Elstree Calling (1930)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Directors:

André Charlot
Jack Hulbert

Writers:

Adrian Brunel (writer)
Walter C. Mycroft (writer)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

A series of 19 musical and comedy "vaudeville" sketches presented in the form of a live broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself)...

Plot Keywords:

Television | Vaudeville | Blackface | Revue

Cast

Gordon Begg	...	Shakespeare
Teddy Brown	...	Himself
Helen Burnell
Donald Calthrop
Bobbie Comber
Cicely Courtneidge	...	Herself
Will Fyffe	...	Himself
Tommy Handley	...	Himself, Compere
Gordon Harker
Jack Hulbert	...	Himself
Hannah Jones
John Longden
Ivor McLaren
Lily Morris	...	Herself
Nathan Shacknovsky
John Stuart
Jameson Thomas
Anna May Wong	...	Herself

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

British International Pictures (BIP)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Shepperton Babylon (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Doin' the New Lowdown

Vitality from another world

I've now seen this one over a dozen times, and I still love it, but mainly from the standpoint of the music. You have to forget you are a film buff (you are, aren't you?) and think of it as a collection of pop videos from 1930. And the pop ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous: 'My heart is saying' in colour (?) nicely sung by Helen Burnell but danced atrociously, to 'Only a working man' in b&w by the incomparable Lily Morris. Thank God this film was made if only for her two turns, and also Will Fyffe and the Cicely Courtneidge end song, 'I'm falling in love'. How that one passed the censor at the time I'll never know.

Helen Burnell must have been the dancing inspiration for Jessie Matthews, or did all Show People dance like hippos pretending to be trees in the 20's? I've always loved the work of Jack Hulbert, mainly for his innocent British enthusiasm (and songs), but I'm afraid that he looked like a manic bus conductor in his one dance scene. Rotund Teddy Brown was marvellous to listen to - until he started telling jokes; The 3 Eddies - ah! Can you just imagine them walking on stage and launching into their high powered act nowadays? Horrified silence would follow, but how times and tastes have changed. The song 'Ladies maids always in the know' sung and danced to by The Charlot Girls would likewise be incomprehensible to nearly everyone too.

The glue that 'holds' all this and more together is supplied by Gordon Harker trying to get a picture of it all on his TV and Tommy Handley as TV linkman, with some surprisingly flat gags for a change. A running gag is supplied by Donald Calthrop attempting to perform Shakespeare; Anna May Wong puts him in his place - have you ever seen 'Taming of the shrew' with a massive custard pie fight or with a circling riderless motorcycle being whipped?

If you're going to watch this for the Hitchcock bits and are unmusical you won't like it, but if you can open your ears and hearts to these fine personalities from a bygone age then like me you may get something like innocent merriment from EC.