''Orders Is Orders'' is a 1933 British comedy film starring Charlotte Greenwood, James Gleason and Cyril Maude about an American film crew who move into a British army barracks to start making a film, much to the commander's horror. Much of the film concerns the interaction between the American crew and the British officers. It is based upon the 1932 play '' Orders Are Orders'' by Ian Hay and Anthony Armstrong. It was shot at the

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 ...

in London 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 ...

Alfred Junge Alfred Junge (29 January 1886, Görlitz, Silesia (now Saxony), Germany – 16 July 1964, London) was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry. Junge had wanted to be an artis ...

. It was remade in 1954 as '' Orders Are Orders'' starring Peter Sellers, Sid James and Tony Hancock.

Cast

* Charlotte Greenwood as Wanda Sinclair * James Gleason as Ed Waggermeyer * Cyril Maude as Col. Bellamy *

Finlay Currie William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He re ...

as Dave *

Percy Parsons Edward Percy Parsons (1878–1944) was an American actor and singer who worked largely in the British film industry. Selected filmography * ''Suspense (1930 film), Suspense'' (1930) * ''Beyond the Cities'' (1930) * ''Creeping Shadows'' (1931) * ' ...

as Zingbaum * Cedric Hardwicke as Brigadier * Donald Calthrop as Pavey * Ian Hunter as Capt. Harper * Jane Carr as Patricia Bellamy *

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985. He is remembered for his Academy Award and Cannes Film Festival Award-winning ...

as Dashwood * Edwin Lawrence as Quartermaster * Eliot Makeham as Pvt. Slee * Hay Plumb as Pvt. Goffin * Wally Patch as Regimental Sergeant Major * Jane Cornell as Starlet * Glennis Lorimer as Marigold * Sydney Keith as Rosenblatt

Critical reception

In '' The New York Times'', Mordaunt Hall called the film, "a tepid farce...It is an adaptation of a minor stage work written by Ian Hay and Anthony Armstrong, and the wonder is that the producers, Gaumont-British, thought it worthy of such an excellent company of players. On the credit side of this piece of buffoonery and punning there are the interesting glimpses in a military barracks, splendid photography and sound recording and good-natured work by the cast."

References

External links

* 1933 films 1933 comedy films British comedy films Films based on works by Ian Hay Films directed by Walter Forde Films set in England British black-and-white films Gainsborough Pictures films Films shot at Lime Grove Studios 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub