''Just My Luck'' is a 1933 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

Jack Raymond Jack Raymond (1886–1953) was an English actor and film director. Born in Wimborne, Dorset in 1886, he began acting before the First World War in '' A Detective for a Day''. In 1921 he directed his first film and gradually he wound down his a ...

and starring

Ralph Lynn Ralph Clifford Lynn (8 March 1882 – 8 August 1962) was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film. Lynn became an actor at the age of 18 ...

Winifred Shotter Winifred Florence Shotter (5 November 1904 – 4 April 1996) was an English actress best known for her appearances in the Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s. Initially a singer and dancer in the ensembles of musical comedies, Shotte ...

Davy Burnaby George Davy Burnaby (7 April 1881 – 18 April 1949) was a British actor who appeared in more than thirty films between 1929 and 1948. He was born in Buckland, Hertfordshire and made his screen debut in the 1929 film ''The Devil's Maze''. He die ...

and

Robertson Hare John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas ...

. The screenplay was written by

Ben Travers Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is best remembered for his long-running Aldwych farce, series of farces first ...

based on a 1932

Aldwych farce The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, ...

by H.F. Maltby, '' Fifty-Fifty'', adapted from the French play ''Azaïs'' by

Louis Verneuil Louis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage (14 May 1893 – 3 November 1952), better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Biography Born in Paris, Verneuil wrote approximately sixty plays and was be ...

and

Georges Berr Georges Berr (30 July 1867 – 21 July 1942) in Paris, was a French actor and dramatist, a member and sociétaire of the Comédie-Française from 1886 to 1923. Under the pseudonyms Colias and Henry Bott he wrote several plays, particularly in c ...

Plot summary

A shy teacher takes over the running of a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

Cast

as David Blake *

as Peggy Croft *

as Sir Charles Croft *

as Trigg *

Vera Pearce Annie Vera Pearce (27 May 1895 – 18 January 1966) was an Australian stage and film actress. Her lengthy career was carried out in both her home country and in England. Biography Born in Broken Hill (New South Wales), Pearce spent much of h ...

as Lady Croft *

Frederick Burtwell Augustus Frederick Burtwell (23 December 1894 – 16 November 1948) was an English actor, on stage from 1914, who featured in supporting roles in over 40 British films of the 1930s and 1940s. Partial filmography * '' Other People's Sins'' ...

as Stromboli * Phyllis Clare as Babs

Critical reception

In 1933, the ''

Melbourne Argus ''The Argus'' was an Australian daily morning newspaper in Melbourne from 2 June 1846 to 19 January 1957, and was considered to be the general Australian newspaper of record for this period. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most ...

'' wrote, "one has become accustomed to seeing Ralph Lvnn as Ralph Lynn in every part which he plays. His appearances in the opening sequences of ''Just My Luck'' (at the Majestic) as a music teacher who expects everyone to kick him down the back stairs raises hopes that at last one is to see him subordinate himself to a character. The hopes are refreshing but fragile, like a glass of iced lager in the tropics - not that it matters much. Ralph Lynn as Ralph Lynn is as diverting a spectacle as the British screen can offer. The attitude to life of Mr. Blake, the music master, Is expounded in a single phrase. "I wonder why that didn't hit me," he ponders when a loose slate slides from a rooftop and shatters at his feet. Poor Mr. Blake has had 35 years of bad luck...Mr. Lynn contrives to leaven his foolery with touches of genuine pathos, but when his luck changes to prove the comforting theory that a man has as much good as bad fortune in his life, he fairly romps in his '' Rookery Nook'' style, through broader and yet broader farce. It is all very good fun, though. Mr. Lynn is supported by an able cast, which includes Winifred Shotter and Robertson Hare."

References

External links

* 1933 films 1933 comedy films Films based on adaptations Films based on works by Louis Verneuil Films set in hotels British comedy films British black-and-white films British remakes of French films British and Dominions Studios films Films shot at Imperial Studios, Elstree 1930s English-language films 1930s British films English-language comedy films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub