Play Up the Band!

Even though I've been a fan of Stanley Holloway since young many moons ago this was the first time of seeing this particular film...as far I remember. Now forming part of the Ealing rarities collection it is decidedly obscure and probably not for the faint-hearted but I enjoyed it anyway.

A rather nattily-dressed brass band from the provincial Northern town of Heckdyke travel down to the Smoke to take part in a musical competition at the Crystal Palace. The band includes star euphonium player Sam "Pick oop tha musket" Small played by Holloway as ever, Alf "Albert's uncle" Ramsbottom played by Frank Atkinson and the bandmaster played by Hal Gordon and his eye-catching moustache. Sam's band leader cousin Betty is in love with the handsome and rich London lead with his rich nouveau-posh parents in tow and they all get ravelled up in a rather pathetic pearl robbery – does it all turn out right in the end? Multi-talented Londoner Holloway is the main reason to see this, although it is pleasant to see and listen to a gaggle of old friends again and it is occasionally funny too. The Crystal Palace is briefly on display too – whenever I've seen it I'm always amazed it lasted all the way to 1936 – the gentle denizens of the locale probably would polish it off within a few hours if opening today. Holloway's lugubrious monologue on the Hampton Court Maze is the highlight and a riveting few minutes, and the peppy Betty Ann Davies sang Use Your Imagination leaving very little to the imagination. I was expecting to be traumatised by the Sweeney Todd song but although it's not nice it's main fault is it's just not funny. It's the kind of childishness The Comedians indulged in on primetime UK ITV for years in the 1970's. I refuse to accept that everyone in the past - and that means everyone's parents - were vicious racists, they were simply products of their time the same as us. If of a serious or sensitive disposition and you insist on listening to that section, apart from only having yourself to blame why not put it into context and like Sweeney Todd himself just say Next Please!?

The usual rules apply: comic Northerners and refined Londoners, quaintness and quality. So, this film has its moments of entertainment and intelligence but is utterly charming, inconsequential and forgettable.

There are lots of interesting exteriors in this film.It starts at the beginning with a parade which looks as if it has been filmed inside Ealing Studios. There are shots of the west end.The exterior of the Empire is shown advertising a Joan Crawford film and Laurel and Hardy short. Then towards the end there is a ride through London which features shots of the trams. Finally we get to see the exterior and interior of the Crystal Palace. Other than that this fairly simple minded film is basically a vehicle for Stanley Holloway.There are a couple of songs,one with the very offensive line and also another of his pieces about Albert.

I am inserting reviews for all films I've seen that lack one... S.Holloway stars as a member of a northern brass band who is down in London to play in a competition in the Crystal Palace, there are only a couple of interesting points, one is a chance to see the Crystal Palace, that gave name to a part of London the year before it burnt to the ground, the other is a now shockingly racist line contained in a song about Sweeney Todd, noted in the current BBFC PG cert for the DVD release as 'Contains a historical use of racist language', overall it's OK. For anyone interested it's contained in the 4 film set 'The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection Volume 7' like most films in the collection, it was made at the studio, but is not an 'Ealing Films' production.