Reviewed by Beth Squires
Featuring The Ghost of St Michaels, The Black Sheep of Whitehall
and Radio Parade of 1935
Stars Will Hay, Helen Chandler, Clifford Mollison, Davy Burnaby, Charles Hawtrey, John Mills, Thora Hird, Felix Aylmer
UK certification UK U | UK RRP £19.99
DVD Region 2 | Runtime 242 minutes
Directed by Arthur B Woods & others
Will Hay worked in music hall and radio for 25 years before he starred on screen, building up a range of characters that were thought so strong that they were easily transferred to film. The enduring image of him is as a waffling, inept schoolmaster who students can easily outwit and make a fool out of, and this character comes to life in The Ghost Of St Michael's. The other two films show a little more of his range; in Black Sheep of Whitehall he spends much of the second half of the movie masquerading as a female nurse...
Radio Parade of 1935 (1934, directed by Arthur B Woods, 96mins) ****
Will Hay, Helen Chandler, Clifford Mollison, Davy Burnaby, Alfred Drayton
Portraying William Garland, the Director General of the National Broadcasting Group (a BBC-like corporation), Hay is one of a number of star turns in this all-singing, all-dancing movie. The big opening number is superbly choreographed as all the staff arrives for work, and is the first sign that this film is more a variety show in disguise than anything else. A young company director decides that changes need to be made, to modernise and improve the company's output, portrayed partly by an overweight man sitting in an armchair counting out exercises for his listeners to do. Instead of actually doing the moves, he uses billows to make it sound like he is exercising along with them. There are some strained comedic sections, but this makes it feel even more like a variety show, you know soon their act will be up and we'll be on to the next one. It all leads up to a great sequence towards the end of the movie which is filmed in colour; Alberta Hunter sings beautifully among a large number of dancers standing on oversized drums — it's a real standout moment; not only is it colourful, the choreography is also a feast for the eyes
The Ghost Of St Michael's (1941, directed by Marcel Varnel, 82mins) ***
Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Charles Hawtrey, Raymond Huntley
During WW2 a school is evacuated to a remote Scottish castle on the Isle of Skye, where Hay as William Lamb is called out of retirement to join the staff. This is a riff on Hay's signature foolish schoolteacher character; he gets tricked into balancing on a high tower of chairs while trying to convince the students the Leaning Tower of Pisa cannot possibly scientifically stand up, and he drinks a student's alcohol to prove a point when told it's lemonade, only to get caught up in a confrontation with the principal. Along with the tomfoolery, the spooky castle seems to hold ghostly secrets, and when staff members begin to drop like flies, Lamb has to embark on a Scooby Doo-style investigation to solve the mystery.
Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942, directed by Basil Dearden & Will Hay, 80mins ) ****
Will Hay, John Mills, Basil Sydney, Henry Hewitt, Thora Hird, Felix Aylmer, Owen Reynolds
Another mystery to be solved here; this time with appearances from Hird and Mills. Hay stars as William Davis, a victim of mistaken identity after he is confused with an Economics professor who is about to go on the BBC to broadcast a radio programme (a funny foreshadowing of the real-life taxi driver hauled on to BBC News 24 mistakenly). After being found out, Jessop (Mills) has his suspicions raised about the replacement 'professor' and ropes Davis in to find the real Professor Davys. This is a much faster paced movie than the other two, filled with physical and verbal comedic situations, some working better than others: The radio broadcast Davis waffles through is great, when asked about the exports from Portugal and Brazil he begins a funny piece of wordplay based on port and nuts which kept me amused. All in all this is a good introduction into Hay and his comic characters, people more familiar with his work will no doubt be amused by these nostalgic movies and I hope this series of boxsets continues to rediscover some British comedy that may otherwise have not been dusted off for DVD.
EXTRAS None