''This'll Make You Whistle'' is a 1936 British
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
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
Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Sydney Wilcox Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 April 1890 – 15 May 1977) was a British film producer and film director, director.
He was one of the most successful British filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is best know ...
and starring
Jack Buchanan
Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George G ...
,
Elsie Randolph
Elsie Randolph (9 December 1904 – 15 October 1982) was an English actress, singer and dancer. Randolph was born and died in London.
She is best remembered for her partnership with Jack Buchanan in several stage and film musicals. She also app ...
and
William Kendall. The film was based on the
stage musical of the same title which Buchanan had starred in.
Synopsis
A man-about-town accidentally finds himself engaged to two women at the same time, the horse-mad Laura and the sweet-natured Joan who is dominated by her disapproving mother. His attempts to convince the guardian of the former that he is completely unsuited to marriage, while trying to persuade the mother of the latter that he is, are further complicated by the behaviour of his two friends and the appearance of an attractive
life model named Bobbie Rivers. Further confusion ensues when the action shifts from London to the French resort of
Le Touquet
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (; pcd, Ech Toutchet-Paris-Plache; vls, 't Oekske, older nl, Het Hoekske), commonly referred to as Le Touquet (), is a commune near Étaples, in the Pas-de-Calais department, northern France. It has a population of ...
.
Cast
*
Jack Buchanan
Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George G ...
as Bill Hoppings
*
Elsie Randolph
Elsie Randolph (9 December 1904 – 15 October 1982) was an English actress, singer and dancer. Randolph was born and died in London.
She is best remembered for her partnership with Jack Buchanan in several stage and film musicals. She also app ...
as Bobbie Rivers
*
Jean Gillie
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...
as Joan Longhurst
*
William Kendall as Reggie Benson
*
David Hutcheson
David Hutcheson (14 June 1905 – 18 February 1976) was a British character actor. He made his film debut in ''Fast and Loose'' in 1930 and played his only lead role in 1934's '' Romance in Rhythm''. He went on to specialise in hooray henrys, sil ...
as Archie Codrington
* Maidie Hope as Mrs. Longhurst
*
Anthony Holles as Sebastian Venables
* Marjorie Brooks as Laura Buxton
* Bunty Payne as Betty
*
Miki Hood as Clarice
* Scott Harrold as Gendarme
* Irene Vere as Mrs. Crimp
*
Frederick Burtwell
Augustus Frederick Burtwell (23 December 1894 – 16 November 1948) was an English actor, on stage from 1914, who featured in supporting roles in over 40 British films of the 1930s and 1940s.
Partial filmography
* '' Other People's Sins'' ...
as Hotel Manager
Stage production
The musical was first performed on stage at Southsea in December 1935, before a long run at the
Palace Theatre and then
Daly's in London's West End. The cast included Jack Buchanan as Bill Hoppings,
Jean Gillie
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...
as Joan Longhurst, Sylvia Leslie as Laura Buxton, Maidie Hope as Mrs Longhurst,
Elsie Randolph
Elsie Randolph (9 December 1904 – 15 October 1982) was an English actress, singer and dancer. Randolph was born and died in London.
She is best remembered for her partnership with Jack Buchanan in several stage and film musicals. She also app ...
as Bobbie Rivers, Diana Lonsdale as Betty, Irene Vere as Mrs Crimp, Jill Ricarde as Clarice, and
Eunice Crowther
Eunice Crowther (21 July 1916 – 13 October 1986) was a British singer, dancer, and choreographer, who in the early part of her career worked on stage, before moving on to television work for the BBC in the late 1940s. In the 1950s she became ...
as Dora.
In Australia, the show was known as ''The Melody of London''.
Critical reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' wrote, "It isn't enough that Mars is attacking; England has just exploded a hot-air bomb in the immediate vicinity of the Fifty-fifth Street Playhouse. "This'll Make You Whistle" was the tag on it. We're whistling all right—one of those barely audible sounds made by pursing the lips and exhaling. Herbert Wilcox, who should have known better, launched the projectile, first charging it with people like Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph and Antony Holles and detonating it with a slow-burning musical comedy plot about a man with one fiancée too many. Typical line: "You're the bigamist fool in London." Typical scene: Mr. Buchanan and a pal, disguised as bearded gendarmes, being chased by twenty bearded gendarmes. Typical reaction; Ouch!"
References
External links
*
1936 films
British musical comedy films
1936 musical comedy films
1930s English-language films
Films directed by Herbert Wilcox
Films set in London
Films set in France
British black-and-white films
Films shot at British International Pictures Studios
1930s British films
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