Cockney plumber Jerry Verno finds out from his mother that he's a peer. This causes girlfriend Janet McGrew to wonder what else he's been hiding from her, and a couple of revolutionaries how to blackmail him. Meanwhile, American movie star Polly Ward and her publicity man and ex-husband Ben Weldon want to hire him for a publicity romance.
This early Michael Powell quota quickie zips along, with four songs in production numbers, a Scottish butler and an autogyro. The Americans are heartless, money-tossing, publicity mad maniacs, the revolutionaries have a song about how they are liars and thieves, and it's all utter nonsense. Verno was a jack of all trades in show business, and would work until his death in 1975, just shy of his 80th birthday. He soon would be limited to bit parts, but Michael Powell would use him occasionally, most notably as the doorkeeper inTHE RED SHOES. Keep an eye open during the montage ending the first musical number; it ends with a shot of 15-year-old Valerie Hobson in her screen debut.
This early Michael Powell quota quickie zips along, with four songs in production numbers, a Scottish butler and an autogyro. The Americans are heartless, money-tossing, publicity mad maniacs, the revolutionaries have a song about how they are liars and thieves, and it's all utter nonsense. Verno was a jack of all trades in show business, and would work until his death in 1975, just shy of his 80th birthday. He soon would be limited to bit parts, but Michael Powell would use him occasionally, most notably as the doorkeeper inTHE RED SHOES. Keep an eye open during the montage ending the first musical number; it ends with a shot of 15-year-old Valerie Hobson in her screen debut.