''The Gang's All Here'' is a 1939 British

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

comedy-mystery, directed by

Thornton Freeland Thornton Freeland (February 10, 1898 – May 22, 1987) was an American film director who directed 26 British and American films in a career that lasted from 1924 to 1949. Early success He was born in Hope, North Dakota in 1898 and originally ...

and starring

Jack Buchanan Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1890 – 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 Gr ...

and

Googie Withers Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers (12 March 191715 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some seventy-three years in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and ...

. It was produced by

Associated British Picture Corporation Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appr ...

and released in the U.S. in 1943 as ''The Amazing Mr. Forrest''. It is the sequel to '' Smash and Grab'' (1937), with Buchanan and Withers reprising their roles.

Plot

John Forrest is a top investigator for the Stamford Insurance Company. Retiring from the firm, he intends to devote the rest of his life to writing detective fiction, but his plan is foiled when his former employers are robbed of $1,000,000 in jewels belonging to foreign potentate Prince Homouska. With the help of his befuddled butler Treadwell, Forrest follows the trail of clues to American gangster boss Chadwick, capturing his quarry with a variety of slapstick subterfuges.

Cast

as John Forrest *

as Alice Forrest *

Edward Everett Horton Edward Everett Horton, Jr. (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor and comedian. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons. Early life Horton was born March 18 ...

as Treadwell *

Syd Walker Syd Walker (born Sydney Kirkman; 22 March 1886 – 13 January 1945) was a British actor and comedian. Born in Salford, Greater Manchester, Salford, Lancashire, he started his career in music halls, both as a solo performer and in double acts. H ...

as Younce *

Otto Kruger Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor. Originally a Broadway matinée idol, he established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Saboteur (film), Saboteur'' (1942) and Dougla ...

as Mike Chadwick *

Jack La Rue Jack La Rue (born Gaspare Biondolillo; May 3, 1902 – January 11, 1984) was an American film and stage actor. Early life and family Gaspare Biondolillo was the son of Sicilian immigrants Luigi Biondolillo (1874–1951) and Giuseppa Biondoli ...

as Alberni *

Walter Rilla Walter Rilla (22 August 1894 – 21 November 1980) was a German film actor of Jewish descent. Siegbert Salomon Prawer, ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933'', Berghahn Books (2007), pg. 213 He app ...

as Prince Homouska * David Burns as Beretti * Charles Carson as Charles Cartwright * Leslie Perrins as Harper *

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal North-Wes ...

as Spider Ferris *

Edward Lexy Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little. Career He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...

as Inspector Elroyd *

Ballard Berkeley Ballard Blascheck (6 August 1904 – 16 January 1988), known professionally as Ballard Berkeley, was an English actor of stage and screen. He is best remembered for playing Major Gowen in the British television sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Life a ...

as detective in nightclub *

Robb Wilton Robert Wilton Smith (28 August 1881 – 1 May 1957), better known as Robb Wilton, was an English comedian and actor. He was best known for his filmed monologues during the 1930s and 1940s, in which he played incompetent authority figures. His tr ...

as Barman

Critical reception

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' wrote: "Really bright gags flow swiftly, punctuation being aptly provided by unexpected thrills. ... Class is further represented by the smartness of the dialogue and the elegance and smoothness of the technical presentation." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said: "The story and its method of telling have in it innumerable surefire farcical ingredients, is played by a carefully selected cast and is competently produced." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as “average” and wrote: “Farce-thriller marks Buchanan’s second fling as Forrest.

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

said: "Lively comedy-melodrama."

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

wrote: "supposed comedy about the breakup of a group of jewel thieves falls flat. But no amount of dreary material can conceal the undeniable comic genius of Horton".

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 ...

noted: "''The Gang's All Here'' remains one of Jack Buchanan's best-loved vehicles."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gangs All Here, The 1939 films 1939 comedy-drama films 1939 musical comedy films 1930s British films 1930s English-language films 1930s musical comedy-drama films British black-and-white films British musical comedy-drama films British sequel films English-language musical comedy-drama films Films directed by Thornton Freeland Films set in London Films shot at Associated British Studios Films shot at Welwyn Studios