''One Good Turn'' is a 1936 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 Alfred J. Goulding and starring

Leslie Fuller Leslie Fuller (9 October 1888 – 24 April 1948) was a British comedy film actor. Early life Albert Leslie Fuller was born in 1888 at 14 Pollard Row, Bethnal Green, London.Some sources wrongly give his birthplace as Margate, as he had a lifelo ...

Georgie Harris Georgie Harris (1898–1986) was a British film actor. Selected filmography * ''Don't Be a Dummy'' (1932) * '' Doctor's Orders'' (1934) * ''Radio Parade of 1935'' (1934) * '' The Stoker'' (1935) * '' Strictly Illegal'' (1935) * '' One Good Turn'' ...

and

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 ...

. It was shot at

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

near

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 ...

. The film's sets were 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 ...

George Provis George Provis (1901–1989) was a British art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He began his career working on quota quickies during the 1930s. After the Second World War, Provis was appointed by Sydney Box to h ...

Synopsis

The screenplay concerns two

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

stall workers, who try to prevent their

landlady A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the t ...

's daughter being cheated by a villainous

theatre producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hires ...

.Shafer p.139

Cast

as Bill Parsons *

as Georgie *

as Bert * Molly Fisher as Dolly Pearson *

Basil Langton Basil Calvert Langton (9 January 1912 – 29 May 2003) was an English actor, director and photographer, who made a career on both sides of the Atlantic. He was an authority on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and compiled an archive of more than ...

as Jack Pearson *

Clarissa Selwynne Clarissa Selwynne (26 February 1886 – 13 June 1948) was a British stage and film actress.Kear & King p. 143 She settled in the United States, working in Hollywood where she appeared in around 100 films. Partial filmography * '' Hearts in Exi ...

as Ma Pearson *

Faith Bennett Faith Margaret Ellen Bennett (1903–1969) was a British actress and ATA pilot. Biography Bennett was born Margaret Ellen Riddick on 12 May 1903 in London, England. One of her brothers died during the First World War. In 1930, she married fil ...

as Violet * Arthur Finn as Townsend *

Val Rosing Valerian Rosing (1910–1969), also known after 1938 as Gilbert Russell, was a British dance band singer best known as the vocalist with the BBC in the BBC Dance Orchestra directed by Henry Hall. Rosing was the son of Russian tenor Vladimir Ros ...

as Vocalist *

Syd Crossley Syd Crossley (18 November 1885 – 1 November 1960) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London in 1885, Crossley began his career as a music hall comedian. He appeared in more than 110 films, often cast as a butler, between 1925 an ...

as Griggs - Townsend's Manservant *

Frederick Piper Frederick Piper (23 September 1902 – 22 September 1979) was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the ...

as Sausage Sandwich Customer

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. * Shafer, Stephen C. ''British Popular Films, 1929-1939: The Cinema of Reassurance''. Routledge, 1997. * Sutton, David R. ''A Chorus of Raspberries: British Film Comedy, 1929-1939''. University of Exeter Press, 2000. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

* 1936 films 1936 comedy films Films directed by Alfred J. Goulding British comedy films Films set in London British black-and-white films Films shot at Rock Studios 1930s English-language films 1930s British films English-language comedy films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub