jr. (1842–1927), American surgeon, son of John C ...

as main commentator (uncredited) * Tom Gill as second commentator (uncredited)

Critical reception

''Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000'' describes the film as a "totally predictable star comedy which needs livening up" and the ''Time Out Film Guide 2009'' describes the film as "lame". While ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' called the film a "Sporadically funny comedy".

Musical score

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted, "the delightful harmonica score in ''Jumping for Joy'' is provided by American expatriate

Larry Adler Lawrence Cecil Adler (February 10, 1914 – August 6, 2001) was an American harmonica player. Known for playing major works, he played compositions by George Gershwin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Benjamin. ...

References

External links

* {{John Paddy Carstairs 1956 films 1956 comedy films British comedy films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films and television featuring Greyhound racing Films set in London Greyhound racing films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films British black-and-white films