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
Maurice Elvey
Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...
and starring
Tommy Trinder
Thomas Edward Trinder CBE (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by cultural historian Matthew Sweet as "a cocky, front-of-cloth variety turn", he was ...
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
. It was shot in a rival French process to
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
, called 'CameraScope', with the attendant publicity describing "the first feature to be made with an anamorphic lens in black and white! It's a camerascoop!". It was shot at
Beaconsfield Studios
Beaconsfield Film Studios is a British television and film studio in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The studios were operational as a production site for films in 1922, and continued producing films - and, later, TV shows - until the 1960s. Bri ...
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 ...
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 ...
Ray Simm
Ray Simm was a British art director. He was nominated three times for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for ''The Slipper and the Rose'', ''The Wrong Box'' and '' Darling'', for which he won.
Selected filmography
* ''The Faithful City' ...
.
Premise
An intake of civilian
reservists
A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person is ...
arrive at army camp to do their two weeks refresher training.
Cast
*
Tommy Trinder
Thomas Edward Trinder CBE (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by cultural historian Matthew Sweet as "a cocky, front-of-cloth variety turn", he was ...
as Tommy Smart
* Mary Parker as Private Sally Briggs
*
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.R.S.M. Brittain as Himself
* James Copeland as Private Jim Campbell
* Michael Kelly as Sergeant Manners
* Mark Singleton as Lieutenant Arthur Robson
*
Charles Rolfe
Charles Rolfe (1890–1965) was a British stage, film and television actor. One of his most notable roles was in the 1941 wartime thriller '' Tower of Terror''.Keaney p.206
Selected filmography
* '' Tower of Terror'' (1941)
* '' The Man at the ...
as Hooky
*
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...
as Private Proudfoot
* Rufus Cruikshank as Sergeant Major Horace Thickpenny
*
Michael Trubshawe
Michael Trubshawe (7 December 1905 – 21 March 1985) was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with fellow British actor David Niven, serving with hi ...
as Lieutenant Colonel Barkstone-Gadsby
* Harold Goodwin as Private Rossiter
*
Mignon O'Doherty
Mignon O'Doherty (1890 – 1961) was an Australian actress who worked in British theatre, film and television.
O'Doherty was born in Brisbane, the daughter of Dr. Edward O’Doherty and Isabel Maud French. She was the granddaughter of Young Ir ...
as Colonel Trudgeon
* Derek Prentice as Cpl Jones
*
Marcia Ashton
Marcia Ashton (born 1 July 1932 in Sheffield, England) is an actress best known for her soap opera roles as Lily in '' Compact'' and as Jean Crosby in ''Brookside''.
She has made numerous other television appearances including; '' EastEnders'', ...
as Pvt. Stubby Braithwaite
*
Felix Felton
Robert Forbes Felton (12 August 1911 – 21 October 1972), known professionally as Felix Felton, was a British film, television, stage and voice actor as well as a radio director, composer and author.
Radio work
In his earlier years Felton cons ...
as Sergeant Cook
*
Patrick Jordan
Albert Patrick Jordan (10 October 1923 – 10 January 2020) was a British stage, film and television actor.
Biography
He was born and raised in Harrow, Middlesex, the son of Margaret, a cook, and Albert Jordan, a regimental sergeant major. An ...
as Corporal
*
Kenneth Kove
Kenneth Kove (1892–1984) was a British actor. He was a regular member of the Aldwych farce team between 1923 and 1930, often in "silly-ass" roles; appearing in '' It Pays to Advertise'' (1923), '' Thark'' (1927), '' A Cup of Kindness'' (1929), ...
as Old Soldier
*
Norman Mitchell
Norman Mitchell Driver (27 August 1918 – 19 March 2001), known professionally as Norman Mitchell, was an English television, stage and film actor.
Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a ...
as Soldier
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 ...
'' wrote, "other than an occasional laugh, it's hard to find much worth recommending in this farce on British army life"; while
BFI Screenonline
Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...
describes how the film did steady business on its release, with
Kine Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971.
History
''Kinematograph Weekly'' was founded in 1889 as the monthly publication ''Optical Magic Lantern a ...
writing, "expertly handled by (Elvey) the doyen of English directors...team work hearty, gags both time honoured and topical and staging generous."
BFI Screenonline
Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lot ...