No Funny Business | |
---|---|
Directed by | |
Written by |
|
Based on | a story by Dorothy Hope |
Produced by | John Stafford |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Walter Blakeley |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Noel Gay |
Production company | John Stafford Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists (UK) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 76 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
No Funny Business is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Victor Hanbury and starring Laurence Olivier, Gertrude Lawrence, Jill Esmond and Edmund Breon. [1] It was written by Hanbury and Frank Vosper based on a story by Dorothy Hope.
The film is a comedy of errors set in a divorce case. [2]
It was made at Ealing Studios [3] with sets designed by the art director Duncan Sutherland.
Olivier had returned to Britain after his career, following an initial move to Hollywood, had faltered. [4]
Picturegoer wrote: "The story is complicated and slow, and the humour generally forced; so that one relies almost solely on the famous stage star for entertainment, There are touches of sex and sophistication which help to liven matters up, and the technical qualities generally are good." [5]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote in 1951: "Originally seen in 1933, this comedy, with its stagey plot and sets, slowly developed situations, and badly dated dialogue, has a certain fascination simply as a period piece. Gertrude Lawrence conveys a good deal of vitality and assurance, although playing in a manner long outmoded; Laurence Olivier, however, looks somewhat unhappy as the conventional juvenile lead of the period." [6]
Vivien Leigh, styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She also won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway musical version of Tovarich (1963). Although her career had periods of inactivity, in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked Leigh as the 16th-greatest female movie star of classic Hollywood cinema.
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career he had considerable success in television roles.
Hamlet is a 1948 British film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name, adapted and directed by and starring Laurence Olivier. Hamlet was Olivier's second film as director and the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed. Hamlet was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the first sound film of the play in English.
Eva Moore was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, Exits and Entrances, she describes approximately ninety of her roles in plays, but she continued to act on stage until 1945. She also acted in more than two dozen films. Her daughter, Jill Esmond, was the first wife of Laurence Olivier.
Jill Esmond Moore was an English stage and screen actress.
Leslie James Banks CBE was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chorus in Laurence Olivier's wartime version of Henry V.
Esmond Penington Knight was an English actor. He had a successful stage and film career before World War II. For much of his later career Knight was half-blind. He had been badly wounded in 1941 while on active service on board HMS Prince of Wales when she fought the Bismarck at the Battle of the Denmark Strait, and remained totally blind for two years, though he later regained some sight in his right eye.
A Piece of Cake is a 1948 British fantasy comedy film directed by John Irwin and starring Cyril Fletcher, Betty Astell, Laurence Naismith and Jon Pertwee. It was written by Bernard McNabb and Lyn Lockwood from an original story by Betty Astell and John Croydon.
Edmund Breon was a Scottish film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1907 and 1952.
Who Done It? is a 1956 British slapstick black and white comedy crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Benny Hill, Belinda Lee, David Kossoff, Garry Marsh, and George Margo. It was wrtten by T. E. B. Clarke.
Poet's Pub is a 1949 British second feature ('B') comedy film directed by Frederick Wilson and starring Derek Bond, Rona Anderson and James Robertson Justice. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same title by Eric Linklater. The film was one of four of David Rawnsley's Aquila Films that used his proposed "independent frame" technique.
Three Men in a Boat is a 1956 British CinemaScope colour comedy film directed by Ken Annakin, starring Laurence Harvey, Jimmy Edwards, David Tomlinson and Shirley Eaton. It was written by Hubert Gregg and Vernon Harris based on the 1889 novel of the same name by Jerome K. Jerome.
Admirals All is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Victor Hanbury and starring Wynne Gibson, Gordon Harker, Anthony Bushell and George Curzon. It was written by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall based on their 1934 play of the same title.
Someday is a 1935 British romance film, directed by Michael Powell and starring Esmond Knight and Margaret Lockwood. The screenplay was adapted from a novel by I. A. R. Wylie.
I'm a Stranger is a 1952 British second feature ('B') comedy film directed and written by Brock Williams and starring Greta Gynt, James Hayter and Hector Ross.
Whispering Smith Hits London is a 1952 British second feature ('B') mystery film directed by Francis Searle and starring Richard Carlson, Greta Gynt and Herbert Lom. The screenplay was by John Gilling. It was released in the United States by RKO Pictures.
There Goes Susie is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Victor Hanbury and John Stafford and starring Gene Gerrard, Wendy Barrie, and Zelma O'Neal. Written by Charlie Roellinghoff and Hans Jacoby, it was made by British International Pictures at Elstree Studios. It is a remake of the 1933 German film Marion, That's Not Nice. An Italian version, Model Wanted (1933), was also made.
Love in Pawn is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Bernard Braden, Barbara Kelly and Jeannie Carson. It was written by Humphrey Knight, Guy Morgan, Frank Muir and Denis Nordern.
Room to Let is a 1950 British second feature ('B') historical thriller film directed by Godfrey Grayson and starring Jimmy Hanley, Valentine Dyall and Constance Smith. It was adapted by John Gilling and Grayson from the BBC radio play by Margery Allingham, broadcast in 1947.
Girdle of Gold is a 1952 British second feature comedy film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Esmond Knight, Maudie Edwards and Meredith Edwards. It was written by Jack Dawe.