Radio Pirates

The Houses of Parliament are covered in even more scaffolding than usual in this lively quota quickie gracefully photographed by Hone Glendining with a plot that anticipates Radio Caroline and a climax that anticipates 'My Learned Friend'. (The casual nature of the enterprise is indicated by the fact that the leads use their real first names.)

Leslie French makes his film debut playing what was probably his only big screen lead, flanked by appearances from everyone from a floppy-haired young Hughie Green impersonating Mae West to hefty xylophone player Teddy Brown (who delivers the couple of lines entrusted to him hilariously woodenly). The always charming Mary Lawson (later killed in the Blitz) tap dances, not well but one is impressed that she does it at all; while glossy femme fatale Enid Stamp-Taylor gets to sing.

This is basically a revue film.A minimum of plot interspersed with musical numbers.The copy of the film shown recently was much cut down from its original 89 minutes.Fortunately many of the musical numbers remain.So we get to see and hear Roy Fox and his orchestra and the inimitable saxophonist Teddy Brown.There is a long nightclub sequence featuring Fox.Unfortunately the vocalist is very much a lesser light not Al Bowlly.Biggie Green has a scene doing impressions and singing a song.The story,such as it is concerns a record publisher and his musical friends running a pirate radio station and the efforts of the police to try and catch them.The climax takes place inside Big Ben which appears to be under repair at the time.