Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersSundance Film FestivalIndependent Spirit AwardsBlack History MonthSXSWSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

This'll Make You Whistle

  • 19361936
  • 1h 19m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
20
YOUR RATING
This'll Make You Whistle (1936)
ComedyMusical
A young man is pursued by his fiancee after a quarrel. She sends her uncle to investigate him and to give his consent to the marriage. The young man gives a wild party in order to shock the ... Read allA young man is pursued by his fiancee after a quarrel. She sends her uncle to investigate him and to give his consent to the marriage. The young man gives a wild party in order to shock the uncle but he enjoys himself thoroughly.A young man is pursued by his fiancee after a quarrel. She sends her uncle to investigate him and to give his consent to the marriage. The young man gives a wild party in order to shock the uncle but he enjoys himself thoroughly.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
20
YOUR RATING
    • Herbert Wilcox
    • Guy Bolton
    • Fred Thompson
  • Stars
    • Jack Buchanan
    • Elsie Randolph
    • Jean Gillie
    • Herbert Wilcox
    • Guy Bolton
    • Fred Thompson
  • Stars
    • Jack Buchanan
    • Elsie Randolph
    • Jean Gillie
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Jack Buchanan
    Jack Buchanan
    • Bill Hoppings
    Elsie Randolph
    Elsie Randolph
    • Bobbie Rivers
    Jean Gillie
    Jean Gillie
    • Joan Longhurst
    William Kendall
    William Kendall
    • Reggie Benson
    David Hutcheson
    • Archie Codrington
    Maidie Hope
    • Mrs. Longhurst
    Anthony Holles
    • Sebastian Venables
    Marjorie Brooks
    • Laura Buxton
    Bunty Payne
    • Betty
    Miki Hood
    • Clarice
    Scott Harrold
    • Gendarme
    Irene Vere
    • Mrs. Crimp
    Rex Alderman
    • Attendant
    • (uncredited)
    Frederick Burtwell
    • French Hotel Manager
    • (uncredited)
    Cameron Hall
    • Furnishings Salesman
    • (uncredited)
    John Singer
    • Small Boy With Chewing Gum
    • (uncredited)
    Terry-Thomas
    Terry-Thomas
    • Extra
    • (uncredited)
      • Herbert Wilcox
      • Guy Bolton
      • Fred Thompson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In one of his early performances as a film extra, comedian Terry-Thomas appears with a long false moustache and falls into a water tank.
    • Soundtracks
      I'm in a Dancing Mood
      Written by Al Goodhart, Al Hoffman and Maurice Sigler

      Performed by Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph

    User reviews4

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    2/10
    Very dated West End musical
    Scottish song-and-dance man Jack Buchanan made a few Hollywood films, but spent most of his career on the London stage, starring in frothy West End musical comedies. "This'll Make You Whistle" is not among his better films, but it holds a unique place in Buchanan's career. Buchanan starred in the stage version and the movie version of "This'll Make You Whistle" concurrently, reporting to the film studio in the mornings and afternoons (except on matinée days) and then rushing to the West End for the evening performances onstage. Even more surprisingly, the film version of "This'll Make You Whistle" actually played in West End cinemas during the run of the stage show, thus putting the two versions in competition with each other! This movie survives as our best record of what a typical Jack Buchanan musical must have looked like onstage: it's all froth and candyfloss, with no substance and no songs of more than passing interest.

    Most of Buchanan's London stage musicals were too inconsequential to merit transfer to Broadway. In America, the film version of "This'll Make You Whistle" had the bad luck to open during the weekend of the 1938 "Martian" radio broadcast by Orson Welles ... so it flopped, but it likely would have flopped anyway.

    "This'll Make You Whistle" has a larger-than-usual budget for a British movie musical of this period, and it manages to "open up" the stage material with some large-ish sets. The film stars Buchanan as a glib playboy; he and his pals Archie and Reggie are always mucking about and getting into trouble. David Hutcheson, as Archie, has a long horse-like face which makes him look quite funny (he resembles the French comedian Fernandel) except in one bizarre scene in which Hutcheson and Buchanan disguise themselves with long black beards in order to blend in with a long queue of identically-dressed men in long black beards. This looks like a scene from a Doctor Seuss story, but it manages to be weird rather than funny. Hutcheson had one of the most comical faces ever to go in front of a movie camera; by covering his face with a false beard, he becomes *less* funny, not more so.

    There's a very tasteless scene in a nightclub, in which Buchanan's buddies borrow a baby so that they can pass it off as Buchanan's child, to discourage some woman from getting romantically involved with him. Buchanan claims paternity of the child without taking a look at the baby first. Then we see a close-up of "his" baby boy ... and the baby is black. Racial humour is SO sophisticated. Not half! (Yes, this joke was offensive even in 1936, because we're meant to laugh at Buchanan's humiliation when circumstances make it seem that -- gasp! shock! -- he might have had sex with a black woman.)

    Anthony Holles is hilarious in a supporting role as a very respectable businessman who never once in his entire life has ever put pleasure ahead of business ... "and look where it got me!" splutters Holles, before joining Buchanan for a night on the tiles.

    Jack Buchanan made a lot of money during his years of stardom, but (unlike so many other wealthy people in show-biz) he was also extremely generous to his co-workers and chorus dancers who made so much less money than himself. Most of his money was gone by the time of his long slow death from cancer.

    "This'll Make You Whistle" is more interesting as a social document than as a comedy: it's a fair example of what Grandpa laughed at, in the days between the World Wars. The songs, alas, are too few and not very good. Several other British comedians of this period (George Formby, Max Miller, Ivor Novello) had much better musical material than Jack Buchanan usually got. I'll rate this movie 2 points in 10.
    helpful•3
    6
    • F Gwynplaine MacIntyre
    • Jun 3, 2002

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 31, 1938 (United States)
      • United Kingdom
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Production company
      • Herbert Wilcox Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • 1 hour 19 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Mono

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    This'll Make You Whistle (1936)
    Top Gap
    What is the streaming release date of This'll Make You Whistle (1936) in Australia?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.