This is a rather long commercial for the benefits of the telephone.It is also a guide to the use of the telephone.It gives the impression that the use of the telephone was very much unknown,given the time that had elapsed since the introduction of the phone into domestic houses.Showing via a ghost like fairy how to dial and how to answer.What to do with your old telephone directories.This sage advice leads us to a really charming and tuneful musical number with a chorus line of telephone operators.This film epitomizes a long ago era when having a phone line was turning from a novelty into an everyday occurrence
2 Reviews
How to use the 'phone, in delirious fits
Igenlode Wordsmith8 February 2008
I've seen some daft films and some hilariously funny films, but this has to be the only film I've seen that manages to wring so much out of such unpromising material as Page 5 of the 1930s London telephone directory...
It starts off as slightly twee, but rapidly becomes utterly (and quite deliberately) ridiculous, ascending at times to pure inspirational lunacy, and climaxing in a grand choreographed musical finale featuring all the characters and the middle-aged Fairy herself as soprano soloist. If you have ever needed to know how to use the telephone in 1930s England, this is the manual to tell you everything you want to know... whether you be a young man impersonating a parlour-maid, a small boy with a mouth full of chocolate, or a mad professor with dusty lab habits. It starts off with the basics -- there are three parties to a call, the Caller, the Exchange, and the Remote Subscriber -- and continues straight-faced from there while the on-screen situations depicted become sillier and sillier. I don't know who played the (sadly uncredited) cast of characters, ranging from the matinée idol to the imperious grandmother and obnoxious child, but the quality of acting displayed is impressive by any standard and very entertaining. The trilling chorus of singing telephone operators at the exchange aren't bad either!
This obscure Post Office documentary was the unexpected highlight of January's studio screenings at the National Film Theatre, and still features prominently and deservedly in the list of recommendations for viewing via the BFI's Mediatheque system.
It starts off as slightly twee, but rapidly becomes utterly (and quite deliberately) ridiculous, ascending at times to pure inspirational lunacy, and climaxing in a grand choreographed musical finale featuring all the characters and the middle-aged Fairy herself as soprano soloist. If you have ever needed to know how to use the telephone in 1930s England, this is the manual to tell you everything you want to know... whether you be a young man impersonating a parlour-maid, a small boy with a mouth full of chocolate, or a mad professor with dusty lab habits. It starts off with the basics -- there are three parties to a call, the Caller, the Exchange, and the Remote Subscriber -- and continues straight-faced from there while the on-screen situations depicted become sillier and sillier. I don't know who played the (sadly uncredited) cast of characters, ranging from the matinée idol to the imperious grandmother and obnoxious child, but the quality of acting displayed is impressive by any standard and very entertaining. The trilling chorus of singing telephone operators at the exchange aren't bad either!
This obscure Post Office documentary was the unexpected highlight of January's studio screenings at the National Film Theatre, and still features prominently and deservedly in the list of recommendations for viewing via the BFI's Mediatheque system.
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