Shipyard Sally

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Shipyard Sally
Shipyard Sally.jpg
Directed by Monty Banks
Written by Don Ettlinger
Gracie Fields
Thomas J. Geraghty
Karl Tunberg
Val Valentine
Produced by Robert Kane
Starring Gracie Fields
Sydney Howard
Norma Varden
Cinematography Otto Kanturek
Edited by R. E. Dearing
Alfred Roome
Music by Louis Levy
Production
company
Twentieth Century Productions
Distributed byTwentieth Century Fox
Release date
  • 16 October 1939 (1939-10-16)(UK)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£255,057 [1]

Shipyard Sally is a 1939 British musical comedy film directed by Monty Banks and starring Gracie Fields, Sydney Howard and Norma Varden. [2] [3] It was written by Don Ettlinger, Fields, Thomas J. Geraghty, Karl Tunberg and Val Valentine.

Contents

The film contains the song "Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye". [4]

Plot

Sally, a failed music hall performer, and her father take over a pub near the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank. When the closure of the yard threatens to put many out of work she leads a campaign to persuade the government to reconsider the decision.

Production

Made shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, it was Fields' last British film. [5] It was shot at Islington Studios with sets designed by Alex Vetchinsky. [6]

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An excellent team assists Gracie, who works hard and has a variety of songs to sing. Sydney Howard as the derelict Major, her father, is a real character, Morton Selton gives amiable dignity to Lord Randal and Oliver Wakefield and Norma Varden contribute characteristic comedy." [7]

Kine Weekly wrote: "The basic gag is bound up in Sally's repeated efforts to beard the touchy but human Randall in his den, and the star makes the most of the robust, if obvious, humour. She improvises, sings and keeps the supporting players on their toes. The opening scenes of the launching of the Queen Mary , and the closing ones, illustrating after a moment of disappointment the resuscitation of life in the shipyard are also showmanlike but the piéce de résistance is the patriotic vocal climax. Here the star is supreme. She flag-wags the film to certain success. ... It's the Gracie Fields picture that the public has been waiting for." [8]

Picturegoer wrote: "Gracie Fields has done nothing better than Shipyard Sally. It is a truly riotous comedy with an underlying note of seriousness dealing with unemployment in the Clydeside." [9]

Picture Show wrote: "There will be few who see this film who do not think that it is Gracie Fields' best film to date. She is at the top of her form, and her warmly human, sympathetic personality, with its stiffening of common sense and shrewd humour, has never been seen to better advantage." [10]

Variety wrote: "Shipyard Sally is one of Gracie Fields' best films. It provides plausible excuses for her to sing and dance, innumerable opportunities for her inimitable comedy, and sufficient story for the introduction of emotional sequences. An impressive production and intelligent direction of a well-written script, with serviceable supporting cast, combine for certain success in this country, especially in the provinces, and better than an even chance in the U.S." [11]

References

  1. ↑ Chapman, Llewella. "'The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England". Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10. Vol. 19, no. 4. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 470–494 at 487.
  2. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
  3. ↑ "Shipyard Sally (1939)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017.
  4. ↑ Shafer, Stephen C. (1997). British Popular Films, 1929–1939: the Cinema of Reassurance (PDF). Routledge. p. 186. ISBN   978-0415002820.
  5. ↑ Shafer p.186
  6. ↑ Wood p.101
  7. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 6 (61): 156. 1 January 1939. ProQuest   1305807926.
  8. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". Kine Weekly . 269 (1683): 22. 20 July 1939. ProQuest   2339756782.
  9. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". Picturegoer . 9: 24. 8 October 1939. ProQuest   1771167820.
  10. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". Picture Show . 42 (1068): 19. 14 October 1939. ProQuest   1879644550.
  11. ↑ "Shipyard Sally". Variety . 135 (10): 14. 16 August 1939. ProQuest   1475961550.

Bibliography

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