''No Lady'' is a 1931 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

Lupino Lane Henry William George Lupino (16 June 1892 – 10 November 1959) professionally Lupino Lane, was an English actor and theatre manager, and a member of the famous Lupino family, which eventually included his cousin, the screenwriter/director/actr ...

and starring Lane,

Renee Clama Renee Clama (1908–1990) was a British actress of Italian parentage. She appeared, often in leading roles, in eleven British films of late 1920s and early 1930s including ''The Great Game'' (1930) and ''Never Trouble Trouble'' (1931) Many of he ...

and

Sari Maritza Sari Maritza (born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan; 17 March 1910 – July 1987) was a British film actress of the early 1930s. Early years Born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, Maritza was the daughter of Major Walter Si ...

. It was made at

Lime Grove Studios Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and ...

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

Gaumont British The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of the Gaumont Film Company of France. Film production Gaumont-British was founded in 18 ...

, a company linked to

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

. The film's sets were designed by

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 ...

Andrew Mazzei Andrew Mazzei (1887–1975) was a French-born British art director who designed the sets for more than sixty films during his career. Mazzei began his career in the late 1920s during the silent era including on the futuristic ''High Treason''. ...

. It was popular enough to be re-released in 1943. While possibly originally intended to top the bill, it was released as a

second feature A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

and is classified as a

quota quickie The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 ('' 17 & 18 Geo. V'') was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received Royal Assent on 20 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928. D ...

.Chibnall p.261

Synopsis

While on a family holiday in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, a mild-mannered man is mistaken for an international spy. He escapes a brush with the police in women's clothing which he has stolen but discovers a secret letter in the lady's handbag. This directs him to a meeting with representatives of Ptomania (a thinly-disguised Germany) who are involved in an attempt to sabotage an international glider competition. Hitler makes a brief appearance as the unnamed pilot of a doomed Ptomanian plane, complete with fringe, toothbrush moustache, and wild gesticulations. The film has some elements of music hall entertainments in a song and dance routine as well as a number of slapstick moments. It contains both live action and edited stunt routines.

Partial cast

as Mr. Pog *

as Sonia *

as Greta Gherkinski *

Wallace Lupino Wallace Lupino (23 January 1898 – 11 October 1961) was a British-born stage and film actor who was a member of the Lupino family. He appeared in 63 films between 1918 and 1945, most often with his older brother, Lupino Lane. He was born in ...

as Ptomanian Ptough * Lola Hunt as Mrs. Pog * Herman Darewski And His Blackpool Tower Band * Eddie Jay as Bit Part * Sam Lee as Bit Part *

Cyril McLaglen Cyril McLaglen (1899–1987) was a British actor who appeared in a variety of films between 1920 and 1951. He was born in London in 1899 and made his film debut in the 1920 film ''The Call of the Road''. He was the younger brother of the acto ...

as Bit Part * Denis O'Neil as Singer * Charles Stone as Bit Part

References

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve. ''Quota Quickies: The Birth of the British 'B' Film''. British Film Institute, 2007. *Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927–1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

1931 films 1931 comedy films British comedy films Films set in Blackpool Films set in England Gainsborough Pictures films Films shot at Lime Grove Studios Films directed by Lupino Lane British black-and-white films Quota quickies 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub