Elstree Calling (1930) User Reviews

The British film industry's version of the Hollywood studio revue musical

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 23 October 2018]

It involves a variety of directors, including Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, Paul Murray, and Alfred Hitchcock. The film is comprised of short segments, usually stagebound, with singers, dancers, comedians, and assorted musicians, hosted by MC Tommy Handley, and also using a wraparound segment involving some people trying to watch the program on a primitive television, the development of which was in the news in the UK at the time. The performers include Donald Calthrop, Teddy Brown, The Three Eddies, Helen Burnell, Bobby Comber, Will Fyfe, and Anna May Wong, among many others.

This works best as a snapshot of the vaudeville-style entertainment of the time, often corny and grating, and occasionally inspired. Some segments are in Pathecolor, a technique wherein the frames were hand-colored. I enjoyed Calthrop's recurring gag as a would-be Shakespearean actor struggling to perform some of the Bard's works but always being interrupted. Hitchcock, whose participation has kept this from disappearing into obscurity, reportedly directed the interstitial bits with the people trying to watch TV. Not among the highlights of his career, to be sure.

Recommended for film historians interested in British film. All others YMMV.

This is a film for the Hitchcock fanatic or movie historian only.

[rotcev · 4/10 · 11 March 2003]

Is it worth it to buy this movie? To a Hitchcock fanatic like myself (Vic Evans)I would say "Yes!" but to any person other than a movie historian I would say "Forget it!"

It is a collection of skits and songs with a bit of comedy in the form of a London stage musical and comedy "Vaudeville" revue. Revues like this one have been done on the London stage from time to time since Vaudeville days. I remember seeing one in London in 1974 called "Carry On London" with Sid James and many other members of the "Carry On" movie comedy crew.

"Elstree Calling" (1930) is presented in the form of a very early live TV broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley. You also see a family attempting to tune into this program. Every so often between skits, you see how they are making out. They experience great difficulty throughout the show. The picture comes and goes as they attempt to adjust the set. The TV set even blows up and is later repaired. By the end of the presentation, the reception finally is restored and the program ends. The problems with this new medium (television) is one of the running jokes.

To the audiences of today it is of little interest. The singing, dancing and comedy is standard for this type of English variety show of the day but terrible by today's standards. For dancing, think of "The Pleasure Garden" as a comparison. Those familiar with Hitchcock's work may remember "Mr. Memory" from "The Thirty-Nine Steps". The music hall in that film is a similar setting. Alfred Hitchcock said to Francois Truffaut about this film - `Not good.'

There is little evidence of Hitchcock except perhaps for a short scene about a murder of the "wrong man". You should recognise the Hitchcock touch in it.

While I don't think anyone knows for sure, I have read that Alfred Hitchcock may have been responsible for the TV broadcast/TV viewing family framework that links the skits together and a running gag with Donald Calthrop attempting to recite Shakespeare periodically throughout the broadcast.

Best wishes,

Vic Evans (marmalade_man [NOSPAM] at yahoo.com

A Piece of British History

[loza-1 · 4/10 · 24 May 2005]

This is interesting as a period piece. It is also of interest to Hitchcock fans.

Rather like the better-known American film King of Jazz, it is a collection of sketches albeit from the British music halls. Alas, this film is not nearly so good.

Sadly the music hall acts do not work so well on film. Will Fyffe, composer of "I Belong to Glasgow" in particular dies the death of a dog in a ditch.

There is a little Russian folk instruments orchestra who are uncredited. They probably only cost the studio ten pounds for the lot, and they may have been the same musicians who accompanied the great bass singer Fyodor Shalyapin on some of his best known records. To me they are the one act who come across well in this film. (Unlike Will Fyffe, balalaikas and domras will hold their own anywhere.) Sadly we may never know their names.

I doubt if the film makers were aware that what they were producing was a time capsule.

Mixed Bag, But Worth Seeing

[eocostello · 31 January 2002]

Elstree Calling (1930), like most of the revues of the era, has some high points and misfires. Hitchcock's linking material here can be quite funny, and the colour sequences aren't bad (even if "The Thought Never Entered My Head" is a bit ungainly). A pleasant goof, for most

You'll either love it or hate it.

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 29 January 2011]

Hichcock's WTF movie. He's co-director of a static early sound film that is the British version of the all singing and all dancing review films that Hollywood do in the late 20's early 30's. Only it's less opulent and it has a real feeling of being a filmed stage play. It also suffers from weak music and dancing and unfunny comedy bits.

I know the surviving prints are shorter than then what it once was which is probably better that way. Since some of the bits seem to go on way too long.

You're either going to love this or hate it.

For me once was enough.

If That's Elstree Calling Tell Them I'm Out

[writers_reign · 4/10 · 21 May 2015]

A curio at best. I've always found Hitchcock to be vastly overrated but in this case there's no discernible trace of Hitchcock in the entire length though there are reports that he was responsible for the dire links in which Gordon Harker is attempting to 'tune' in a television set in his home (in 1930 yet)to a live broadcast emanating from Elstree studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, a link in which the punch line - he finally gets a crystal clear image in the last seconds of the show - can be seen being telegraphed from John O' Groats. It's mostly notable for observations such as that Tommy Handley was already a sufficient name in 1930 to actually MC the show and didn't emerge fully-formed in ITMA. There are songs from the likes of Ivor Novello and Vivian Ellis, both clearly having off days, and four numbers are shot in two-colour tint.

Weak

[grantss · 3/10 · 17 February 2024]

A stage show filmed at Elstree Studios in England. The show consists of several small skits and performances, including comedy routines, dancing and singing from a variety of artists. Mostly directed by Adrian Brunel but some scenes are directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

I only watched this because the great Alfred Hitchcock has a co-director credit on it and I'm working my way through watching all of Hitchcock's movies. The low rating on IMDB is already an indication that this isn't great and, as it turns out, the average IMDB rating is too high - this film is even worse than expected.

Apparently this was quite a smash at the box office in 1930 so wasn't always such a dud. I guess it was quite original for its time: sound had just been introduced in films so the opportunity to hear music in films and essentially experience what you would normally would have to go to a theatre for was quite novel. Throw in the wide variety of acts and it was probably BETTER than a theatre experience.

However, viewed now it is quite weak. The music is largely quite dull, the comedy is flat, largely consisting of dad jokes. It does have some good moments, some decent jokes, but these are few and far between.

Moreover, if, like me, you want to watch this because it's a Hitchcock film, you'll be even more disappointed: Hitchcock only directed a handful of scenes and there's nothing Hitchcockian about the film at all.

Not worth watching, even if you're a Hitchcock fan.

charming period piece full of fun

[fcullen · 7/10 · 17 November 2005]

Ellstree Calling is a delightful revue film for those who can appreciate eras other than their own. Some of the highlights are: The Three Eddies, a top African American tap dance team that made a big success in the U.K.; they dance two numbers in this revue. Two numbers also by Lily Morris are great giggle ("Why Am I Always the Bridesmaid" is gem of character comedy.) Cicely Courtneidge closes the movie in a production number in color, doing an amusing song & eccentric dance. And Donald Calthrop interrupts the proceedings a number of times as an actor willing to do anything to get his moment in the spotlight. A couple of color production numbers are campy at best, but the film's strength is the individual 'turns' by its variety stars. Ellstree Calling was one of the most successful early talkies anywhere in the world: it was translated into 11 languages and made a fortune through the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other British outposts around the globe. -- Frank Cullen American Vaudeville Museum and Vaudeville Times quarterly

Not so much good as an important look into the history of British films.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 30 September 2021]

"Elstree Calling" is a very rough film to watch in 2021. The sound quality is only fair, the color sequence is in bad need of restoration (it's all pink due to age) and it's very stagy. On the other hand, while the acts are very hit or miss, technically speaking it actually is pretty very amazing for 1930, since the British had only made their first sound film the year before this. And, two-color film stock was still quite unusual in 1930...especially in British films. So, I recommend the film less for its quality now...but for what it was back in 1930 and I am pretty sure it wowed audiences of the day.

The format of the film is to present act after act after act with no real plot. Some is comedy, some dance and some singing....and the experience is like spending the evening at a British dance hall revue. It's very reminiscent of MGM's "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" and Paramount's "Paramount on Parade", though the stars in these American films are much more recognizable today.

Most of the acts are fair at best. One of the more interesting ones is The Three Eddies. It's interesting as they appear initially to be the standard minstrel act. But they sport glowy glasses and make-up and appear to actually be black performers...and some minstrel performers were black underneath the makeup. But sadly a Google search yielded almost nothing about the act. There are a couple videos of them performing on YouTube (at least one is from this film). I am also sure that politically correct folks will not enjoy the act...but it is our history. The same can be said about the funny comedian playing the cheap Scotsman (a common stereotype of the day). Like it or not, it is our history. I also enjoyed the weird motorcycle act merged with Shakespeare! You have to see it to believe it!

Overall, a very hit or miss affair...some of the acts are clever and enjoyable and some are creaky with age and quite dull.

A night out on the London stage

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 7/10 · 6 September 2012]

In producing this brand-new singing, dancing, all-talkie film, British International Pictures inadvertently contrived to preserve a cross-section of the contemporary London stage scene from the West End to the music halls. Sit back in your seat, enjoy the entertainment beamed directly to your home (I had no idea that television existed in the popular perception long before the BBC), and let yourself be carried away back to the days of 1930, flitting from venue to venue to experience a night out in the London of the era. Some of the acts are to one taste, some to another, but you've paid for the programme as a whole so applaud and wait to see what's coming next.

My personal favourite would be the live-wire tapping and jazzy tunes of the Three Eddies' blackface act (especially the skeleton dance!), but while overall I was interested in this revue chiefly for the music -- it features unknown (at least to me) tunes by Vivian Ellis and Ivor Novello, for example -- there's a good deal else that's worth enjoying, and a few tantalising glimpses 'backstage' at the Elstree studios as well.

"Elstree Calling" was edited on the cheap and rushed out in ten days for a hasty release to recoup the cost of production, and it shows. Few of the five or six camera angles filmed on every shot actually got used, for instance, and a number of bizarre choices seem to have been made, such as choosing to show a dance sequence via a camera focused too high and showing a vast expanse of curtain above the performers' heads but cutting off their actual feet -- or a shot that shows the performers disappearing off the left-hand side of the frame while focusing on the empty set centre-stage. Did anybody even take the trouble to screen these clips before attaching them together? (Director Adrian Brunel, who had left detailed directions for the compilation of his footage only for them to be totally ignored, complained in his autobiography "How could the Hulbert-Courtneidge numbers be slung together like that without looking like casual newsreel photographing?")

I was also a bit puzzled by the smoke that appears to be pouring out of the top of the jaw-droppingly gigantic image of 'Little' Teddy Brown in the background of his first musical interlude -- presumably a side-effect of the stage lighting? But it isn't just the editing: certainly in the chorus sequences, the choreography tends to suffer from being cramped onto a film set, while no-one seems to yet have worked out how to avoid having a long line of girls strung out across the middle of a square-format screen. (See, e.g. the chorus sequences in British-Gaumont's "First a Girl" for more sophisticated treatment later in the Thirties.)

Still, I found this glimpse onto the theatre world of the era thoroughly enjoyable: it was particularly interesting after having screened the shorts in the silent "On With the Dance" series of only a few years only, since the styles are very similar but obviously this time with music. Just don't expect cinema: theatre is what is advertised, and theatre is what you will get -- though there is a brief homage to the antics of Douglas Fairbanks in the burlesque "Taming of the Shrew" that closes the act!

I loved some parts and disliked others

[yrussell · 5/10 · 16 May 2020]

As you would expect, how much you enjoy the film will depend on your tastes. The film is little more than a filmed variety show from that era. It features a diverse set of performers and comedians putting on a show for the audience. The MC is actually fairly funny, employing the style of humour where the talking starts out serious but then falters into something ridiculous. Some of the "connecting" skits (i.e. antics in between the main numbers) are quite good too. The main numbers ranged from excellent to awful. On the awful side, I didn't enjoy the bits of ethnic humour (e.g. Scottish people being cheap, which is the topic of an overly long "comedy" song). Weirdly, there's an act in this movie (featured twice) called "The Three Eddies", which was actually quite a spectacular piece of footplay (I chose to re-watch those dance numbers a few times - also, see Youtube). The "weird" (and sad) part is that "The Three Eddies" were three black men wearing black face! The black face made me feel uncomfortable even though they were actually black men underneath. The movie also has a very rotund xylophonist who made great music but also told an ethnic joke during one of his episodes (that joke ruined an otherwise pleasant scene). Another item of interest is the early colour in some of the other dance numbers. Although primitive, the colour adds a kind of pastel prettiness that makes the number look like a painting rather than real life. There's also, by the way, a few connecting sequences directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock (only one of these sequences has an identifiable Hitchcockian style). Overall, I wouldn't recommend this film to the casual viewer... but it's well worth a look if you enjoy exploring the early history of talking cinema and can overlook some humour that is offensive by today's standards.

Vitality from another world

[Spondonman · 8/10 · 13 May 2004]

I've probably seen this one over a dozen times now 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. Praise the Lord this film was made if only for her two turns, also the Will Fyffe bits and the Cicely Courtneidge end song, I'm Falling In Love. How that one passed the censor at the time I'll never know ... I suppose no one told him!

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 Elstree Calling.

Treasure Trove

[malcolmgsw · 7/10 · 15 December 2019]

We are able through this film to have a window into what the London stage and music halls would provide.Obviously there are some lesser acts but to see artistes like Lilly Morris at their prime is pricelessThe sketches and blackout spots featuring Donald Calthorpe,Jameison Thomas and Jack Hulbert still retain their sparkle. This is a film which will only appeal to fans of the era and genre.So to view it in any other context ,as some reviewers are want to do is totally missing the point.

A Hitchcock curio only for completists.

[matthewssilverhammer · 5/10 · 20 July 2020]

I've always wanted to see proper vaudeville live. The ever-changing tones, acts, talents, & forms seem like a lively style of theater. Onscreen, however, it's just a mess. I think we're taught to expect a through-line in film, & there simply isn't one. Not to mention several of the segments are hindered by mawkish emotion, unoriginal musical numbers, or straight racism. Still, there are good pieces (fat musician, "wrong apartment", recurring Shakespeare joke).

Sorry. Wrong number.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 16 February 2023]

Definitely created because of the popularity of "Hollywood Revue" and "Show of Shows" at MGM and Warner Brothers in the United States, this musical variety show is fascinating, if dated in a very creepy way, filled with some wonderful early two-strip Technicolor sequences yet mixed because of very dated comedy routine and a few musical numbers that are pretty tactless. But there are others that are terrific, a few ahead of their time because they resemble the type of musical numbers that would become very popular after the rise of Astaire and Rodgers and Powell and Keeler a few years after this. It is fascinating too that one of the directors was none other than Alfred Hitchcock, certainly out of his element reputation wise, and I doubt that anybody could determine which sequences he was in control of. There's a bit too much Shakespeare spoofing, based on the fact that several of the Bard's plays had their talkie film debuts with little sequences in the Hollywood studio reviews as well as a critically maligned version of "Taming of the Shrew".

For fans of British cinema, the presence of a few of the popular entertainers of their movies will be fascinating, with Cecily Courtneidge definitely doing a bit of the type of acts that the popular Winnie Lightner had done in "Show of Shows", absolutely outrageous and wonderful. Will Haye goes overboard with his sketch focusing on Scottish stereotypes, and a black face group raises eyebrows even if their tap dancing is superb and the sequences are wonderfully filmed. This has one of the best early talkie credit sequences, one I'll always remember, and the camera does move around a lot more than other films made in 1930. So it's definitely a curiosity with some very high strong points, but it's the weak moments (particularly the really lame sketches) that ruin it overall. As a reflection of the British musical theater of the time, however, it is historically very important, although most younger audiences will be bored stiff with it.

Elstree Calling

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 10 January 2024]

A distinctly off-form Tommy Handley introduces this rather curious piece of cinematic entertainment that features a variety of stars from the British stage at the end of the 1920s. The mixture of musical, comedy and magical turns illustrates well just quite how a real pot-pourri of acts took to the stage in theatres up and down the UK - but there is no audience. Without the engagement, even applause, from those watching the whole thing comes across as a rather sterile collection of concert performances, as if filmed in an empty television studio. It has a couple of rather tenuous continuing threads that try to hold it together - one features a fellow with an elementary television trying, unsuccessfully usually, to catch some of the performance on his set. The other, has a more contrived Shakesperian theme to it that coupled with a lot of Handley's equally over-cooked links make this all rather a disjointed, and frankly rather staccato film to watch. As a curiosity, it is certainly worth a watch - but mainly just as a bit of nostalgia.

Very Ordinary Talent

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 22 May 2021]

I know these were from another time and place. This is a kind of review, featuring people I've never heard of (although that should make no difference). The problem is the relative mediocrity of the singing and dancing. It's not pathetic but it has little spark. I also know that blackface was common at this time, but it was hard to watch. These guys were good dancers, Why resort to the racism. Anyway, I only watched it because Hitchcock had a hand in its production.

Early British revue has its moments

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 31 July 2022]

"Elstree Calling" can be considered the British answer to the Hollywood early-talkie musical-comedy revues made specifically in the years 1929-1930; unlike them, there are virtually no recognizable today names in it (with the sole exception of Anna May Wong, who appears in a skimpy outfit for about 20 seconds in total), so it doesn't have their curiosity value. Of course, there is another famous name appearing in the credits of this film: Alfred Hitchcock, who supervised "some" material. You would never in a million years guess he had anything to do with this film if somebody didn't tell you, except maybe for two funny black-comedy skits: the husband and the opera. The movie also offers some glimpses of early color (mostly yellow and red), the prophetic concept of television "in your home", and even the music is quite pleasant, as long as it's only instrumental: you just have to shut your ears when people start singing. **1/2 out of 4.

First Movie To Show Early Television

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 6 August 2022]

Alfred Hitchcock directed a handful of segments in the musical revue "Elstree Calling," released in February 1930 and filmed inside the Elstree Film Studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. Adrian Brunel, the primary director, was assisted by Hitchcock to handle the comedic and dramatic dialogue scenes. "Elstree Calling" is known for showing one of the first television sets seen in film. The entertainment portions are bridged by reoccurring skits of an aspiring Shakespearean actor. Also, the movie cuts to a man who is frustrated by his efforts to get the TV station's reception to see the revue on his new television. His neighbor, however, is watching the same program on his TV screen crystal clear. John Baird had been demonstrating his version of a primitive television in London since 1925, and by 1930 the public was aware of the invention. It would be another six years before BBC, the United Kingdom's broadcasting network, delivered over-the-air images to the public.

"Elstree Calling" contains a who's who of those in the British radio, film and stage performers during that era, including American actress Anna May Wong, in Europe to seek out meatier parts in movies. Included are four sequences using the Pathecolor process, a stencil-based film tinting process to create somewhat realistic colors. This was the final movie, besides the 1954 Mexican movie 'Robinson Crusoe,' to use Panthecolor.

Elstree Calling Culls the Cute

[rowenalite · 26 May 2015]

Released in 1930, Elstree Calling was directed by Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, Paul Murray, and Alfred Hitchcock. Luckily, too many cooks did not spoil the broth in this case but created a marvelous musical and comedic soufflé. The film is a series of vaudeville-type skits and sketches. Tommy Handley hosts the show. "Think, and having thunk, think again," Handley humorously advises the audience.

The sections vary in quality but none are poor. Among the best: Teddy Brown whistling while playing the xylophone; lovely, blonde, and ethereal Helen Burnell in a sparkling sequined gown singing; a sprightly Russian-style song and dance number; Cicely Courtnedge singing an entrancing rendition of I'm Falling In Love; and Jack Hulbert and Helen Burnell in a dynamic duet. One brief sketch is darkly humorous as a man appears to enter a home, shoot the man and woman he "catches" kissing, only to realize, "I'm in the wrong flat!"

In one section, bagpipes play while a Scotsman in a kilt sings about how "happiness costs such a lot." It is wonderfully sung but some viewers may be offended by the way it plays on the stereotype of the Scots as stingy.

Far more viewers are apt to be offended by the sketches done by "The Three Eddies." The tap dancers are in blackface with white lips, white bowler hats, and white-rimmed round eyeglasses. Their tap dancing is wonderfully skilled but one does not have to be a stickler for "political correctness" to be disturbed by the racist stereotyping in their act.

A better note is struck in a skit in which Elstree Calling appears to play with racial (not necessarily racist expectations). In an odd take on The Taming of the Shrew, Anna Mae Wong is the clearly Asian daughter of a white man. Beautiful Wong appears as Katherine in a shiny and revealing outfit. Instead of being "tamed," this "shrew" gets her revenge by throwing cream pies in the faces of all the men around her – including Shakespeare himself!

Like many works from past time periods, Elstree Calling sometimes strikes an "off" chord with contemporary audiences. Nevertheless, it is a fast-paced and fun series. One hour and twenty-six minutes long, it never drags but is a very entertaining potpourri of performances.