Up with the Lark

Last updated

Up with the Lark is a 1943 British musical comedy film directed by Philip Brandon and starring Ethel Revnell, Gracie West and Anthony Holles. [1]

Contents

It was a low-budget production during the Second World War.

Plot summary

During the Second World War, two incompetent female detectives, Ethel and Gracie (played by the British radio comedians Ethel Revnell and Gracie West), disguise themselves as Land Girls, with the aim of exposing the black market business that they believe a local hotel manager is running. Despite the two women's inept efforts, they eventually succeed. [2]

Cast

Songs

The film contains several songs, largely detached from the plot. The two main songs are

Related Research Articles

Barbara Jane Horrocks is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the role in the film version of Little Voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Newley</span> English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker (1931–1999)

Anthony Newley was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading men", from 1959 to 1962 he scored a dozen entries on the UK Top 40 chart, including two number one hits. Newley won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "What Kind of Fool Am I?", sung by Sammy Davis Jr., and wrote "Feeling Good", which became a signature hit for Nina Simone. His songs have been sung by a wide variety of singers including Fiona Apple, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gracie Fields</span> British actress, singer and comedian (1898–1979)

Dame Gracie Fields was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gretchen Franklin</span> English actress (1911–2005)

Gretchen Franklin was an English actress and dancer with a career in show business spanning over 70 years. She was born in Covent Garden, Central London. She played Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders on a regular basis from 1985 until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently. These appearances became briefer and more widely spaced. Her final appearance was in 2000, when her character was killed off.

A lark is a small terrestrial bird.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Thornton</span> English actor (1921–2013)

Frank Thornton Ball, professionally known as Frank Thornton, was an English actor. He was best known for playing Captain Peacock in the TV sitcom Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Herbert "Truly" Truelove in TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.

<i>Twilight Zone: The Movie</i> 1983 American science fiction anthology film

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American science fiction anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.

<i>Stage Door Canteen</i> (film) 1943 film by Frank Borzage

Stage Door Canteen is a 1943 American World War II film with musical numbers and other entertainment interspersed with dramatic scenes by a largely unknown cast. The film was produced by Sol Lesser's Principal Artists Productions and directed by Frank Borzage. The film features many celebrity cameo appearances but primarily relates a simple drama set in the famed New York City restaurant and nightclub for American and Allied servicemen. Six bands are featured. The score and the original song, "We Mustn't Say Goodbye", were nominated for Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basil Dean</span> English actor (1888–1978)

Basil Herbert Dean CBE was an English actor, writer, producer and director in the theatre and in cinema. He founded the Liverpool Repertory Company in 1911 and in the First World War, after organising unofficial entertainments for his comrades in the army, he was appointed do so officially. After the war he produced and directed mostly in the West End. He staged premieres of plays by writers including J. M. Barrie, Noël Coward, John Galsworthy, Harley Granville-Barker and Somerset Maugham. He produced nearly 40 films, and directed 16, mainly in the 1930s, with stars including Gracie Fields.

<i>Were Not Dressing</i> 1934 film by Benjamin Glazer, Norman Taurog

We're Not Dressing is a 1934 pre-Code screwball musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Bing Crosby, Carole Lombard, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Ethel Merman. Based on the 1902 J. M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton, the film is about a beautiful yacht owner (Lombard) who becomes stranded on an island with her socialite friends, a wacky husband-and-wife research team and a singing sailor (Crosby). The supporting cast features Leon Errol and Ray Milland.

<i>Tomorrow We Live</i> (1943 film) 1943 British film

Tomorrow We Live, is a 1943 British film directed by George King and starring John Clements, Godfrey Tearle, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair and Yvonne Arnaud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Hambling</span> British actor (1888–1952)

Arthur Hambling was a British actor, on stage from 1912, and best known for appearances in the films Henry V (1944) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). In 1939 he appeared in the West End in N.C. Hunter's comedy Grouse in June.

<i>Sally in Our Alley</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

Sally in Our Alley is a 1931 British romantic comedy drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Gracie Fields, Ian Hunter, and Florence Desmond. It is based on the 1923 West End play The Likes of Her by Charles McEvoy.

<i>Look Up and Laugh</i> 1935 film

Look Up and Laugh is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Alfred Drayton and Douglas Wakefield. The film is notable for featuring an appearance by Vivien Leigh in an early supporting role.

The Balloon Goes Up is a 1942 British, black-and-white, comedy, musical, war film, directed by Redd Davis and starring Ronald Shiner, Ethel Revnell, Gracie West, Donald Peers and Elsie Wagstaff. It was produced by New Realm Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Holles (actor)</span> British actor

Antony Hamilton Holles was a British stage and film actor. Educated at Latymer School, Holles was on stage from 1916 in Charley's Aunt. He was the son of the actor William Holles (1867-1947) and his wife Nannie Goldman.

Fortune Lane is a 1947 British family drama film directed by John Baxter and starring Douglas Barr, Billy Thatcher and Brian Weske.

<i>Warn That Man</i> 1943 British film

Warn That Man is a 1943 British comedy thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Gordon Harker, Raymond Lovell and Finlay Currie.

<i>Talk About Jacqueline</i> 1942 British film

Talk About Jacqueline is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Harold French and Paul L. Stein and starring Hugh Williams, Carla Lehmann and Roland Culver. A woman tries to conceal her questionable past from her new husband. It was based on a 1926 novel by Katrin Holland which had previously been made into a 1937 German film Talking About Jacqueline.

Ethel Revnell and Gracie West were a British comedy double act, most popular in the 1930s and 1940s though Revnell continued to perform into the 1960s. They were sometimes billed as "The Long and the Short Of It", or on radio as "The Two Oddments".

References