''Poor Old Bill'' 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

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

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 ...

Iris Ashley Iris Ashley (1909–1994) was an Irish-born British stage and film actress. She was born Iris Blanche Stafford Northcote in Trellis Cottage, Rushbrooke, Queenstown (now Cobh), County Cork to Captain Leonard Augustus Stafford Northcote and Lilian ...

and

Syd Courtenay Syd Courtenay was a South African-born British actor and screenwriter. He was a frequent collaborator with the comedian Leslie Fuller. Courtenay first met Fuller in 1919 in Margate and they soon struck up a partnership with routines featuring thei ...

.BFI.org
/ref> It marked the film debut of a very young

Peter Lawford Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford ( Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 26 December 1984. He was a member of the " Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president John F. Kennedy and sen ...

, playing the child of the main character, Bill (Leslie Fuller).

Premise

A man sponges off an old comrade from the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

who believes he has saved his life during the war, although this ultimately proves not to be true.

Cast

as Bill *

as Emily *

as Harry *

as Horace *

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 ...

as Jack * Robert Brooks Turner as Mick * Dick Francis as Constable

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' gave the film one out of four stars, calling it an "Interesting conception for a farce," but concluded that, "Unfortunately, the idea is carried on much too long, stretching what little material there is."

References

Bibliography

* Sutton, David R. ''A chorus of raspberries: British film comedy 1929–1939''. University of Exeter Press, 2000.

External links

* 1931 films 1931 comedy films Films shot at British International Pictures Studios 1930s English-language films Films directed by Monty Banks British comedy films British black-and-white films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub