Band Waggon | |
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Directed by | Marcel Varnel |
Written by | John Watt Harry S. Pepper Gordon Crier Vernon Harris J. O. C. Orton Val Guest Marriott Edgar Robert Edmunds |
Produced by | Edward Black |
Starring | Arthur Askey Richard Murdoch |
Cinematography | Arthur Crabtree Henry Harris |
Edited by | R. E. Dearing |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 85 minutes (UK) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Band Waggon is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and Moore Marriott. [1] [2] It was written by John Watt, Harry S. Pepper, Gordon Crier, Vernon Harris, J. O. C. Orton, Val Guest, Marriott Edgar and Bob Edmunds, based on the BBC radio show Band Waggon . [3]
It was the first of several popular films Askey made for Gainsborough. [4]
Arthur Askey and Stinker Murdoch, two out-of-work performers, are living on the roof of the Broadcasting House in Central London. After being called in for an audition with the BBC three months before, they were forgotten about and settled down to live there waiting for their big chance. One day an item from their clothes line falls and hits Claude Pilkington, a senior figure at the BBC, who has them evicted. They are forced to pack up all their belongings and leave.
While driving home that evening one of the tyres on Pilkington's car gets a puncture from broken glass lying on the road. It has been put there by the owners of the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, who hope their cabaret act will be given a contract with the BBC and have so far failed to gain an audition. Pilkington sits unwittingly through their act, including singers Jack Hylton and Patricia Kirkwood, barely noticing it while he reads the newspaper. When he discovers that they have caused his puncture, he storms off in anger.
Meanwhile, Askey and Murdoch have found themselves in the countryside. Needing somewhere to live they go to a local estate agent hoping to pick up a cheap cottage. Instead they are offered a castle for £3 rent, which the owner is trying to get off his hands as it is haunted. After they settle down in the castle they begin a sequence of sinister happenings occur despite the estate agent's insistence that there is a "perfectly natural explanation for everything". When they encounter Jasper Blackfang, a ghost who claims to haunt the place, they flee and take shelter at the nearby Jack-in-the Box restaurant.
Emboldened by the realization that the ghost is in fact the caretaker of the castle, who has been living there rent free, they return along with Hylton and Kirkwood. They discover a television studio inside the castle, which the caretaker claims is being used by a pirate commercial station. In fact it is being used by Nazi agents in Britain, but the caretaker is unaware of this.
Frustrated by their failure to secure an audition at the BBC, they decide to use the studios to broadcast their own show. Arthur Askey does a performance on the same wavelength as the BBC television station, interrupting a programme by Pilkington himself, who has to be faded out. Pilkington is furious by the interruption, but the pirate show generates huge interest amongst the general public. Pilkington, meanwhile, gets Scotland Yard to hunt down the pirate station. Their determination to find the station is boosted by the realisation that the castle contains plans of British planes stolen by the Nazi agents, and Askey unwittingly holds up the plans during his broadcast.
Askey has organised a major hour-long performance which ends in a finale with where the police, BBC officials and Nazi agents all converge on the castle, while a time bomb is ominously ticking down. The programme is such a roaring success that the BBC eventually agree to Askey, Murdoch and their associates having their own show.
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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is a thoroughly enjoyable crazy entertainment. Big-hearted Arthur and Stinker seen on the screen will not disappoint their many radio admirers. The former works tirelessly, and puts over an exuberantly and riotously funny performance. The latter is quieter, but an effective foil and backer-up. To make assurance doubly sure Jack Hylton and his Band perform energetically, the jibes at the B.B.C. are amusing and good-humoured, 'and the burlesque espionage topical and timely. The only adverse criticism is that the scenes in the castle which are less original than the others are somewhat prolonged, and hold up the development." [5]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch bring much of their inimitable radio humour to the screen and co-operate smoothly with Jack Hylton and his Band, and Pat Kirkwood. Moore Marriott also has his moments as the caretaker, and so does Freddie Schweitzer, Hylton's crazy instrumentalist. Peter Gawthorne is well cast as the pompous and stubborn Mr. Pilkington. ...Taken all round, the show is an enjoyable rag, with a cast, title and songs that are sure guarantee of house-full business." [6]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Although it only ran for some two years, Band Waggon, with its quirky characters and rapid-fire humour, was hugely popular. Here, the script restricts the fabled ad libbing of Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch, but it's still good fun as the pair stray from their famous flat in the eaves of Broadcasting House only to encounter spies in a haunted castle." [7]
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Good fun, just the thing for wartime audeinces." [8]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Film version of a long-runnning coedy series: quite a servicable record of a phenomenon." [9]
Richard Bernard Murdoch was an English actor and entertainer.
Bandwagon, band wagon, bandwaggon, band waggon, may refer to:
Jack Hylton was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario.
Arthur Bowden Askey, was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation and catchphrases including "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" and "Before your very eyes".
Marriott Edgar, born George Marriott Edgar in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, was a British poet, scriptwriter and comedian, best known for writing many of the monologues performed by Stanley Holloway, particularly the Albert series. In total he wrote sixteen monologues for Holloway, whilst Holloway himself wrote only five.
Band Waggon was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added Diana Clare for two episodes. Band Waggon was co-produced by Gordon Crier and Harry S. Pepper and was the first comedy show to be designed for radio.
Back-Room Boy is a 1942 British comedy mystery film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by General Film Distributors. The cast includes Arthur Askey, Googie Withers, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. It marked the film debut of Vera Frances. The original story was written by J.O.C. Orton, Marriott Edgar and Val Guest. A man from the Met Office is sent to a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island to monitor the weather, where he hopes to escape from women, but soon finds the island overrun by them.
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde, starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. The screenplay was by J.O.C. Orton, Marriott Edgar and Ralph Smart, adapted from the 1892 Victorian farce Charley's Aunt by Brandon Thomas. Arthur Askey's professional nickname was "Big-Hearted Arthur", which was added to the title to distinguish it from Jack Benny's version Charley's Aunt (1941), for its (limited) American release.
Living It Up was a black-and-white British sitcom starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch that ran for nine episodes from 1957 to 1958. It was written by Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell. It was made for the ITV network by Associated-Rediffusion. All nine episodes survive in the archives.
Arthur Crabtree was a British cinematographer and film director. He directed films with comedians such as Will Hay, the Crazy Gang and Arthur Askey and several of the Gainsborough melodramas.
Patricia Kirkwood was a British stage actress, singer and dancer who appeared in numerous performances of dramas, cabaret, revues, music hall, variety and pantomimes. She also performed on radio, television and films. In 1954, BBC Television broadcast The Pat Kirkwood Show; she was the first woman appearing on British television to have her own series.
I Thank You is a 1941 black and white British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. The screenplay was by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest. The film was produced by Edward Black at Gainsborough Pictures. The title of the film is the literal version of Arthur Askey's famous catch-phrase which he idiosyncratically pronounced as "Ay-thang-yaw".
King Arthur Was a Gentleman is a 1942 British black-and-white comedy musical film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Evelyn Dall, Peter Graves and Ronald Shiner. It was written by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest, and was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for Gainsborough Pictures.
Miss London Ltd. is a 1943 British black-and-white comedy musical directed by Val Guest and starring Arthur Askey and Evelyn Dall. It was written by Guest and Marriott Edgar and produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures. It was Guest's directorial debut.
Make Mine a Million is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Lance Comfort, starring Arthur Askey, Sid James and Bernard Cribbins. It was written by Askey, Peter Blackmore, Jack Francis and Talbot Rothwell, and distributed by British Lion. The film parodies the perceived stuffiness of the 1950s BBC and the effect of television advertising in the era.
Busman's Honeymoon is a 1940 British detective film directed by Arthur B. Woods. An adaptation of the 1937 Lord Peter Wimsey novel Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon stars Robert Montgomery, Constance Cummings, Leslie Banks, Googie Withers, Robert Newton and Seymour Hicks as Mervyn Bunter.
Peter Gawthorne was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-upon supporting actors during this period.
The Ghost Train is a 1941 British thriller mystery film directed by Walter Forde and starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch. It is based on the 1923 play The Ghost Train by Arnold Ridley.
Postman's Knock is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Robert Lynn starring Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, John Wood and Warren Mitchell. The screenplay, by John Briley and Jack Trevor Story, concerns a country postman who is transferred to London, where he manages to foil a major robbery.
Gordon Crier was a Scottish radio and television producer and writer.