Squibs

"Squibs" was first made in 1922. Now in 1935, Betty Balfour returns to the title role once again in this unusual musical. I say unusual because it seems to have been written for the lower classes in Britain instead of the usual faire featuring pretty rich folks. This is fine, however, it also makes watching a bit difficult for non-Brits because of the thick accents.

Squibs is a woman whose father (Gordon Harker) is a bum who refuses to work. Instead, he hangs out in pubs and gambles on the races...making Squibs' life difficult. However, oddly, a new police officer (Stanley Holloway*) has fallen for her...even though she mostly screams at him and acts very hostile towards him in the first half of the story. What's next? Well, her father ends up REALLY screwing up when he finally does get a job...and it's up to a divine miracle to save him.

I am not the intended audience for this film...and that's important. While the average lower or middle class Brit might enjoy this film a lot, I just found Squibs to be kind of a b**** and her father a real piece of work. As a result, I didn't care if they had a happy ending...and that made the film's miraculous ending one that didn't work for me. Watchable but not a film I particularly enjoyed. I did, however, like how the various sounds (such as horns honking and wind-up toys bouncing about) were integrated into some of the songs...that was quite clever.

*It was interesting seeing Stanley Holloway playing a hardworking cop, as he played a character just about exactly like Squibs' dad in "My Fair Lady" decades later.

Betty Balfour was supposedly 33 when she made this bright musical comedy with a great cast.Quite frankly she looks more like 45.So it's little surprise that this remake of one of her twenties starring vehicles did not put her back on top.She had previously been third billed to Jessie Matthews who was now the top star.Sadly little remained of her career which spiralled into despair.Not the first nor the last to suffer this fate.There is an excellent supporting cast which includes Stanley Holloway doing one of his monologues.Gordon Harker plays her father.Ronald Shiner in one of his many small roles on the way to stardom.Balfour was clearly a great talent but her time had come and gone.