''Keep Smiling'' is a 1938 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
Monty Banks
Montague (Monty) Banks (18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950), born Mario Bianchi, was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the UK and the United States.
Career
Banks was born Mario ...
and starring
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
,
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', ''I Know Where I'm Going!' ...
and
Mary Maguire
Mary Maguire (born Hélène Teresa Maguire; 22 February 1919 – 18 May 1974) was an Australian-born actress who briefly became a Hollywood and British film star in the late 1930s.
Early life
Maguire was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Mic ...
. The film follows a group of performers who club together to buy a
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
and travel around the country doing shows after they are cheated out of money by an ex-manager.
Plot
Cast
*
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was an English actress, singer, comedian and star of cinema and music hall who was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
as Gracie Gray
*
Roger Livesey
Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', ''I Know Where I'm Going!' ...
as Bert Wattle
*
Mary Maguire
Mary Maguire (born Hélène Teresa Maguire; 22 February 1919 – 18 May 1974) was an Australian-born actress who briefly became a Hollywood and British film star in the late 1930s.
Early life
Maguire was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Mic ...
as Avis Maguire
*
Peter Coke
Peter John Coke ( "cook"; 3 April 1913 – 30 July 2008) was an English actor, playwright and artist.
Early life
Peter John Coke was born in Southsea, Hampshire on 3 April 1913. as Rene Sigani
*
Jack Donohue as Denis Wilson
*
Hay Petrie
David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in ''The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in '' Great ...
as Jack
* Mike Johnson as Charlie
*
Eddie Gray as Silvo
* Tommy Fields as The Three Bolas
* Gladys Dehl as The Three Bolas
* Nino Rossini as The Three Bolas
*
Edward Rigby
Edward Coke MC (5 February 1879 – 5 April 1951), known professionally as Edward Rigby, was a British character actor.
Early life
Rigby was born at Ashford, Kent, England, the second son of Dr William Harriott Coke and his wife, Mary Elizab ...
as Silas Gray
* Joe Mott as Bill Sneed
* Philip Leaver as De Courcy
*
Gus McNaughton
Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire. He ...
as Eddie Perkins
* Paula Rae Wright (Paula Raymond age 14) as Bettina Bowman
*
Carol Adams as Dancer
*
Joss Ambler
Joss Ambler (23 June 1900 – 1959) was an Australian-born British film and television actor. He usually played somewhat pompous and irascible figures of authority, particularly in comedy films. He was an effective foil to George Formby in both ...
as Max
*
Monty Banks
Montague (Monty) Banks (18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950), born Mario Bianchi, was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the UK and the United States.
Career
Banks was born Mario ...
as Auditioner
*
Hal Gordon
Hal Gordon (1894–1946) was a British film actor. A character actor, he appeared in over 90 films in both comic and straight roles.
He started off as a lawyer's clerk but finding it dull he decided on the stage, making his music hall debut i ...
*
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964).
Ea ...
as Assistant hotel clerk
*
Eliot Makeham
Harold Elliott Makeham (22 December 1882 – 8 February 1956) was an English film and television actor.
Career
Makeham was born in London, England. Between 1931 and 1956, Makeham appeared, primarily in character roles, in 115 films and in ...
as Printer
*
Julian Vedey as Hotel clerk
Production
It was the second film made by Fields under her contract with
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
. It was made at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
[Wood p.89] with sets designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Oscar Friedrich Werndorff
Oscar Friedrich Werndorff (1880–1938) was an Austrian art director. After leaving Germany in the early 1930s he moved to Britain where he worked in the British film industry. He co-directed the 1931 film '' The Bells''.Bergfelder & Cargnel ...
. It was retitled ''Smiling Along'' to avoid confusion with another film with the same name, released by Fox in America the same year, and starring
Jane Withers
Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and children's radio show host. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list for ...
.
References
Bibliography
* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
* Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.
External links
*
1938 films
1930s English-language films
1938 comedy films
British comedy films
Films directed by Monty Banks
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
20th Century Fox films
Films set in England
British black-and-white films
1930s British films
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