Up to the Neck | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jack Raymond |
Written by | Ben Travers |
Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Cyril Bristow |
Music by | Lew Stone |
Production company | |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 73 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Up to the Neck is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter and Francis Lister. [1] It was made at British and Dominion's Elstree Studios. [2]
Shy bank clerk Norman B. Good comes into a big inheritance and uses it to realise his ambition to be a theatre impresario. Falling for chorus girl April Dawne, he invests most of his money in an expensive show designed to make her a star. When the production is a disaster, Norman takes to the stage in a desperate bid to improve the play by playing the lead. His monocle and toothy grin win him raves as a comic genius (despite the fact that he was playing the role straight), and the show becomes a hit as a comedy.
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Widely regarded as one of Britain's most well-known and popular actors, he has received various accolades, including a BAFTA Award and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and an Emmy Award.
Thomas Kirby Walls was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adaptations of those plays in the 1930s.
Ralph Clifford Lynn was an English actor who had a 60-year career, and is best remembered for playing comedy parts in the Aldwych farces first on stage and then in film.
Jack's the Boy is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Francis Lister and Peter Gawthorne. It became well known for its song "The Flies Crawled Up the Window", sung by Hulbert, which was released as a record and proved a major hit. The film was released in the U.S. as Night and Day.
Just My Luck is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Davy Burnaby and Robertson Hare. The screenplay was written by Ben Travers based on a 1932 Aldwych farce by H.F. Maltby, Fifty-Fifty, adapted from the French play Azaïs by Louis Verneuil and Georges Berr.
Summer Lightning is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Chili Bouchier and Horace Hodges. It is based on the 1929 novel Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse.
Winifred Florence Shotter was an English actress best known for her appearances in the Aldwych farces of the 1920s and early 1930s.
Plunder is a 1931 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. It also features Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter and Robertson Hare. It was based on the original stage farce of the same title, and was the second in a series of film adaptations of Aldwych farces by Ben Travers, adapted in this case by W. P. Lipscomb, and was a major critical and commercial success helping to cement Walls's position as one of the leading stars of British cinema.
The Chance of a Night Time is a 1931 British comedy film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter and Kenneth Kove. The screenplay was written by Ben Travers based on his play The Dippers, and the cast included cast members from Travers's Aldwych Farces. It was shot at Elstree Studios outside London with sets designed by the art director Lawrence P. Williams.
Night of the Garter is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Sydney Howard, Winifred Shotter and Elsie Randolph.
Tons of Money is a farce by the British writers Will Evans and Arthur Valentine. It was co-produced by Tom Walls and Leslie Henson. In the story of the play, a hard-up inventor pretends to be his cousin, in order to escape the clutches of his creditors.
The Aldwych farces were a series of twelve stage farces presented at the Aldwych Theatre, London, nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. All but three of them were written by Ben Travers. They incorporate and develop British low comedy styles, combined with clever word-play. The plays were presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls and starred Walls and Ralph Lynn, supported by a regular company that included Robertson Hare, Mary Brough, Winifred Shotter, Ethel Coleridge, and Gordon James.
Thark is a farce by the English playwright Ben Travers. It was first given at the Aldwych Theatre, London, the fourth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented at the theatre by the actor-manager Tom Walls between 1923 and 1933. It starred the same cast members as many of the other Aldwych farces. The story concerns a reputedly haunted English country house. Investigators and frightened occupants of the house spend a tense night searching for the ghost.
A Night Like This is a farce by Ben Travers, written as one of the series of Aldwych farces staged nearly continuously at the Aldwych Theatre, London, from 1923 to 1933. The farces were directed by Tom Walls, who co-starred in most of them with Ralph Lynn, and a supporting cast of regular Aldwych performers. The play is a spoof of detective plays and thrillers, with the two stars successfully taking on a criminal gang. Eventually, the gang is rounded up, and the jewels taken from the heroine are restored to their proper owner.
A Night Like This is a 1932 comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Ralph Lynn and Winifred Shotter. Ben Travers wrote the screenplay, adapting his own play, the original 1930 Aldwych farce of the same title.
Fifty-Fifty is a farce by H. F. Maltby, adapted from a French original, Azaïs, by Louis Verneuil and Georges Berr. It was the penultimate work of the series of Aldwych farces that ran nearly continuously at the Aldwych Theatre in London from 1923 to 1933. The play centres on the sudden rise of an impoverished music teacher to become manager of a grand casino.
Marry the Girl is a farce by George Arthurs and Arthur Miller. It was one of the series of Aldwych farces that ran at the Aldwych Theatre in London nearly continuously from 1923 to 1933. The play centres on a breach of promise case brought before a British court of justice.
For Valour is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Tom Walls and starring Walls, Ralph Lynn and Veronica Rose. It was made at Shepperton Studios, with sets designed by Oscar Werndorff. Unlike previous films starring Walls and Lynn, it was based on an original screenplay rather than one of the Aldwych Farces. Both Walls and Lynn played dual roles of two Boer War veterans and their son and grandson respectively. It was the last time the two actors, who had been one of the most popular film comedy teams of the decade, appeared together on screen.
Mischief is a 1931 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter and Jeanne Stuart. It was shot at the Elstree Studios near London. It is based on the 1928 farce Mischief by Ben Travers.
D'Ye Ken John Peel? is a 1935 British adventure film directed by Henry Edwards and starring John Garrick, Winifred Shotter and Stanley Holloway. It was made at Julius Hagen's Twickenham Studios. It takes its name from the traditional hunting song of the same name. The film's sets were designed by the art director James A. Carter.