''It's a Wonderful World'' is a 1956 British

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

directed and written by

Val Guest Val Guest (born Valmond Maurice Grossman; 11 December 1911 – 10 May 2006) was an English film director and screenwriter. Beginning as a writer (and later director) of comedy films, he is best known for his work for Hammer Film Productions, ...

and starring Terence Morgan, George Cole,

Mylène Demongeot Mylène Demongeot (; born Marie-Hélène Demongeot ; 29 September 1935 – 1 December 2022) was a French film, television and theatre actress and author with a career spanning seven decades and more than 100 credits in French language, French, ...

(in her first English-language film) and

Kathleen Harrison Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-cla ...

. It also features

Dennis Lotis Dennis Lotis (8 March 1925 – 8 February 2023) was a South African-born British singer, actor, and entertainer, whose popularity was greatest in the 1950s. He was described as having "a sophisticated style that was particularly attractive to t ...

, a popular singer at the time.

Plot

In London, Ray and Ken are two struggling composers of popular songs, and they make friends with a young French singer, Georgie, newly arrived from Paris. She likes one of the songs Ray and Ken have written, and chooses to sing it when she gets an audition with bandleader Ted Heath, and she is hired as their singer. Unaware of this, Ken stumbles across another route to success when his broken record player plays his records backwards, and he uses a tape recorder to create a piece of music by playing the recording tape backwards, which he thinks sounds similar to a newly successful kind of music. He attributes the music to a fictitious

avant garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

composer, Rimsikoff, living abroad, and when the music is performed at a concert, most of the public and critics are duped. Georgie discovers what they are doing and warns them off, and when they learn of her success with their song, they decide Rimsikoff will 'retire'.

Cast

* Terence Morgan as Ray Thompson * George Cole as Ken Miller *

as Miss Gilly *

as Georgie Dubois (credited as Mylène Nicole) *

as Himself * Ted Heath and His Music as Themselves * James Hayter as Bert Fielding * Harold Lang as Mervyn Wade *

Maurice Kaufmann Maurice Harington Kaufmann (29 June 1927 – 21 September 1997) was a British actor of stage, film and television, who specialised in whodunits and horror films, from 1954 to 1981, when he retired. Personal life He was married to Honor Blackm ...

as Paul Taylor *

Richard Wattis Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffords ...

as Harold * Reginald Beckwith as Professional Manager * Charles Clay as Sir Thomas Van Broughton *

Derek Blomfield Derek Blomfield (31 August 1920 – 23 July 1964) was a British actor who appeared in a number of stage, film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964. Career He trained at LAMDA and made his first stage appearance a ...

as Arranger * Sam Kydd as Attendant *

Shirley Anne Field Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; 27 June 1936 – 10 December 2023) was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television from 1955 until her death. She was prominent during the British New Wave. Early life Shirley Bro ...

as Pretty Girl (credited as Shirley Ann Field) *

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in ...

as Conductor (uncredited) *

Hal Osmond Hal Osmond (27 May 1903 – December 1959) was a British stage, film and television actor. He played Anselm in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' episode "Errand of Mercy" (1956). Selected filmography * '' Non-Stop New York'' (1937) - Ship Steward ...

as Removal Man

Production

It was made at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

. Val Guest said "That was quite an experience. It featured the band and the people in it. That was a musical, I wrote the numbers, Ted Heath wrote some, I wrote some of the point numbers. We did it between us... That was originally, by the way, called ''It’s a Great Life''... but then we found there’s an American film called that so I changed it to ''It’s a Wonderful World.''"

Songs

Songs include: "Rosanne", "When You Came Along", "Girls! Girls! Girls!" ( Ted Heath, Moira Heath), "A Few Kisses Ago" (

Robert Farnon Robert Joseph Farnon CM (24 July 191723 April 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of original works (often in the light music genre), he was commissioned by film and ...

), and " The Hawaiian War Chant" (Ted Heath).

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "A somewhat cheerless comedy liberally laced with sob and swing numbers. The script relentlessly tracks down every particle of humour to be wrung from comic landladies, teenage crooner fans, arty music critics and the general inanities of

Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley was a collection of History of music publishing, music publishers and songwriters in New York City that dominated the American popular music, popular music of the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Originally ...

. Ted Heath and his Music perform with drive and authority." '' Picture Show'' wrote: "Excellent musical comedy ... Wonderful entertainment." '' Variety'' wrote: "Starting off through the blare of Ted Heath's orchestra, and the crazy gyrations of screaming swing-mad teenagers, this comedy develops into a gay satirical yarn ... Morgan is satisfying as the plodding musician, gaining equal amounts of sympathy and laughs, but it is to George Cole, with his dry humor and expressive face that most of the best lines fall. Kathleen Harrison is her sturdy cockney self as the adamant housekeeper and James Hayter and Reginald Beckwith give sterling characterizations of the music publishing boss and his chief aide. Harold Lang injects the right amount of opportunism as a snooping columnist, and Dennis Lotis croons soulfully in his own personality. Band grouping and good lighting effects form a colorful, melodious background to what is, first and last, for the lowbrow appetite."

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

wrote: "director Val Guest manages to extract new laughs out of such old setpieces as showing a snobbish audience being gradually won over by pop music. The principal attraction of ''It's a Wonderful World'' – to modern viewers, at least – is the presence of Ted Heath, whose screen appearances were rare."

References

External links

*
''It's a Wonderful World'' at AllMovie
* {{Val Guest 1956 films British musical comedy films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Val Guest 1956 musical comedy films Films set in London Films shot at Shepperton Studios 1950s British films Films scored by Robert Farnon English-language musical comedy films