A series of 19 musical and comedy "vaudeville" sketches presented in the form of a live television broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself).
Tommy Handley
The Host
Teddy Brown
Himself
Donald Calthrop
Himself / Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew
Jack Hulbert
Himself
Helen Burnell
Herself
The Three Eddies
Themselves
Lily Morris
Herself
Will Fyffe
Himself
Cicely Courtneidge
Herself
John Longden
Himself
Anna May Wong
Herself / Katherina in Taming of the Shrew
Bobbie Comber
Herself
Gordon Harker
George
Hannah Jones
George's Wife
Gordon Begg
Shakespeare
Lawrence Green
Ivor McLaren
Nathan Shacknovsky
Jameson Thomas
John Stuart
Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Director
André Charlot
Director
Jack Hulbert
Director
Paul Murray
Director, Writer
Adrian Brunel
Writer
Val Valentine
Writer
Walter C. Mycroft
August 29, 2022
5
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.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00