The Galloping Major (film)

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The Galloping Major
The Galloping Major FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Written by Monja Danischewsky
Henry Cornelius
Basil Radford
Produced byMonja Danischewsky
StarringBasil Radford
Jimmy Hanley
Janette Scott
A. E. Matthews
Rene Ray
Cinematography Stanley Pavey
Edited by Geoffrey Foot
Music by Georges Auric
Production
company
Distributed by Independent Film Distributors
Release date
5 May 1951 [1]
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Box office£153,770 (UK) [2]

The Galloping Major is a 1951 British comedy sports film, starring Basil Radford, Jimmy Hanley and Janette Scott. [3] It also featured Sid James, Charles Hawtrey and Joyce Grenfell in supporting roles. It was directed by Henry Cornelius and made at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. The film's sets were designed by Norman Arnold.

Contents

The title is taken from the song "The Galloping Major", and the plot was centred on gambling at the horse racing track. People in a London suburb form a syndicate to buy a race horse to run in the Grand National.

Production

The film was made as an independent production, backed by the Woolf Brothers. It proved profitable at the box office, [4] but producer Monja Danischewsky quit independent production afterwards to return to work at Ealing Studios. It has been noted as being similar in style to the Ealing comedies of the same era. [5]

It features appearances by several figures well known at the time, including the jockey Charlie Smirke and the radio commentators Raymond Glendenning and Bruce Belfrage.

Main cast

Release

The film premiered at the Plaza cinema in London on 5 May 1951. [1] It has also been released on DVD.

Cornelius later cast Kenneth More in Genevieve and Next to No Time. [6]

Location

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Janette Scott". Art & Hue. 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p495
  3. "The Galloping Major (1951)". Archived from the original on 19 February 2017.
  4. Harper & Porter p.147
  5. Murphy p.123
  6. Vagg, Stephen (16 April 2023). "Surviving Cold Streaks: Kenneth More". Filmink.

Bibliography