The Dummy Talks

The film is more of a vehicle featuring British Music Hall talent then it is murder mystery. I'm shocked that someone hasn't done the same for America's got Talent: AGT, A Talent for Murder.

The Dummy Talks may make you consider if the title refers to the "little person" AKA the substitute ventriloquist dummy or Victor Harbord (Claude Hulbert, the ersatz detective. I am going for the later.

Watching the popular stage acts of the time is the best part of this film which makes it a bit of a documentary. Watching the Five Lai Founs spin plates on a stick took me back to my youth in the 1950s when the spinning plate toy was all the rage, second to the Hula Hoop. There are some great popular acts of the period featured including some very watchable acrobats, both serious and comedic.

The plot is pretty standard, ventriloquist star and overall cad Manning Whiley is murdered, and there are a plethora of suspects. After some entertainment from the acts and the bumbling Claude Hulbert, the major suspects are assembled to hear the evidence and most important-to hear the dummy J'Accuse.

Think of this film as more of a Music Hall/Vaudeville piece of history and you will be pleased.

If you're looking for a hodge-podge of a backstage murder and a series of variety acts that might make up a British music hall revue, then this movie might be up your alley. Claude Hulbert (brother of the better-known Jack) silly-asses his way through a plot involving forged bank notes and finding out who murdered Manning Whiley. He also pines for and pursues Derna Hazel. This is a movie that tries to strike a balance between comedy and thrills. It does not, alas, come off very well, particularly compared to the trans-Atlantic LADY OF BURLESQUE from the same year.

Part of the problem is that for a variety show, the revue lacks variety. There are lots of acrobats and novelty skating acts, and one or two musical numbers, but they are an oddly assorted lot. Beryl Orde, a well-known comic impressionist of the era does some of her impressions, but they are obscure. Of more interest is Jack Warner. If you're more used to thinking of him as the world's oldest police constable from a couple of decades as Dixon of Green Docks, you'll find him very odd here as a man who reads silly letters from his brother and sings nonsense songs. He's an amusing, solid, believable presence and his later success seems quite likely given this fine screen debut.

Backstage murder mystery in which the on-stage antics are far more interesting than the murder, especially the botched reveal.

It's a fascinating look at Jack Warner's Music Hall act, one that made him a big stage name in the 1920s and 30s. It's a combination of snappy patter and nonsense songs. Warner was 48 here, making his film debut. Also very good is Claude Hulbert, playing his usual character, all bewildered and bemused, and this time a cop.

There's also singer/comedienne Beryl Orde. She was famous for her impressions and she always did Martha Raye, but otherwise I can never tell who she's doing. We also get G.H. Mulcaster as an undercover cop, Manning Whiley as a creepy ventriloquist, Ian Wilson as the stage manager, Charles Carson as the magician, Hy Hazell as his assistant, Ivy Benson as the bandleader, and Evelyn Darvell as the lovely Peggy Royce, who sings a few songs.

The stage acts are mostly things we saw on Ed Sullivan's old TV shows: acrobats, knock-about dancers, spinning plates, etc. The murder mystery, alas, seems to have something to do with counterfeit money, but it seems to take a back seat to the entertainment. The creepy dummy that talks is played by Eric Mudd who is also seen in the acrobatic team of Sylvester and Nephew.

Not as good as I had hoped, but worth the effort to see Warner and Hulbert.

Lasted a bit too long, on this showing. Even the orchestra is beautiful - the deeply unhip Ivy Benson band. What a waste of talent!

Jack Warner was making the move from music hall and radio comedy to acting. As the great Nancy Banks Smith once said, if you can play comedy, you can play anything.

Beryl Orde is also appealing, but it's not always clear who she is taking off. Her act is embarrassing - but so are most of the others.

Cecil Hulbert is irritating as an upper-class twit, and the music hall performers spend their time backstage in palatial dressing rooms larger than a studio flat.

And yes, there's always something creepy about a ventriloquist's dummy.

An escapist wartime revue film masquerading as a murder mystery historically notable as the big screen debut of Jack ('Blue Pencil') Warner when he was famous as a radio comedian.

Enlivened as usual by it's bit players, most of them uncredited, such as a statuesque young Hy Hazel when she answered to the name of Derna, and Ian Wilson and Olive Sloane, both of whom appeared memorably for the Boulting Brothers after the war in 'Seven Days to Noon'.